tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82397436162635739072024-11-06T03:05:08.623+00:00Y'know - interviews with the famousUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-65787109831567040472024-04-30T11:10:00.007+01:002024-04-30T11:32:42.684+01:00Hiroko Yokomizo (横溝廣子), academic <p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; font-size: xx-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHCfqzI4lNROqVEX1Lopp8QPVlHlbQdAAkeXFMHYAwPUMIzGK55T7_h0rC7lb6bCp0wJBCxo-FT_bebU1LA4BXrSIT3136KxnxIGDnBu_SDJa2WUW62nNz3TLJXA7B0_VqiSM8amScunBcTLvz0rTcZCyqSLjC6gl9k05KSGe1r7C0ADoIkOJaLTK7R_Ha/s1024/output.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="591" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHCfqzI4lNROqVEX1Lopp8QPVlHlbQdAAkeXFMHYAwPUMIzGK55T7_h0rC7lb6bCp0wJBCxo-FT_bebU1LA4BXrSIT3136KxnxIGDnBu_SDJa2WUW62nNz3TLJXA7B0_VqiSM8amScunBcTLvz0rTcZCyqSLjC6gl9k05KSGe1r7C0ADoIkOJaLTK7R_Ha/s640/output.jpg" width="591" /></a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In 2011 I did an <b><a href="https://archive.is/DPQy5">article</a></b> on an exhibition at the Geidai Museum for the <i>Japan Times</i>. I had absolutely no idea about the contents of the exhibition, which were artworks connected to Japan's ancient perfume culture, so I had to dig up one of the curators, an academic lady, and shoot her some questions that reveal my ignorance of the subject and her erudition. The image is an AI-generated image of a serious Japanese lady academic, not an actual image of Yokomizo herself, whom I suspect is not so hot.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;">________________________</div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell: </b>How many fragrance boxes are in the exhibition? I counted two. What are the fragrances in them? Are these fragrances different at different times or the same fragrances throughout the exhibition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Yokomizo: </b>If you are referring to the boxes that you can open the lid, and smell the fragrance, there are three boxes. The fragrance changed from ume plum to orchid this Monday, but the "Kyara" and "Takimono" are the same throughout the exhibition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell: </b>When we think of perfume we think of "hiding bad smells." This is certainly the case with France, a country that was once notorious for poor bathing habits. Although the origins of Japan's fragrance culture are in Buddhism, it was developed by the Heian nobility. Is it true that they seldom bathed, and that they used perfume in the same way as the old French nobility to "hide bad smells"?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Yokomizo:</b> Yes, it is considered so in Japan also.<br /><br /><b>Liddell: </b>In Japanese culture you talk about "hearing" aroma. By contrast, this exhibition invites us to "see" the aromas. The connection between smelling and hearing seems natural as aromas are a little unclear and abstract like music, but seeing is precise and definite, so it may seem an unusual idea. How would you compare and contrast "hearing" an aroma with "seeing" an aroma?<br /><br /><b>Yokomizo: </b>"Hearing" aroma is the term used in Kodo, because the person heartfully "listens" to what the fragrant wood is expressing, as if the wood was a person. "Seeing" aroma is rather an attempt to see what the painter is expressing, in the case of the paintings in this exhibition, the painters have the aroma as a part of the theme in painting.<br /><br /><b>Liddell: </b>The English philosopher John Locke made a distinction between Primary qualities of sensation (solidity, extension, motion, number and figure) and Secondary qualities of sensation (colour, taste, smell, and sound). The former were regarded as more objective, while the latter were regarded as more subjective. This distinction was a foundation of the mechanistic outlook common in Western culture. Is there a similar distinction in Japanese culture? If not, why not?<br /><br /><b>Yokomizo:&nbsp;</b>I am not quite sure about this, and will send this question to Mr. Ryo Furuta, the main curator of this exhitibion. I hope he will respond quickly.<br /><br /><b>Liddell: </b>Japanese fragrance culture is unique and highly developed and an important part of general Japanese culture. What is the foundation of this? Why did Japan develop this strong fragrance culture, while in other cultures, even in France, smell and aroma have traditionally been regarded as mere aspects of other cultural areas, such as cuisine, wine, flowers, and fashion?<br /><br /><b>Yokomizo:&nbsp;</b>Considering how widely tea is enjoyed in Japan, there is much [in] common with fragrance appreciation, and incense was used in various scenes in the Japanese daily lives. Incense is most the essential item when we pray for the souls of those who have past away, even today. It is essential in all scenes in Buddhist rituals, as offerings to Buddha and other subjects of rituals, widely carried out throughout Japan from ancient times to the present . Since the Heian period, it was considered an etiquette, to create unique incense fragrances. Fragrance was enjoyed with literature, expressed often in poems, and is probably part of the spirit in Japan to enjoy the various different elements of the four seasons, such as the many plants and flowers. It was also used to both rise and calm&nbsp; spirits, and Kodo developed along with Sado, and widely carried out, first throughout the nobles, and later to the common people.<br /><br /></div></span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-44225509455653802722024-04-26T13:50:00.013+01:002024-04-30T11:26:39.744+01:00Angelo Visigalli, Restaurateur<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8W59ZcqOMxTxr_qpxT0GthsgBfsGduZ1XqJp75x-UOs9jXhvNBHprmhCuDrOtvdsjOVNuyCraOusaEc5zpgrZjld3vyIEH60lOUy3f5WhU5Dq161EHcNaq6GO_ZydGzR4IkAjKOgFFT8LdaLHd2sgDO7S-FyttfgnmAN8jRN-N_OaWeR0z0BWzc9K_0GB/s1129/RG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1016" data-original-width="1129" height="524" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8W59ZcqOMxTxr_qpxT0GthsgBfsGduZ1XqJp75x-UOs9jXhvNBHprmhCuDrOtvdsjOVNuyCraOusaEc5zpgrZjld3vyIEH60lOUy3f5WhU5Dq161EHcNaq6GO_ZydGzR4IkAjKOgFFT8LdaLHd2sgDO7S-FyttfgnmAN8jRN-N_OaWeR0z0BWzc9K_0GB/s640/RG.jpg" width="582" /></a></div><br />Back in 2010, I was putting together a feature article for Metropolis magazine on art in restaurants. As part of this I ran a few questions past the owner of </span><b style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g14129578-d1198554-Reviews-Bice_Tokyo-Shimbashi_Minato_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html">BICE</a></b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">, one of the restaurants featured. The interview was carried about by email to save on transcription time. Some slight corrections have been made in Visigelli's English as it is not his first language apparently.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b> When did BICE start exhibiting art and why?</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><b>Visigalli: </b>Art it is always being a passion of mine, therefore when we were planning the restaurant layout, I made sure that it would be equipped for exposition. We did the first art exposition a week after the opening. Usually we do a different exposition every 2-3 month.<br /><br /><b>Liddell: </b>What attracted you to Aeravi’s art? [The artist currently on display] How do you normally choose your artists?<br /><br /><b>Visigalli:&nbsp;</b>I liked the graphics of her design that I find very metaphysical but very expressive at the same time.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Do you have any restrictions on the kind of art that can be shown? If so, what are they? What are the reasons for these limits?<br /><br /><b>Visigalli:&nbsp;</b>Usually I do not have any limitation whatsoever, because art as food, is a matter of taste, you can love it, or dislike it. At the same time, I expose art in my restaurant to entertain, and therefore, in order to respect the first and most important core of my business, serve food with good service in a cozy environment, sometimes I find myself turning down offers from artists that are too explicit. This is to avoid an 80-year-old lady, finding herself in front of a man's nude, which can be acceptable in a museum.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How can artists approach you?<br /><br /><b>Visigalli:&nbsp;</b>90% of the time I go searching for artists in expositions, internet, or during visits to gallery, but as we have been doing this for many years now, we receive lots of portfolios, and than we take it from there.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How are the paintings marketed to the customers? For example, how do they know that they are not just decoration but are also for sale?<br /><br /><b>Visigalli:&nbsp;</b>Usually our staff informs the costumers regarding the exposition, and if the costumer asks for more details, we always inform them that unlike the art galleries, we do not take part in the sales, therefore we suggest to contact the artist/gallery that represent it directly.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>What do you think of the traditional gallery system – rental galleries, dealer galleries, etc.? What are the drawbacks? What are the advantages? Do you think this system can survive?<br /><br /><b>Visigalli:&nbsp;</b>I believe that the systems works fine. Unfortunately, for the artists, some galleries are very greedy, and therefore leave the artist too little to live on. At the same time, it is a necessary process to eliminate unnecessary art, or inconstant artists. The market is very much saturated with so many different kinds of artists and art, and this highly competitive system, will ensure the survival of the very true, artist with a message, not the one that only have a fantastic concept that needs the instruction book as an appliance to be understood.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>What are the advantages for the artists of exhibiting in a restaurant setting as opposed to a traditional gallery? What are the disadvantages, if any?<br /><br /><b>Visigalli:&nbsp;</b>The advantage is that usually there is a lot of people going through this kind of activity than an average gallery. Disadvantage can be that we are not a gallery first of all, therefore the people that visit us do not come to see art, even if I would like to underline that, after 8 years, lots of our guests are always looking forward to the next exhibition.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>What are the advantages for the restaurants? Are there any problems?<br /><br /><b>Visigalli:&nbsp;</b>The basic advantage is to ensure a different atmosphere according to the artist's message. Problems none, except the set up. That is time consuming, in an already busy environment with daily operations, but I would not call this a problem.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Tell me about some of the artists who have exhibited with you and how it has impacted on their career?<br /><br /><b>Visigalli:&nbsp;</b>Well, we did lots of solo artist exhibitions, from top Italians, like Mario Arlati a living artist that is considered one of the top 5 (all after Clemente of course), or Massimo Catalani&nbsp; (<b><a href="http://www.massimocatalani.com">www.massimocatalani.com</a></b>) another already famous painter from Italy, Tetsuro Shimizu, a teacher at Brera art school in Milano for over 20 years, Kentaro Baba, Saito Kaoru, Mr. Dang, and many many more. Of course, the famous did not have any gain from exposing in BiCE except for the revenue on their sales, the younger ones, have a chance to showcase their art to a window on the city of Tokyo, and you never know, one thing can led to another.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>BICE is on the 47th floor and has incredible views. Other restaurants I have visited are in basements with no windows. Restaurants with no windows obviously need the kind of visual charm that art provides, but why does BICE need art when you have such great views already? <br /><br /><b>Visigalli:&nbsp;</b>As mentioned before, art is a passion of mine, and I'm always hoping to expose some of the artists that I like, not for commercial gain, nor to fill my pockets with the sales, as I am not a professional in the field, but just an amateur, by exposing new and young artists I hope to make more people interested in art, as much as entertain them.</div></span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-77958916444455333412024-03-10T17:20:00.006+00:002024-03-10T17:39:39.015+00:00Kunio Kobayashi (小林國雄), bonsai master<p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9zbWwYhjVPYtPSkfi7N7YxFtGelnD6w_D68707mFWVjscPuLgcrxoTChY028i35mQjRmFnAKvqEAIS5WMoROhkC6tQk3A7f1P6L_xC3BvvMsRX2RtikS1HLk0LEfldn00wUlyMCg-CTTDZMruLNLmEDAL6GwcIrCCvN5iImVf9KR2sW6elEOarj1D0ovp/s2592/DSC00241.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="1944" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9zbWwYhjVPYtPSkfi7N7YxFtGelnD6w_D68707mFWVjscPuLgcrxoTChY028i35mQjRmFnAKvqEAIS5WMoROhkC6tQk3A7f1P6L_xC3BvvMsRX2RtikS1HLk0LEfldn00wUlyMCg-CTTDZMruLNLmEDAL6GwcIrCCvN5iImVf9KR2sW6elEOarj1D0ovp/s640/DSC00241.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><i>Photo by Colin Liddell</i></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This was an interview I did in 2004 for an article in Tokyo Journal. I had some help from Kobayashi's English apprentice, 26-year-old Peter Warren.&nbsp;</span><span>Kobayashi</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;was not able or unwilling to answer some questions, which are not included here.&nbsp;</span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:</b> What is the main appeal of Bonsai for those who do it?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Kobayashi:</b> One of the main appeals of Bonsai is communication with nature. Modern life has lost touch with the natural world and Bonsai is a link back to it. Tokyo is full of concrete and buildings, which are ugly, but if you do Bonsai you can have some green in a pot.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;How did you first become attracted to doing Bonsai<br /><br /><b>Kobayashi:</b>&nbsp;Life. Bonsai have a long life, longer than me and you. They have been alive in a small pot for hundreds of years and will be alive after I die. They also have their own personality, each tree is an individual with it's own characteristics and beauty. There are no two bonsai that are exactly alike. This makes it different from gardening.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;Many people think that Bonsai is cruel to trees because the tree is not allowed to grow freely. I have even heard it called 'foot binding' for trees. What do you say to such people?<br /><br /><b>Kobayashi:</b>&nbsp;A person who does bonsai must love their trees more than anything. You have to look after it everyday, give it food and water, keep it healthy, but most importantly you must love it. How many trees out in nature receive such love and care? How many 1000 year old trees are there still alive and as healthy as the 1000 year old Bonsai? If you do Bonsai with love then the trees do not suffer any more than they do in nature. Nature itself is cruel, that is where Bonsai comes from, trees up in the mountains subjected to the cruelty of nature, strong winds, snow, rockfalls. Those trees are not allowed to grow freely but they still grow. They battle against nature and sometimes they win to become beautiful trees, sometimes they die. That is natural.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;Bonsai is often seen as an old man's hobby. Does it have something to offer the younger generation?<br /><br /><b>Kobayashi:</b>&nbsp;Bonsai can teach you many things about life.&nbsp; Everything I have learnt is from Bonsai! It has taught me about the importance of life and to respect nature and other people.&nbsp; You also need a lot of time and patience to do Bonsai, starting young is the best because you have a lot more time to do it and can grow your own Bonsai from the start, but only if you are very dedicated.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;What kinds of trees do you like to work with? Why?<br /><br /><b>Kobayashi:</b>&nbsp;Black pine and plum trees.&nbsp; Black pines are very strong trees and I understand them, they are like strong men, majestic and powerful.&nbsp; My favourite tree is The plum tree because it represents the true heart of Bonsai. It embodies many of the ideas and concepts of Bonsai and Japanese culture. It has <i>wabi-sabi</i>. The trees have very interesting shapes, they are twisted and hollow, the bark is gnarled and rough.&nbsp; They are also very dark.&nbsp; When they flower, the brilliant white flowers make a beautiful contrast against the cruel shape of the tree.&nbsp; Even though this tree is old and twisted and to many people it might look ugly, it is still very beautiful, but the flowers will soon pass and fall off.&nbsp; This is important in Bonsai. It has character.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;What trees do you dislike?<br /><br /><b>Kobayashi:</b>&nbsp;Needle Junipers. They are painful to wire, that's why I have apprentices! Each tree has it's own good points and bad points, it is up to the Bonsai artist to see these and have the talent and the vision to bring them out and make it look beautiful. Each artist is an individual and can understand some trees better than others, I understand black pines whereas another person understands maple trees. To be the best Bonsai artist in the world you must try and understand and work with every type of tree.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;What is the hardest thing to teach in Bonsai?<br /><b><br />Kobayashi:</b>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Love. You either love Bonsai or don't. That cannot be taught. Artistic sense. You either have it or you haven't, a teacher can only help you to bring it out, he cannot teach it.<br /></span><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;You travel a lot to promote Bonsai in other countries. Could you tell us a little about how Bonsai is received overseas?<br /><br /><b>Kobayashi:</b>&nbsp;They love it. At the moment there is a big bonsai boom in Europe. It is really taking off. There are some very good Bonsai artists in Europe at the moment and they love bonsai. They have good material and are making some very good trees. They are also very young and enthusiastic. This is good.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;What is the main difference between Japanese and foreign Bonsai styles?<br /><br /><b>Kobayashi:</b>&nbsp;Each country has it's own style, because each country has it's own native trees. Most countries are still finding their own style. Non-Japanese bonsai has also been influenced by a few successful Japanese Bonsai artists who have become popular over there so that style is popular. It is changing as more and more people do it and do it for longer.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;What are the current trends in Bonsai?<br /><br /><b>Kobayashi:</b>&nbsp; Maple trees are not popular because there are too many on the market, it is too easy to make them now.<br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;How do you see Bonsai developing in the future?<br /><br /><b>Kobayashi:</b>&nbsp;&nbsp;International. It is becoming world Bonsai now. Taiwanese Bonsai is at a very high standard and some European Bonsai, particularly Italian Bonsai is close behind.&nbsp; In terms of technique, everybody is at the same level, buti n terms of understanding and the artistic side, Japan still has a longer history. Japanese Bonsai thinking hasn't changed much at all and is only very slowly opening up to the world. This has to change or Japan will lose to the rest of the world<br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;How important are the pots to you? How do you choose the right pot for the right plant?<br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><b>Kobayashi:</b><span>&nbsp;</span><span>&nbsp;</span><span>The pot is very important to the Bonsai. It is 50% of "Bonsai" in&nbsp;</span><span>Kanji! Having the wrong pot can destroy the tree's beauty, it will take everything away [from] the tree.&nbsp; There must be a good balance and harmony between the pot. It must also help to create an image, for example a shallow pot for deciduous trees like maple, looks like a field.&nbsp; A tall deep strong pot for a cascade style tree looks like the side of a mountain, which is where the tree would be growing. The age of a pot is also very important.&nbsp; Young pots have no character, they are like clones, one of a hundred. Old pots might be chipped or discoloured by weathering or chemicals or just the type of clay used.&nbsp; These have character, they are not perfect but that is better.&nbsp;</span><span>Perfect is boring. An old tree should go in an old pot, a young tree&nbsp;</span></span><span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">in a young pot. this way you have good balance and harmony between the tree and pot. Colour, age, shape and character.&nbsp; These are all important.&nbsp; I have lots and lots of pots to chose from because I love pots, this way I can always get the right pot.</span></span></div></span><p style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-58399731819550712922023-12-25T00:33:00.005+00:002024-04-26T13:52:02.054+01:00David Sutton, editor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdIJ0rzRZe-1M2UTkBEt6y5Gv67IL8BytJXuEeVzTf-9n-5xbJSp5rN8tqKyq0Zq8z9r7WzidbaO3OSt8jgq45OSCIpkgUiJNCj4tM_O_23YMA6iQRJVltaEdWA8W5SA_pTohO1zNkKI8jqg25dXRFrMokhVibBFREDo8CZA0WaZFrttjODVKxF3MgyxS/s1067/D%20Sutton%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="1067" height="604" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdIJ0rzRZe-1M2UTkBEt6y5Gv67IL8BytJXuEeVzTf-9n-5xbJSp5rN8tqKyq0Zq8z9r7WzidbaO3OSt8jgq45OSCIpkgUiJNCj4tM_O_23YMA6iQRJVltaEdWA8W5SA_pTohO1zNkKI8jqg25dXRFrMokhVibBFREDo8CZA0WaZFrttjODVKxF3MgyxS/w640-h604/D%20Sutton%201.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /> </span><div> </div> <div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I interviewed David Sutton, the editor of "The Fortean Times," by email in March and April, 2008, for an article I was working on about Japan's paranormal. Mr. Sutton was extremely helpful and informative, but, unfortunately, because the interview wasn't 'live,' much of the psychological data that is normally revealed by people's speaking patterns is missing. On the plus side I was spared the burdensome task of transcribing.</span></i></div> <span class="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell: </b>Many people won't understand the concept of Forteana and will mix it up with folklore, urban myths, crank journalism, pseudo-science, and, indeed, even real science. What is your working definition of Fortean phenomena and how do you differentiate Forteana from the other categories I've just mentioned?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sutton: </b>Well, strictly speaking, forteana would only refer to the kinds of anomalies and strange phenomena recorded by Charles Fort in his four published books – most notably falls of objects from the sky, mysterious lights, appearances and disappearances of people and objects, poltergeist phenomena, weird weather and so on. Obviously, Fort died some three-quarters of a century ago, so the categories of what we would now consider as ‘fortean phenomena’ have broadened quite a bit: creatures unknown to science, like Bigfoot and the many other ‘man-beasts’ reported from around the world; UFOs and alien abductions; millennial beliefs and cults; out-of-place animals, like the big cats sighted on an almost daily basis here in the UK, and many others that Fort might not have recognised or viewed in quite the same way.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I’d be loath, though, to say that there’s necessarily an absolute difference between what we’d regard as forteana and the other categories you mention. After all, the phenomena we study shade in and out of folklore and urban legend with some regularity. Many people, for instance, would argue that most of the strange creatures encountered around the world are precisely folkloric – or born out of folklore’s modern equivalent, the urban legend. And, indeed, they often are – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t also out there in the woods, where people run into them in flesh and blood. Which is where the conflicts between ‘real science’ and so-called ‘pseudo-science’ begin. Is cryptozoology – the search for unknown creatures such as lake monsters and manimals – a ‘real’ science or something practised solely by misguided amateurs and cranks? The answer will depend on your position vis a vis the scientific establishment and method.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the end, I think forteana has more to do with an attitude that distinguishes it both from mainstream science and from the other kinds of belief that surround, say, UFOs or Atlantis: we simply remain curious – and encourage others to do so – bringing open minds to such evidence as there is, looking for more, and avoiding the exclusionism and rejection of the anomalous that often, unfortunately, characterizes mainstream science.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How important is culture and social history in influencing perceptions of Fortean phenomena? For example, people in a country, say, with certain folkloric archetypes or political traditions might be susceptible to having their perceptions shaped by that. One Japanese example I can think of is the Aum Shinrikyo cult that recycled some of the anti-freemasonry/ anti-Semitic theories popular in Japan in the 1930s and 1940s.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sutton:&nbsp;</b>Our experience would suggest that they are vital. I’d go so far as to say that no phenomena lie wholly outside of the fabric of cultural and social practice and belief – which is not to say that they’re not real, only conditioned by our inability to step outside our cultures and histories. In the past, most anomalies were either interpreted in explicitly religious terms – as signs and portents of God’s pleasure or displeasure – or in those of folkloric belief systems. Since the modern era, of course, the tendency is rather to attempt to explain them – or explain them away – in terms of scientific knowledge; which is itself, as we know, subject to change over time. And with specific types of phenomena, we can see how interpretation takes place in the light of contemporary social and cultural beliefs. Encounters with the ‘little people’ in Europe were traditionally interpreted as meetings with fairies; in the industrialised culture of the post-war world, with its fears around invasion and nuclear weapons, and its emergent pop-culture of flying saucers and little green men, the same types of stories mutated into close encounters and later alien abductions.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Different countries produce different types of Fortean phenomenon. I would imagine that the USA is big on UFOs. The UK seems to have a lot of big cat sightings and crop circles, etc. From the material you encounter in your job as editor, what sort of Fortean profile does Japan have? What sort of phenomenon tend to be reported a lot in Japan?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sutton:&nbsp;</b>Ha – not enough! In fact, I wonder whether the kinds of stories that do get reported in the West actually tell us more about certain preconceptions held here concerning Japanese culture. I’m thinking of the amount of coverage (including much by us) given in particular to cults – like Aum Shinrikyo or Panawave – the Internet suicide pacts of recent years, or the Pokemon panic in which kids supposedly had epileptic seizures as a result of watching a cartoon on TV. These are all, in a way, stories about a highly pressurised, highly technological society in which individualism is felt to be somehow under threat from corporate cultures, militant belief systems or technology itself. This strikes me as something of a Western image of modern Japan and I wonder if this is why such stories We hear much less about, say, Japanese ghosts, mystery creatures or UFO sightings, although we do cover them when we get wind of such things. If any of your readers would like to help, by alerting us to local stories that we may be unaware of, we’d encourage them to do so, either by sending us newspaper clippings (preferably with translations!) or emailing us stories. They can get details from our website: www.forteantimes.com</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Is there a characteristic Japanese Fortean phenomenon?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sutton:&nbsp;</b>The particular Fortean phenomenon reported in a place may reveal (a) an actual real thing or (b) something about the culture, mindset, preoccupations, etc. of the people living in that area. I've always thought that the UK's crop circles were tied in, in some way, with British people apparent love of circular forms - ranging from stone circles to modern day roundabouts. Assuming that Japan's reported Fortean phenomena are not actual, what do you think they reveal about the country? I would say they reveal, on one level, the same thing that reports of strange phenomena reveal the world over: that despite everything that science, and indeed common sense, tells us about the nature of our existence, extraordinary things are constantly happening to ordinary people and forcing them to re-examine their basic assumptions. Whether we’re talking about seeing a UFO, encountering a mysterious entity or witnessing fish falling from the sky, these encounters with the unknown can change peoples’ relationship with the world – both positively and negatively.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the case of Japan – as with many other countries – they probably also reveal tensions between traditional belief systems and customs and the rapid industrial and technological expansion of the post-war years, as well as perhaps the country’s relationship with the West, particularly America. Kitsune and UFOs are both found in Japan, but the latter are to some extent an American global export, while the latter are an indigenous form of a possibly universal set of mythic archetypes. I do wonder whether one generation of Japanese would favour one over the other… these are the sorts of questions that would be interesting to explore from a Japanese perspective.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Regarding Japanese cryptids, how would you rank the following in terms of probability of existing: The Lake Ikeda Monster - "Issie," the Hibagon, the Tsuchinoko, Kappa, fox-women, giant squid?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sutton:&nbsp;</b>Taking them in order: Issie, like most lake monsters, seems to be problematic in terms of thinking of it as a real creature. My understanding of Lake Ikeda is that it has no rivers flowing into it, so the question of how a sizeable beast got there in the first place is a little tough to answer. The natural ‘explanations’ – such as eels in the lake – are as debateable as in any other lake monster case, but shouldn’t be dismissed. In its way, Issie has probably become as clouded by rumour, commerce and peoples’ fondness for such stories as has Nessie here in the UK, with tourist boards offering rewards and such like. I guess we’ll wait for a truly convincing photo that can’t be explained away. The Hibagon – have there been further reports since the original 70s sightings? Although the region around Mt Hiba was described back then as remote, I don’t know how far man has since encroached on any potential habitat. It’s hard to believe that a large unknown man-beast in a country as heavily populated as Japan – although they have been reported from all over the world, not just areas of large wilderness in, say, North America or the Himalayas. The sheer ubiquity of such tales suggests that we are either dealing with genuine creatures or a mythic idea so powerful that it is really a form of archetype that cuts across quite disparate cultures and has a good deal of meaning for people with very different backgrounds and belief systems. The Tsuchinoko – although rather odd-sounding, could indeed be a real creature, perhaps as our own Dr Karl Shuker once suggested, some kind of mutant pit viper. It’s also possible, of course, that the Tsuchinoko is merely the product of a persistent body of stories coupled with misidentifications of other creatures, whether snakes after a meal or larger lizards. Kappa – I’d love to see one! They are like some unholy hybrid of what we in the West would recognise as fairy lore – whether aiding or hindering humans they have a lot in common with the little people – and the terrifying water-folk of HP Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth! They are scary as hell, so I’m quite glad that I feel I can safely banish them to the realm of the folkloric – despite the occasional sightings that have been reported over the years. Fox Women – Again, the kitsune are a venerable element of Japanese folklore and art rather than ‘real’ creatures. But they are also an example of the power of myth – the reality of the mythic, if you like – in the sense that stories of ‘possession’ by fox spirits have also been the basis for genuine experiences, although these would of course be described as instances of mental illness. The question is, though, does the illness simply make use of available cultural materials to express itself – in this case the idea of fox spirits – or does the kitsune myth express something that has been known about ‘human nature’ for a long, long time. Is it an archetype, with a life of its own? And can it, then – as Jung would have argued – indeed ‘possess’ us? Giant Squid – Well, the giant squid – despite having its own legends and sailors’ tales attached to it – is undeniably real. It’s nice for us to see a creature that was often dismissed as a myth finally being accepted as a genuine creature – and largely due to the efforts of Japanese scientists and researchers who have brought us the incredible pictures and video of the living squid in its natural environment. We still have an awful lot to learn about these amazing creatures, and that is something we greatly look forward to; as well as seeing what other mysteries the oceans will yield up to us in the future. So, in descending order of probable flesh-and-blood reality (although some forteans would claim that such a term can’t do justice to the kinds of weird critters reported from around the world…): Giant Squid, The Tsuchinoko, The Hibagon, Issie, Fox-women, Kappa.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>One of the most interesting Fortean phenomenon that Japan may be connected to is the connection between the WWII 'Fugu' balloon bombs and early UFO sightings in the Pacific NW. Is it possible to say that Japan kicked off the UFO mania of the 40s and 50s?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sutton:&nbsp;</b>Well, we’ve seen phantom airship panics dating back to the late 19th century, the Swedish ghost rockets of 1946 and the whole Flying Saucer mythos growing out of Cold War fears of Communist invasion, so it shouldn’t surprise if there was a connection between wartime US fears of Japanese invasion and weird things being seen in the sky. And, of course, we’ve seen plenty of supposed UFOs explained as weather balloons and so on. Having said that, the Fugo balloon bombs do predate what we’d normally identify as the dawn of the ‘UFO age’ with Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 sighting, so their influence on subsequent developments of UFO lore might be marginal. What seems most likely to me is that the secrecy the US military attached to the bombs may have meant that some people who encountered them at the time – with no knowledge of what they were dealing with – may then have remembered them at a later date and interpreted them as Ufos in the light of the emergence of that particular mythos as it emerged in the late-40s and through the 1950s.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;One of the problems that Fortean world faces is that legitimate areas of investigation are closed off because those institutions capable of financing and supporting research are afraid of gaining a reputation for pseudo-science that might harm their other activities. A good example is the Sony ESP lab. Although the research was interesting, it nevertheless created an image that could have damaged Sony's share price. Does this kind of perception create a false barrier between things that big companies and universities are prepared to research and those they aren't, simply because it's bad for their image.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sutton:&nbsp;</b>Yes, it’s increasingly a problem. The golden age of psychical research – when eminent scientists and philosophers took an active interest in what we’d now call the paranormal seem a long way off, and institutions – even, for instance, the Koestler Unit in Edinburgh, set up specifically to study parapsychological phenomena – seem increasingly under pressure to reach sceptical conclusions and avoid making claims that might rock the funding boat or attract derision from the scientific community. There would be some truth in the argument that, often, the results obtained don’t justify sustained funding, but many so-called ‘mavericks’ – Dr Rupert Sheldrake or Dr Michael Persinger – would strongly disagree and produce strong evidence to back their research claims. But these are just the kinds of researchers who struggle to find funding and end up on the receiving end of sometimes quite vindictive attacks from the scientific establishment or evangelical sceptics like the ghastly Richard Dawkins.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How can this be overcome?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sutton:&nbsp;</b>I wish I knew. I suspect the only way that it would happen is for someone to come up with some truly repeatable and incontrovertible experimental evidence for psi or whatever. Trouble is, with the lack of current finding and hostility to such research, that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. It’s a rather vicious circle, isn’t it?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Lastly, what is the most interesting Fortean phenomena from Japan that you have encountered? Why?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sutton:&nbsp;</b>I’m particularly fond of the story that the village of Shingo, in Aomori Prefecture, was where Jesus decided to spend the remainder of his days after pulling a last-minute crucifixion-swap and escaping to Japan. Apparently, he lived to 103, enjoying a quiet life, and is buried in the village.<br /><br /></div></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> </span></div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-11619923461786845092023-12-17T23:30:00.005+00:002023-12-18T09:11:56.403+00:00Ethan Scheiner, political scientist <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgNTv6IYaOTsozzXXUGBdY2B7ReV5qDV3WM_ngFTC-aTHApyZbZ7trFvbk3OSx6CFM8aO28gOdMcKttEA_NAKNQp4k5bLnn4mbZsYuOAAuYsihrzoIh63vuFoI2PgIzYtDQTyQwuxs_NwJymtu6aLz0VEucIE625tptYCSoLgc3FoVxUCci6JBoxdJeqf/s1918/Ethan%20Scheiner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1918" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgNTv6IYaOTsozzXXUGBdY2B7ReV5qDV3WM_ngFTC-aTHApyZbZ7trFvbk3OSx6CFM8aO28gOdMcKttEA_NAKNQp4k5bLnn4mbZsYuOAAuYsihrzoIh63vuFoI2PgIzYtDQTyQwuxs_NwJymtu6aLz0VEucIE625tptYCSoLgc3FoVxUCci6JBoxdJeqf/w640-h428/Ethan%20Scheiner.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i>In 2008, in the wake of the economic crisis, I was working on an article on Japanese politics with a focus on the prospects of the Japanese Communist Party and decided to pull in some quotes from an "academic expert." <br /><br />After a bit of searching, I came up with the name of Ethan Sheiner, a Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis. The interview was by e-mail.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">__________________________</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell:</b> There's a widespread belief that a "competitive" two-party system&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span>is the way towards greater representation, and Japan's electoral&nbsp;</span><span>reforms of the 1990s were designed to facilitate this. But, unless&nbsp;</span><span>reflecting class or race groups, doesn't a two-party system merely&nbsp;</span><span>lead to the two parties becoming increasingly identical as they&nbsp;</span><span>compete for uncommitted centrist voters in a few marginal areas?</span></span></div></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><b>Scheiner:</b>&nbsp;I know that this is not what you mean, but we should be careful&nbsp;</span><span>about what "greater representation" means. In many ways, the center is the&nbsp;</span><span>most "representative." A majority made up of the left would prefer the&nbsp;</span><span>center to anything to the right of the center. And a majority made up of&nbsp;</span><span>the right would prefer the center to anything to the left of the center.&nbsp;</span><span>That said, there is nothing about 2 party competition that says that&nbsp;</span><span>it need lead to 2 parties that are identical and at the center. Few would&nbsp;</span><span>say that the 2 parties in the US have been the same in recent years. And&nbsp;</span><span>the long history of the 2 leading parties in the UK would certainly not&nbsp;</span><span>suggest that they are the same.&nbsp;</span><span>Much of the issue in Japan is that elections are not fundamentally&nbsp;</span><span>about "issues," but rather are at least as much about things like pork&nbsp;</span><span>barrel and especially local concerns. Japanese elections are usually less&nbsp;</span><span>nationalized and more focused on each local election.</span></div></span><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><b>Liddell: </b>Isn't a 2-party centrist stalemate actually less representative&nbsp;</span><span>than a 1-party dominated system, like the old LDP, because at least a&nbsp;</span><span>single dominant party can change the direction of legislation in the&nbsp;</span><span>interests of the people?<br /><br /></span></div></span></span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Scheiner</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>:</b> I'm not sure why the 2 party system you suggest here is less&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">representative than a 1 party system. But, and I think this is more&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">important, the "stalemate" you are talking in Japan about is not a problem&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">of a 2-party system. It is a problem of having 2 branches of the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">legislature, each with roughly equal power and each controlled by a&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">different party.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><b>Liddell: </b>As Japan faces increasing economic stress and restructuring, what&nbsp;</span><span>is the likelihood of social divisions developing and expressing&nbsp;</span><span>themselves in political affiliation? I am thinking in particular about&nbsp;</span><span>those within the full-time employment system and those on temporary&nbsp;</span><span>contacts, as well as the growing gap between rich and poor.</span></div></span><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span>Scheiner</span><span>:&nbsp;</span></b><span>LDP typically has had the support of many of the weaker groups&nbsp;</span><span>- for example, rural areas that are so vulnerable to the global economy,&nbsp;</span><span>small &amp; medium sized businesses - for a long time. And it is such groups&nbsp;</span><span>that are among the most hard hit by the changes in Japan today. The LDP&nbsp;</span><span>continues to try to help them, but is limited by budget constraints.&nbsp;</span><span>To answer your question more directly, there are important divisions&nbsp;</span><span>especially within the LDP about whether to help the more modern parts of the&nbsp;</span><span>economy and whether to support the rural areas, etc. that are so hard hit.&nbsp;</span><span>The DPJ used to focus on supporting the former, but in recent years has been&nbsp;</span><span>appealing more to the latter.&nbsp;</span><span>It is possible that there could be a real split, leading to parties&nbsp;</span><span>to break apart and reform along those lines. (Because of the nature of the&nbsp;</span><span>splits I just noted, I don't see it being about the types - fulltime or&nbsp;</span><span>contract - of employment.)&nbsp;</span><span>I don't see either party appealing more to one of these groups than the&nbsp;</span><span>other.</span></div><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><b>Liddell: </b>Because of the similarities between the DPJ and the LDP, there is a&nbsp;</span><span>possibility that they might merge later. Is this likely? And, in such&nbsp;</span><span>a case, would the JCP benefit from occupying the position of largest&nbsp;</span><span>de facto opposition (especially as the Komeito is likely to be within&nbsp;</span><span>any ruling coalition)?</span></div></span><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span>Scheiner</span><span>:&nbsp;</span></b><span>Most likely, if they merge, it won't be the entire DPJ with the&nbsp;</span><span>entire LDP. Most likely, the groups would have more in common - for&nbsp;</span><span>example, politicians with more of an urban, modern focus from each party&nbsp;</span><span>coming together. I find it pretty unlikely that there would be just one&nbsp;</span><span>giant DPJ+LDP party. Think of it this way: If the DPJ &amp; LDP merge, that&nbsp;</span><span>means that in many, many districts the new party will have 2 candidates that&nbsp;</span><span>want to contest elections. They won't be satisfied staying in the same&nbsp;</span><span>party. The 2-candidate competition in most districts will force 2 large-ish&nbsp;</span><span>parties to continue to exist at the national level.&nbsp;</span><span>So, I don't see the JCP occupying a role as the major opposition.</span></div></span><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><b>Liddell: </b>The Japanese government seems to finance Japan's own exports to the&nbsp;</span><span>USA by buying up dollars and doing all it can to keep the yen low&nbsp;</span><span>despite the enormous trade deficit. Isn't this effectively a state of&nbsp;</span><span>economic vassalage with Japan as producer and America as consumer&nbsp;</span><span>(although it may even be in the best interests of such an overcrowded&nbsp;</span><span>island)? Isn't this economic system supported politically in campaign&nbsp;</span><span>donations from the big exporting corporations to the main parties who&nbsp;</span><span>then support continuing this economic relationship?</span></div></span><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span><b>Scheiner</b></span><span><b>: </b>At least as important as the support of big business to the LDP&nbsp;</span><span>is the support of small &amp; medium size business, agriculture, construction&nbsp;</span><span>and the like - all things that are not internationally competitive. I don't&nbsp;</span><span>see the LDP or Japanese government as simply working on behalf of big&nbsp;</span></span><span><span style="font-family: georgia;">competitive business.</span></span></div></span></span><span><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-35922193582400510982023-12-12T00:03:00.006+00:002024-03-10T17:21:30.052+00:00Junko Hama (浜 順子), hotel public relations<p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtHw8qP0lqe9hxuLVUhb3TkCZdW2zHmAyNCfFJnn0AScoAdD1VYCBvGRpSJ_uDbyoOt4K0acpMSTm_mW3oq5MtYpW82aKq0WtjlyI_sufuVM-JCpJ7RFiQRHicxsNZ4LzY4Gfo6pkFI5hiNloZakMnJg5kk4HTWhCIKhBQv5L8qTRqLZFgHvK-dcwNxV2/s501/Junko%20Hama.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="501" height="606" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdtHw8qP0lqe9hxuLVUhb3TkCZdW2zHmAyNCfFJnn0AScoAdD1VYCBvGRpSJ_uDbyoOt4K0acpMSTm_mW3oq5MtYpW82aKq0WtjlyI_sufuVM-JCpJ7RFiQRHicxsNZ4LzY4Gfo6pkFI5hiNloZakMnJg5kk4HTWhCIKhBQv5L8qTRqLZFgHvK-dcwNxV2/s640/Junko%20Hama.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i>Back in 2012 I was working on a story about hotels and architecture or something. One of the buildings I wanted to focus on was the iconic Tokyo Station hotel so I got in contact, hoping to speak to the General Manager only to get fobbed off with teh PR lady, a Ms Junko Hama (浜 順子). After a flurry of emails, I sent her a few questions that I hoped with generate a few useable quotes. Here they are. Enjoy! (Note I haven't corrected her English).</i></span><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>Why was it necessary to close the hotel for so long?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Hama: </b>The Tokyo Station hotel is in the Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Due to preservation and restoration of Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building, our hotel was temporary closed since 2006.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>What is the biggest change made to the hotel?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Hama: </b>Our hotel will be fully remodeled and reopen for business on October 3, 2012.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Before hotel closed, hotel’s total area space are was 5,600 square meters, and will be 20,400 square meters since Oct 3. The hotel offers 150 rooms (before closing, 58 rooms) and 10 variety venue, fitness &amp; spa, banquet rooms and others.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>What kind of market will the hotel be focusing on? Why?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Hama: </b>We welcome serve not only Japan but also overseas. Tokyo Station Marunouchi building was opened in 1914. Over the century, Tokyo Station was designated by the Important Cultural property of Japan in 2006 and fully reservation and restoration since Oct 1.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">We aim that Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building will be very important sightseeing spot in Japan.<br /><br /></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5m9K9Oz7YsuUpzouBDDEB1X1v8hutm3IZPvLRi64n8xCrNo631wj2RKltxkeTNY8RTVS8woqIuYPMbsaU1FRoigh7sEszj4bnCmuCHX9HpW4_sEzp_TKGkrfKBVnsvGPecklJTrgTnE6bSb7IhoEfWikP4TGoT7YDnrTX3Z6CDsNCwPkpBem3zQCjcZ0/s690/station-hotel-06.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="690" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5m9K9Oz7YsuUpzouBDDEB1X1v8hutm3IZPvLRi64n8xCrNo631wj2RKltxkeTNY8RTVS8woqIuYPMbsaU1FRoigh7sEszj4bnCmuCHX9HpW4_sEzp_TKGkrfKBVnsvGPecklJTrgTnE6bSb7IhoEfWikP4TGoT7YDnrTX3Z6CDsNCwPkpBem3zQCjcZ0/w686-h298/station-hotel-06.jpg" width="686" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>The Hotel is very much part of the original "Iccho London" area. What is the appeal of British style and atmosphere for Japanese people? Why is it so popular?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Hama: </b>Our hotel is not part of the original “Iccho London.”&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">We aimed our hotel décor blends sophisticated elements of Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building. Interior design by the respected British firm Richmond International Ltd., hailed for numerous successful renovations of historic properties, honors the history of the station building while incorporating the functionality and facilities demanded of a modern hotel.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><br />Liddell: </b>How does the Hotel fit into the Otemachi-Marunouchi-Yurakucho Area Management Plan? Is it the centerpiece? What do you think of this area plan?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Hama: </b>We will have a good relationship Marunouchi developer with our owner company, JR east railway company.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Tokyo Station Hotel is part of the hotel of Nippon Hotel corporation.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nippon Hotel corporation is associated company of JR east railway company.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>What makes this part of Tokyo special?<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><b>Hama:</b> We aim our hotel and Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building will be important part of sightseeing spot and symbol of central city, Tokyo.<br /><br /><br /></span><br /></span></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-52096447249957790122023-08-30T21:18:00.003+01:002024-04-26T13:51:34.246+01:00Mitch Ikeda, photographer<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9AxFD7guAYyOybuEh99tvCLQielIDeAnYjv_978SSLXGtRoO0a84ylVqUwnyVbxWLNPo7wfPLQFpi6JsYdwqJJEcLZX8DO3eeDO2HwfhyphenhyphenkQoYROlMC7iegNXsFTcFPEzEOmjDa3G5AOLl/s1600-h/Manics.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="571" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244350966660265346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9AxFD7guAYyOybuEh99tvCLQielIDeAnYjv_978SSLXGtRoO0a84ylVqUwnyVbxWLNPo7wfPLQFpi6JsYdwqJJEcLZX8DO3eeDO2HwfhyphenhyphenkQoYROlMC7iegNXsFTcFPEzEOmjDa3G5AOLl/s640/Manics.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="580" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>In January 2003, I interviewed the Japanese photographer Mitch Ikeda, famous for taking pictures of the Manic Street Preachers and Oasis. The interview consists of questions emailed, translated into Japanese, then with answers returned in Japanese. Despite 'hanging out' with British rock bands, it seems that Mitch's English is pretty non-existent, while his Japanese answers suggested some of the surly insouciance of the rock stars he snaps had rubbed off on him.</i></div> </span><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /> <br /><b> Liddell: </b>I saw your exhibition at Proud, Camden, in London. Are you going to have a similar exhibition in Japan? <br /> <br /><b>Ikeda: </b>Thank you for coming. In Japan they won't have the same exhibition. It'll be one third the size and only for one night.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>I saw the book, <i>Forever Delayed</i> in the U.K. Has this book been released in Japan? Will it?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>They are not going to sell it in Japan, so people will have to get it as an import.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Do you have any activities planned to coincide with the Manics' tour of Japan this month?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>I haven't thought of it yet?<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How did you get to become the Manics' official photographer?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>It was destiny.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>What is your approach to photographing the Manics? What do you look for or focus on?<br /><br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>I've never thought of it. Always natural.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>What are the problems photographing a rock band?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>None.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>You have been photographing them for a long time. How has the band changed in that time?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>They've got older.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How aware were you of Richey cracking up? How did his disappearance affect the other three?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>Laugh. Please ask the 'other three' about Richey.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>There are a lot of Japanese touches in the pictures, e.g.: James Dean Bradfield's Mishima crucifixion pose; Nicky with a kanji ring, wearing 'Super Lovers' clothes, and posing with a noren; Sean wearing 'Final Home' clothes, etc. How much of this is due to you?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>There's no influence from myself.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Do you think Sony tried to make the band appeal to Japanese audiences by appointing a Japanese as the official photographer?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>I've never thought of that. This is very stupid question.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>The Manics often come to Japan. How do they react to Japanese culture and society?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>Laugh. I don't think they come that frequently. I think it might be the opposite. Incidentally, doesn't Paul Weller come many times? Maybe both don't come enough. Are they reacting to Japanese culture and society? I don't really know.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Which is your favourite picture?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>I love them all because they are mine.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>I particularly liked number 165, the picture of Richey jumping with a guitar. It's a truly iconic image of him, suggesting crucifixion and suicide. How did this shot happen?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>I took this photo at a photo shoot.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>What did you think of this picture later? Did you feel there was a kind of prophecy of his self-destruction in this image?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>No!<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Do you think the camera is capable of sometimes catching mysterious aspects of a person, things that we can't normally see, like their ghost, spirit, or a prophecy of their future?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>No!<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Which photographers have influenced you the most?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>Ken Domon, Eiko Hosoe, Kishin Shinoyama, Daido Moriyama, Penny Smith.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How much time do you normally spend with the Manics every year? What do you do when you are not with them?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>Every year it's decreasing. Though I used to live in London, now I've got children. It's decreasing more and more because of children.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How was the trip to Cuba? What was your impression of Fidel Castro?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>It was the best. He's a totally wonderful person.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>What did Nicky and Castro talk about?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>After the concert, they met Castro. Nicky asked Castro, was it loud? Castro replied, the sound of battle is louder.<br /> <br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>When my brother interviewed James Dean Bradfield earlier this year, he told him that he was hoping to cut back on his smoking and climb Mt. Fuji with you. Did he?<br /> <br /><b>Ikeda:&nbsp;</b>Laugh. No, he hasn't said that yet. I would definitely do it. Perhaps he's the kind of guy who can see the god.<br /></span> <br /> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-87204556067396634422023-08-06T22:26:00.007+01:002024-03-10T17:21:18.119+00:00Jiro Kondo, Egyptologist<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0pt;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpnu5VsDbElgYYmssaoTU4HDxRRpCXw5FJF9A3v-Db3B99tRHtpA-zW2caM_940VLu4LjiiZhOApa5D6dncSeV0iH72bDK5kcOrHsvTQzLpRQ6rA6wtJKWPJWPbCKbgBgqPRB2CD441m5RWGX_jNEbkxVq_iFtxSmfGGEO5t9GIJGirnCpx7odb-OqsBWf/s880/Jiro%20Kondo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="880" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpnu5VsDbElgYYmssaoTU4HDxRRpCXw5FJF9A3v-Db3B99tRHtpA-zW2caM_940VLu4LjiiZhOApa5D6dncSeV0iH72bDK5kcOrHsvTQzLpRQ6rA6wtJKWPJWPbCKbgBgqPRB2CD441m5RWGX_jNEbkxVq_iFtxSmfGGEO5t9GIJGirnCpx7odb-OqsBWf/s640/Jiro%20Kondo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0pt;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0pt;">Back in 2012, I had to crank out an article for the Japan Times on an exhibition of ancient Egyptian artefacts that was touring the nation. This brought me into contact with P</span>rofessor Jiro Kondo, a&nbsp;director of the Institute of Egyptology at&nbsp;Waseda University who was curating the exhibition. An exchange of emails followed creating the following interview. The point was to get a rather pedantic and "dry" academic to say something interesting for the article, after which he could be suitably quoted out of context.</div></span><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell: </b>Why is this exhibition being held now? Does it follow on&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">from the exhibition held at the British Museum in Autumn 2011?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>This exhibition is following on from the special exhibition titled&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">“<i>Ancient&nbsp;</i></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>Egyptian Book of the Dead</i>” held at the British Museum, from 4 November,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">2010 to 6 March 2011.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">This exhibition will tour to Fukuoka.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>What changes have been made for&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">the exhibition in Japan? Why?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>The collection is exclusively from the British Museum. The papyrus of Ani and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">other eminent papyrus collections are not coming for the consideration&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">of the conservation. On the other hand we are including other items&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">such as jewellery&nbsp;and mummies and so on.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>Does the exhibition present the results of new research?<br /><br /><b>Kondo:&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">No.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>Egypt is an extremely remote civilization for modern people,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">but it remains one of the most popular. How do you explain this&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">popularity with modern audiences?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>Death is a permanent theme that human beings face. It seems&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">that images and ideas related to the afterlife of the Egyptian people&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">attract modern audiences with their uniqueness, beauty, and details;&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">the modern audience can also find ideas and features familiar to&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">them in the funerary philosophy of this remote civilization.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why did death feature so&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">prominently in their culture? Was there an element of morbidness?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>It is far from being morbid. On the surface, the Egyptian&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Civilization is a culture of death, but if we look into their thought deeply, it r</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">eflects their strong desire for life, and it is full of energy.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>Some theories state that the ancient Egyptian attitude to&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Death was influenced by the sharp contrasts between the desert and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">the fertile river, and also the regularity of the rise and fall of the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nile, with its symbolism of a cycle of life and death. How important&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">was the environment in influencing ancient Egyptian culture and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">customs?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>The fact that our culture is influenced by our environment is&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">universal, and it is not limited to Egypt.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>The other key point about the customs connected to <i>The Book&nbsp;</i></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>of the Dead</i> and the rituals dealing with death is that they are very&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">elaborate. Such elaborate rituals, it seems to me, are much more&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">likely to develop in a society that is isolated and which develops&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">slowly. Once Egypt became connected to the wider world through the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ptolemies and the Roman Empire, these customs faded and disappeared.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">How important was Egypt’s relative isolation and conservatism is&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">creating these very elaborate customs?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>In the long history of Egypt, Egyptian civilization had always been&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">influenced by outer cultures such as Mesopotamia, Syria, Anatolia and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">so on.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>How does this exhibition compare with previous exhibitions on&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">ancient Egypt in Japan?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>This is the first time the <i>Book of the Dead</i> is the main theme of&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">exhibition. Also, this is the first time that the theme is very much&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">focused on one single book.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>The exhibition is notable for featuring the 37-meter-long&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Greenfield Papyrus. What light does this item throw on our&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">understanding of ancient Egypt?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>The Greenfield Papyrus is one complete papyrus that illustrates the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">funerary beliefs of the Egyptian; it also shows the scale of the <i>Book&nbsp;</i></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i>of the Dead</i>. It includes various scenes of the underworld through&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">which a deceased has to go in order to attain eternal life.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>The exhibition also includes many amulets. Ancient Egyptians&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">seemed to believe greatly in the importance of amulets. What do&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">these tell us about the mindset of the average people in those days?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>The idea of amulet also universal.&nbsp; It is natural for Japanese&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">people to get amulets when we visit temples or shrines. Amulets were daily items for the Egyptians.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>What is the significance of ancient Egypt? What does their&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">civilization teach modern people?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>Its eternity.&nbsp; No modern buildings have exceeded the strength and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">duration of the pyramids which have stood in the land of Egypt for&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">5000 years.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>In your view, what differences and similarities are there&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">between the ancient Egyptians and the modern Egyptians? Has there been&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">any significant continuation from the period of the pharaohs&nbsp;and the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">periodof the Arab Spring<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Kondo: </b>Except for the religious concept, I do not see great&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">differences. Modern Egyptians&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">have the same roots as ancient Egyptians. They were farmers in the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">fertile lands by the Nile, and, though they may have had difficulties, their life may&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">have been richer materially and spiritually than it is now.<br /></span><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-7965269889252064432023-07-27T22:17:00.005+01:002023-07-27T22:24:56.095+01:00Fumio Nanjo, curator<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZAO1O2I5__xJM2QSvhCHHWxOCO2aRqFh5BVM6KQmodJSeAtDl87nSMK1w9Rr4SQ04eJA71iPXSXWXK7mVbdzsN_FpUdFXJ1DAe3DcnkHTe89kXwZEv4LbHI0u7zdRTS1BwmHEWgDDc6w/s1600/Fumio_Nanjo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="943" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZAO1O2I5__xJM2QSvhCHHWxOCO2aRqFh5BVM6KQmodJSeAtDl87nSMK1w9Rr4SQ04eJA71iPXSXWXK7mVbdzsN_FpUdFXJ1DAe3DcnkHTe89kXwZEv4LbHI0u7zdRTS1BwmHEWgDDc6w/s640/Fumio_Nanjo.jpg" width="620" /></a></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the 20th of February, 2011, I interviewed Fumio Nanjo by telephone. He is a well-known curator and the Director of the Mori Art Museum. I talked to him for about 25 minutes about Roppongi Art Night, which was scheduled to take place on the night of the 26th to 27th of March. This was for Metropolis Magazine.&nbsp;The event and my article were both cancelled when the Great Tohoku Earthquake struck Japan on the 11th of March. The interview, properly edited, was eventually published as an on-line "sidebar" article in September to accompany my article "Decontructing Tokyo".<span class="fullpost"><br /></span></span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b> Nanjo:</b> Hai?<br /> <br /><b> Liddell:</b> Hello.<br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yes?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Is that Mr Nanjo?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yes.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;This is Colin Liddell from Metropolis magazine.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Oh, I see.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;And, well, basically I want to get a much fuller picture of what people can expect at this year's Roppongi Art Night.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, yeh, OK.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;OK, so first of all, can I ask you how will this year's Roppongi Art Night differ from last year's Roppongi Art Night? What similarities and what differences will there be?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Since last time we try to expand art in the town and we spread many small works in the town of Roppongi between Midtown and Roppongi Hills but this time we cannot spread so many...<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Why not?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;...so we make a rather bigger scale works. I mean, y'know, that's a little bit difference but, how can I describe? Um, similarity and what difference? Mmm, main artist is different of course.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yes.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;And also, em, what can I say? Artists are all different y'know.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Well, the interesting point is that you can't spread the artworks around anymore. Why did that change?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Well, we do, we do it, but not [coughs] Sorry! – not so many in many spots in the town. We focus on certain [coughs] …sorry…<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;You have a cold I think?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;This is cedar something, y'know.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Hayfever maybe.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Uh, because the small works in the town were not so effective for many people, last time, so we focus on a fewer spot and bring bigger work.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So, it's becoming more like a show than it was before.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;What do you mean by show?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Like a performance, like in a theatre that kind of style.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Uh, I don’t understand.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Well, I mean, well, ur, um, Roppongi Art Night, it's concentrated in terms of time – it happens over one weekend – and now it's becoming more concentrated in terms of space, so if you concentrate something in space and time it becomes like a performance.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;But it's only for one night. It's same thing.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Even if it's fewer spots with a little big bigger works, still it's same thing I think.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Moving on to the artists this time, how do you think, eh, the artists this year will differ from last year? What, what kind of themes or, eh, insights will they bring compared to the previous year's artists?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;The main artist is Yayoi Kusama and she made a… She's going to make a huge, um, image of, ur, little girl, which is actually her, herself of the childhood.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Umhu.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So…And with some dogs.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yes.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So, the idea is that she goes back to her childhood and walking around in Roppongi with her dog, her pet dog, so this is like, uh, walking in Roppongi with Yayoi Kusama.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So it's a kind of nostalgic note?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Uhhh, her strong message is, uh, how can I say it in English, the, um, "Tomorrow is Mine," something like that, so she's really looking forward to tomorrow, I mean the future, a very positive message she brings, so she's not looking back her past. She's trying to capture the moment of children who are always, y'know, expecting the, uh, positive future soon. <br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Uhuh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So she, she said tomorrow is important…<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Isn't that very ironic because y'know she's obviously very old now? <i>[NOTE: Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929.]</i><br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Ah, you think so?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;I mean physically.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;I think that's why she wants to bring… Still she wants to say that still there's the future for her and also for many Japanese who always listen to… who always are talking about, uhrr, the kind of recession and going down, sinking Japan.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;But she wants to say, "no but you have to think positively."<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So it's a kind of symbol of rebirth through a kind of return to nostalgic innocence?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">Return? But you have to think about the children, a lot of children now, it's not only her past. She's talking about children, y'know children have a future and tomorrow... They are looking for... at tomorrow, so people should look at tomorrow as a positive image. Y'know, It's not only her own matter, She wants to extend it to many people.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh. So she want's to kind of live on in the, em, future generations, through her art... The reason I mention this, em, kind of, em, return to innocence and almost naivety is also because of the other, one of the other important artists, Antenna, strikes quite a similar note with his, I think it's called Jappy, caricature.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">That's also talking about a kind of utopia, you mean?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yes.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Mmm.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So that's, that's a similar thing. I mean a lot of people will see, ehh, Kusama's art as, nhnn, having a mood of childish innocence and also Antenna's art would have a similar kind of, em, almost manga-esque quality.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Mmm, I don't know if it's nostalgia but both of them are talking about trying to create something positive, I think.&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">Um, last year and the year before, two characters, main characters were somehow monsters, y'know. It’s like a boy's toys.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;One was a robot and the other one was like a huge em how can I say inflated, inflatable balloon, as how do you say [unclear], so this [unclear] boylike image we shifted to a little bit more soft feminine image as well.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Uhu.<br /><br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;[unclear]...look so much images children and soft and pink and y'know more human and, urh, how can I say, more, as you said, nostalgic maybe but more human.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;More feelings?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, feelings maybe, and another one is a, mem, of course the story of the character is like that but actually it is very how you say it's kind of mikoshi. Mikoshi dakara sono... How can you say? This kind of chai… This kind of shrine they go round.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Oh yes. The omikoshi, yes?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Omikoshi dessho, so it's it's really try to make society genki.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, the omikoshi's carried round to kind of purify spiritually the area involved isn't it?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Originally yes, but people don't think that it's purifying. I think people just uh… It's like a festivity. People enjoy and participate.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So we try to design the things for people to participate.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, now in Japan, uh, the, the audience that goes to exhibitions tends to be usually a bit older, middle aged people... <br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Exhibition, I mean, uh…<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yes, yeh, I'm talking about the, the major exhibitions in Japan because Japan often ranks very high in the biggest exhibitions per, eh, y'know, visitor every year, and so the main audience tends to be a much older audience, but I notice with Roppongi Art Night, because it's set late – or it's a all might event, it basically excludes older people and it, it draws in younger people.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;It does not exlude. They just go back. [laughs]<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">Uhm?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;They just go back because if it's late they want to sleep <br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yes.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Y'know, it's their choice.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, it's their choice but of course…<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;If it's chosen, it's not discrimination or whatever.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;I'm not saying you're trying to exclude them but the result of the timing…<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;If we choose young people then it's discrimination but we are open to anybody.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, I'm just wondering…<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;It's their choice, y'know.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, I know, but I'm just wondering about how young people think because a lot of young people don't want to, heh, go to exhibitions because maybe they see it as a kinda older people's culture.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Oh, but are you talking about… What kind of exhibition y'know. Did you go to the media art exhibition in National Art Center? S'full of young people.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Mmhh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;It all depends on the contents.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, yeh, that's the point I'm making. There are a lot of, em, exhibitions that draw a specific audience so that sometimes, y'know, I feel like a… Also with um, a lot of museums now have very late…<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;What kind of exhibition you talking about? If it's traditional Japanese art, of course there are many old people.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;If it's Impressionism mainly ladies.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;It's all different.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Well, look, just for example, now at NACT there's a Surrealism. Now surrealism has got appeal across the board – a lot of older people like it, a lot of younger people like it.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Still, those who have a dream on European art, right?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So there are maybe that's the majority of the audience but, I don't think we cannot generalize. It all depends on the contents.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;But…<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;If we design the contents for young people, young people will come<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;But, yeh, there are some, em… There is art which is, uh, across the board and y'know, something like Yayoi Kusama could, could be seen in those terms, as something which has a lot of appeal for different generations because she's a very old artist herself but she also has an appeal to young people.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Uh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;But, but, y'know the exhibition of Surrealism, ewh, the older people tend to go earlier in the day and then a lot of museums have late Fridays now and that tends to be... I think that's an attempt to try to bring younger people into the exhibitions and, y'know, sometimes Roppongi Art Night seems like an extension of "Late Fridays."<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Oh, of course.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Which means, "young people, come here and there won't be any older people around." That is the kind of note I feel that is being sounded.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;I don't know if it's only for young people because if older people want to stay they can stay, but usually they want to sleep.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;But we're not designed for, for that purpose. We're trying to be open as much as possible.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Right. And also there are many restaurants and bars are going to open until late, so if they want to stay they can stay. If... The Mori stay until five o’clock last time.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;That leads me to another question. How conscious are you of the Roppongi Art Night competing with the existing nightlife in Roppongi, because Roppongi's already got a very high profile entertainment nightlife of its own.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;How does that effect the Art Night?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;But the contents is different isn't it? So we brought art into the night life of Roppongi. Before there was nothing like that, so your… It is actually, how can I say, Roppongi Art Night core time is from the sunset to the next morning, sunrise, but actually other event, which is good for children or old people or whatever, is also going on in the daytime.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So it’s actually 24-hour event, not only 12 hours.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So, urrr, if they want to enjoy those things, like workshops with children, they can join. Old people can maybe go for some shopping or whatever.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;We can, we can, em, they can do that, so the point is, I think, urh, Rop… We are trying to open the museum very late at 10 in the evening all day usually.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;But together with other museums, the... Y'know [unclear] were open till the next morning, but the others are just till ten or 11 o'clock, but we open the museum then, ahh, also we ask many shops and restaurants to open it until late.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So they follow. So, it's only one night. We should get together and enjoy the night life of Roppongi. Uh, it just the beginning of spring time <br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /><br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;...just the cherry blossom is blooming, so they have, they have been inside, inside the house for long time in the winter...<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;...but now the message, now you can go out, y'know, you come out and stay outside. Enjoy cherry blossom, enjoy art. If you want you can go to some bar to drink with your friends, chat, and stay very late.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Umh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So that's a message, y'know.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So...<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">If you want to join it, you can join it.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So, umh, can I ask you personally what are you looking forward to the most and also what are you most worried about?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">Worried about?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, positives and negatives, so what are you looking forward to the most and what are you also most worried about?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Looking forward is that kind of to view the image of Roppongi not only for drinking place but a place for enjoying art and culture, right? So it's not just drunk people at night. There are young people old people enjoying art, chatting, talking, walking together, even family can walk around.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So, kind of area rebranding?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;I think so.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So, do you think Kabukicho could use an art night in that case?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Kabukicho should have a different strategy.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Any suggestions?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;The worry of... I think... I guess the people in Roppongi used to live here was worrying about Roppongi becoming Kabukicho.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Mmh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;But now we have a different business, y'know, office, uh, café, uh, shops and even museums, galleries now, y'know four galleries just opened last week.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">Uhuh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;In the Piramide Building and one gallery in our museum shop opened so five galleries.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Are those galleries moving from Ginza or somewhere?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Different places. Ginza and also from Shinjuku. They open a new gallery here so now we have business of daytime, y'know, uh, very light café and then dinner spot and then drinking place, bar, but also we have those different things so Roppongi became not only a town for night but also for day – people enjoy – so 24-hours city, so the Roppongi Art Night symbolizes Roppongi changed and you can enjoy daytime to night time and also with the family with your friends, y'know, not, you don’t kick the drunk guys and make a conflict as made before y'know. It used to be only that image but now we have to change.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh. Yes, so it's moving from a kind of monoculture to a more kind of multiculture?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Multiculture, yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;And of course that can sometimes cause problems because you might have drunk people, eh, fighting with artists for example.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, yeh. If those people come up to the museum it's a big problem.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Umhu.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Y'know then we have to shut them out.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, sounds like something you have to worry about.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, we have to, we have to be aware of [unclear] to protect artworks too.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So, what, what are you most worried about because you've obviously had a lot to think about and to arrange and to organize.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Uh, the logistics, I mean the management of the people like, y'know, if too many people come to one spot it's dangerous so I'm hoping that all the events become, make the things even, the time and the place, y'know, I hope people spread in a wide area and an even way.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Otherwise dangerous, y’know.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;But, em, the centrepiece will be Kusama's, eh, sculpture. That's going to be very very large.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;How about, well, well, how is it being constructed, what sort materials are being...<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;It's inflatable.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Mmh?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Inflatable.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Inflatable?<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;So easy to carry but it becomes big.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh, uhu, well that makes sense. Very easy to do, No problems there, unless of course it has a puncture.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Well, some people might do it, but I hope it doesn't happen.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Well, that's a lot of information so I'll thank you for that.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Yeh.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;And, ah, well, we'll send you a copy of the article when it appears. Thank you very much.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;OK, thank you.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Bye bye!<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Nanjo:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="fullpost">&nbsp;Bye.</span></span> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span class="fullpost"><br /></span></span></div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-86981231164996127672023-05-05T12:16:00.013+01:002023-05-05T12:28:06.801+01:00Angus Young & Brian Johnson [AC/DC]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRboSn0m1ryRntKFIRMg1kJVAGywPMvLRDt4TAWv1C-oPvLnRHU6Se3fSOPjOFb9fxfvjywrVk9nQCyc8hY4hZVw4U_CRcv-K13mk8P4zVGso-iLXOcyf3zhJhKVX4-hD75xrL0nR3NRTOMNEXX0VXpNBRctkULCirkEK5dqeQpcvX7kUIPsRuNNQBCg/s3226/ACDCii.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2082" data-original-width="3226" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRboSn0m1ryRntKFIRMg1kJVAGywPMvLRDt4TAWv1C-oPvLnRHU6Se3fSOPjOFb9fxfvjywrVk9nQCyc8hY4hZVw4U_CRcv-K13mk8P4zVGso-iLXOcyf3zhJhKVX4-hD75xrL0nR3NRTOMNEXX0VXpNBRctkULCirkEK5dqeQpcvX7kUIPsRuNNQBCg/w640-h414/ACDCii.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div align="center"> <i><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Angus Young &amp; Brian Johnson</span></i></div> <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /> </span><div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><span><i><span style="font-family: arial;">In February 2010, I "interviewed" the biggest rock band on the planet AC/DC by proxy. The way this works is quite simple. Rather than scheduling slots for individual journalists, the promoters collect questions from a pool of hacks then send a proxy interviewer to present these to the interviewees in one sitting. This saves the musicians lots of time, but leads to a lot of disjointed questioning, dropped points, and bland answers, as questions are not pressed and follow-up questions are lacking or lame. Four of the six questions I submitted were used: numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5. The interview took place at the Park Hyatt in Sydney on the 7th of February, 2010. Later had a great time at the gig when the band reached Japan.</span></i><br /> <span class="fullpost" style="font-family: georgia;"></span><br /> <span class="fullpost" style="font-family: georgia;"><b>QUESTION ONE: </b>The current music scene has CD sales falling and more and more people downloading rather than going to stores. AC/DC is not following that trend. What kind of reasons do you have for emphasizing physical releases in this current day and age?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>For us it’s probably a different market. On the digital side they kind of concentrate more on the pop music, and pop music - it’s very fast. They kind of have a single every month or something, but, from our background, we were always a band that tried to make a good album. We concentrated on that. So, for us, it’s been two different things. But it’s been that way from the beginning. Where other bands made pop music or changed their direction, we always stuck to what we do best, which is rock music.<br /> <br /><b><span style="color: red;"> QUESTION TWO (my question):</span></b> What distinguishes Black Ice from all the other albums you’ve done over the last four decades?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>I wouldn’t say you reinvent the wheel when you do something. You just try to get better song craft. You just to put a bit more craft in what you do, and hopefully you come up with something a little bit different than the album you did before.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN:</b> I think it’s just a natural progression. It happens naturally with the band and the boys, and it’s just a different time and a different feeling.<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>And we’re lucky - over the years we’ve managed to get a lot of new fans to plug into us.<br /> <b><span style="color: red;"><br /> QUESTION THREE&nbsp;</span></b></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">(my question)</span></b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: red;">: </span></b>In one interview you did the title of Black Ice was explained as a reference to a Scottish weather forecast. While AC/DC is typically seen as an Australian band, how important are those British and Scottish roots?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family: georgia;"> <br /><b> ANGUS:</b> Well, black ice was always a term you heard a lot in that part of the world, Australia is always warm but other parts of the world, like Scotland, you get the four seasons, spring summer, autumn winter, and snow. So, when you got snow, for me it was always unusual. When you get out there in Britain, and they talk about Black Ice for me it was a whole new term.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>It’s dangerous, y’know. On the radio if they announced “tonight there’s going to be black ice on the road,” you know it’s just lethal stuff, and Scotland and the North of England that’s where’s it’s prevalent. It was just a dangerous word, black ice. You know you took your life in your hands when you went out on the motor bike!<br /> <b><span style="color: red;"><br /> QUESTION FOUR&nbsp;</span></b></span></span><b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">(my question)</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">:</span></span></b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: red;">&nbsp;</span></b>From your millionaire mansions, what do you think of impoverished music press hacks who consistently slag off every AC/DC album as being “unoriginal re-treading of the same old rawk-and-roll cliches”?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family: georgia;"> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>Well, we’ve outlived a lot of them haven’t we!<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>Put a few in the ground too, didn’t we?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>We outlived a few record deals as well… You’re not supposed to do that.<br /> <br /><b><span style="color: red;"> QUESTION FIVE&nbsp;</span></b></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: red;">(my question)</span></b><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: red;">:</span></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="color: red;">&nbsp;</span></b>AC/DC’s international appeal has consistently grown over four decades. What do you think is the REAL reason so many people in so many places love this band?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family: georgia;"> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>I think it’s because we stick to what we do best, and probably every few years, there’s a change where people say “oh we like rap” or “we like indie”, but for us we always stick to what we do best, and it probably goes back to our roots. At the time, music was very soft and we wanted something that was more popular, y’know. When you’re in the bar, the music people liked most and would get up and dance and have a good time to was loud rock music. I always thought, there’s something going on here, because when they put on a love song people sat out, but when you put on a rock track people get off their feet. I think that our music was both the kind of stuff that we wanted to be playing, and also something that the people were looking for. I’m not a psychologist, but I think there’s something of a primal beat that sits inside us all, and the public seems to like music when it has more energy.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>It just makes you want to move, basically.<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION SIX: </b>You were just nominated for the Grammy for “Best Hard Rock Performance.” Congratulations! What was your reaction when you first heard the news?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>As you can see it was overnight for us! It was only for how long? Can’t even think, maybe 30 years?<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>A couple of ciggies and a cup of coffee!<br /> <br /><b> PROXY INTERVIEWER [follow-up question]:</b> So the public support is what you pay attention to more?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>Yeah, we get our reward every time we go on stage.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>The punters know best.<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>And we were never a band looking for that stamp of approval.<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION SEVEN: </b>Standing on the stage looking at an audience is a perspective and feeling that few people in this world know, what particular sight or sound from the stage can you remember from the shows on this tour?<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>Going deaf is what I remember most! No, but I think that this show is so good, and what the boys have put together in the production of the show, seeing the reaction to that each night is great. There’re certain shows of course, to give an example, the Stade de France or Wembley, where you get on the stage and it still takes your breath away. It’s always exciting though. Just the other night in New Zealand, there was a stadium where there was a hill in the back just covered with people, and it was surrounded by trees. Nothing’s the same and each night is an adventure, and that’s what keeps you going.<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>And when the lights go out, all you see is a sea of devil horns.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>That’s right. Those devil horns, never seen anything like it. It’s just amazing some nights.<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION EIGHT: </b>What kind of daily things do you do to ensure that you can give 100% every time you take the stage?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>I lift a lot of cigarettes. That’s my weight lifting program.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>Well, if you’re on tour, I just stay in me room, and try not to talk! Angus is always fiddling on his guitar. I guess you just get yourself ready for the next gig. You could be traveling, but try to go to the gym to stay fit, but basically you just have to get ready. The gig bit is fine. It’s just the bits in between that takes years!<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION NINE: </b>We are now about one month away from your Japan tour. What are your thoughts and feeling s heading back to Japan?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>It’ll be real good to be back to play in Japan. It’s always good, if you’ve not been in a while, to go back.<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION TEN: </b>What kind of places in Japan have stayed in your memory? Where would you like to go this time?<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>Yeah, well what I remember the first time I went to Japan, somebody said to us, “the Japanese audience will be very polite”, y’know. What a load of twaddle! It was fantastic. And I remember the shabu-shabu, that meat stuff. That was good. But it was just fun, a fun time. A very exuberant audience. It’s not that way for every band, so that really says something about what kind of band AC/DC is.<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>Yeah, savage! Here they come!<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION ELEVEN: </b>You have played at arenas and domes around the world, including the Budokan and Yokohama Arena in Japan. Now you will be playing at the Saitama Super Arena and Osaka Dome for the first time. Is there any kind of particular excitement or anxiety playing at a venue for the first time?<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>You try to channel.<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>I suppose over the years you try to bring that everywhere. You know for us it was even if you went from a small place to a big stage, you always tried to keep the same. I never felt the difference depending on where we were.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>Everywhere we go we try to make it feel like a club.<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>If you can make everyone in the place feel one, tapping their feet in time.<br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">PROXY INTERVIEWER [follow-up question 1]:</b><span><span class="fullpost" style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;And are there any venues around the world that particularly stand out in your memories?<br /> <b><br /> ANGUS: </b>There’s lots of great venues.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>That’s a hard one, that.<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>Usually the first show in a place you haven’t been for a while. Like Brian says we came on the other night in New Zealand and for us and the people there it’s almost as if you’ve jumped time. They’re right there in front of you and, it’s like the feeling that you were all there yesterday. <br /> <br /></span></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">PROXY INTERVIEWER [follow-up question 2]:</b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="fullpost" style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;So, this is obvious, but for you it seems like the people in the venue are the key.<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>They’re the sixth member of the band.<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION TWELVE: </b>When big acts come to Japan, one universal concern for the fans is whether the show will be full scale, same as the USA or Europe, which they often cannot do because of transportation issues and the like. So, is AC/DC coming with the whole set up? Hearing it from you will be very exciting for the fans.<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>Everything’s with us. We’ve got the whole production.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>Otherwise what’s the point?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>They’ve got the whole production, they’ve got us, and we don’t come cheap!<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION THIRTEEN: </b>Your last Japan tour was 2001, and before that seems like ages ago. This leads many to speculate that this could be your final Japan tour. Is that something you have given thought to yourselves?<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>I’ve never thought about that.<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>I think it’s the same as when we started. People always ask us “did you realize you would be a big band when you started?” and you don’t. You just play and you go along and take each day as it comes along. And as I said before, we are after all just an overnight sensation! You too can be someone after 40 years!<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION FOURTEEN: </b>What are your upcoming plans?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>Probably try and get in and start to get new tracks, get another good studio album. It never really stops, y’know. You get off the road and then you’re back doing what you do, writing tracks, so that never stops.<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION FIFTEEN: </b>You had to cancel some shows during the USA tour last year, and you have rescheduled them for this year. Is everything ok now?<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>Yeah that was me. I’ll put me hand up. I just had this cancer scare in my esophagus and had to have lots of tests and CAT scans and stuff like that. And the doctor wouldn’t really let us go until we were sure I didn’t have any of the nasty stuff. Thank god I didn’t, but a few sleepless nights, let’s just say that!<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>I thought my diagnosis was the best. “Lack of nicotine” I thought!<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>Yeah, they stopped me fags!<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION SIXTEEN: </b>Who is a person you particularly respect and why?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>There’s a lot of people. One in particular I think of is Chuck Berry. He basically wrote the book on Rock N Roll. He was a great guitarist and a great entertainer, and I think everyone borrowed from his book. If you look at the Beatles , the Stones, even Elvis Presley, they all borrowed and took a leaf from Chuck Berry. Of rock n roll, he’s probably the Shakespeare.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>For me I always liked, I still do, Eddie Cochrane. And then Jerry Lee Lewis, I used to get all excited and girly watching him because he was just…<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>The killer!<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>Crazy. With big shock of hair, y’know. He was real. He wasn’t kidding!<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION SEVENTEEN: </b>What would you say to your Japanese fans who have supported you for years who have been eagerly waiting for your return ?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>Yeah, we’ll get along there when we come, and we’ll certainly show them that if you liked us last time you’ll love it again this time.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>Tell them that we’ll be ready, so come on in.<br /> <br /><b> QUESTION EIGHTEEN: </b>What would you say to your new Japanese fans who are going to be seeing you for the first time?<br /> <br /><b> ANGUS: </b>Just be ready to rock.<br /> <br /><b> BRIAN: </b>We can’t give all our secrets away, y’know!<br /><br /></span></span></div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-68619220697916678622022-11-30T01:10:00.006+00:002022-11-30T01:19:31.041+00:00Kazuo Oga, Animator<p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; font-size: xx-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhdy1pFUplMQH8TD6LIDvBQH8M4TQRhCCoEJ2wYNzEljyLUrNMQyNvWA1RItyibYttZ1RmydOEzcrIrKQ_rZAqzHLE7iEqt1k_3v8ZdYDp776lJr3I-SOFGXEx3dUPRPRYH0aLTiPGcGR_Zz1_eQGdl8Q_VXd-7NeexAhjGDqoBeNOat3oaBJpCIcrRg/s850/167295775_134712028658203_1778075929611158324_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="850" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhdy1pFUplMQH8TD6LIDvBQH8M4TQRhCCoEJ2wYNzEljyLUrNMQyNvWA1RItyibYttZ1RmydOEzcrIrKQ_rZAqzHLE7iEqt1k_3v8ZdYDp776lJr3I-SOFGXEx3dUPRPRYH0aLTiPGcGR_Zz1_eQGdl8Q_VXd-7NeexAhjGDqoBeNOat3oaBJpCIcrRg/w640-h422/167295775_134712028658203_1778075929611158324_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Back in June 2007 I was working on a piece about an exhibition of artwork by the Studio Ghibli animator Kazuo Oga. Sure, I could have gone in and chatted with this giant of the anime world, but with my crazy schedule, the easiest way to get things done was to email some questions. Here is the result of the interview with everything translated into English.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:</b> How did you become a background artist?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Oga:</b> After I graduated from design school, by chance I saw an ad that said, "a person who likes painting". I saw that ad and that was for animation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:</b> What do you think about the Ghibli animation firm?<br /><br /><b>Oga:&nbsp;</b>Each director has his or her own background, which makes it very rewarding. The finished movie is just a hard work to draw, so it's a blessing for people who do background paintings.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizPeBsp7DvAczVgOYNDeViKiHAv37esvI-x7LQuUwE1H4nIYgHadVY-Q7FcQpCFOOLD5hPokHhlDJ4OCkxSdQOcg-EgHnzMu3bXrBDXTyBsbaydH6ToA7GDW-FUPHMqyFjjbkIABnDOxOjsjaEc_CH0MyGl15hTQgU-ABtaG40riMey3UzwL2jxQrcuA/s748/43766-Hayao_Miyazaki-My_Neighbor_Totoro-Totoro-anime-748x476.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="748" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizPeBsp7DvAczVgOYNDeViKiHAv37esvI-x7LQuUwE1H4nIYgHadVY-Q7FcQpCFOOLD5hPokHhlDJ4OCkxSdQOcg-EgHnzMu3bXrBDXTyBsbaydH6ToA7GDW-FUPHMqyFjjbkIABnDOxOjsjaEc_CH0MyGl15hTQgU-ABtaG40riMey3UzwL2jxQrcuA/w640-h408/43766-Hayao_Miyazaki-My_Neighbor_Totoro-Totoro-anime-748x476.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><b><br />Liddell:&nbsp;</b>What is the most memorable scene in your work for Ghibli?<br /><br /><b>Oga:</b> In "My Neighbor Totoro," the picture of the bus stop in the rain with lights on in the dark, and a picture of rain falling in the bright hours, bending sideways to the right of the camphor and cedar trees. Two paintings with roads. As for an animated film, I would say "Heisei-era Raccoon Dog War Ponpoko."<br /><br /><b>Liddell: </b>Why do you like "Ponpoko" the most?<br /><br /><b>Oga: </b>Because I took a walk around the Tama Hills Park, which is my living area, and drew it with a sense of gratitude to my cherished place. Not only was I able to draw the four seasons, but I was also able to draw the transitional process of each season, which is not normally depicted in other animation works."<b><br /><br />Liddell:&nbsp;</b>What do you value or struggle with when drawing background images?<br /><br /><b>Oga: </b>Since it is necessary to draw a large number of background images, it is necessary to draw them in as little time as possible. To that end, it is necessary to make the points and characteristics stand out simply by omitting and emphasizing in a good way. It's good when you know what you're drawing, but if you don't know what you're drawing and you don't have a clear image of what you're going to draw, you'll end up with too much detail, and you'll have a hard time, drawing too densely. In such a case, try walking on your own feet to see the actual scenery.<br /><br /><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm9NsFQ1jlCkiAbkMOQeRzvld-KSVzeJbTQxDAS-7xrVG-3SUzuSKf-FCHhb2ixh04t7GBrEm67kz7yPgGX4vRUkcTItiFFbkgfBYnNuF2KTjUVjRdXanAGt13rG9k7zN6gh5N0EtBUsR0irfScYbWV45oBsBLgWvvEHVrgFy3xhatfrZWe2RCS5S_EQ/s1280/167011049_134712035324869_6227667949924889983_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="1280" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm9NsFQ1jlCkiAbkMOQeRzvld-KSVzeJbTQxDAS-7xrVG-3SUzuSKf-FCHhb2ixh04t7GBrEm67kz7yPgGX4vRUkcTItiFFbkgfBYnNuF2KTjUVjRdXanAGt13rG9k7zN6gh5N0EtBUsR0irfScYbWV45oBsBLgWvvEHVrgFy3xhatfrZWe2RCS5S_EQ/w640-h346/167011049_134712035324869_6227667949924889983_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Finally, where did your passion for background art come from?<br /><br /><b>Oga: </b>I have always liked walking and looking at scenery, so I couldn’t be happier than drawing pictures like this became my job. I am grateful that animation has its own terrain, if you don't recognize that and do your best, you'll end up getting hurt, so I draw with that kind of feeling.<br /><br /></div></span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-23035336541233033552022-11-16T09:50:00.001+00:002022-11-16T10:02:29.413+00:00Angela Gossow [Arch Enemy]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtE6so89mkuethYnIFJQWqeDG8F_21ab40ajhyphenhyphenS1sShxAAKZBA7BLcMKtPwotVIsjk6_u_RL08CDL9Ss4Mt7UrZoKnr3k3cSFDjXmILYqQl82xgnEd3umELsNE5DixYe43TFeNIvlUqPVw/s1600/Arch_Enemy_Angela.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtE6so89mkuethYnIFJQWqeDG8F_21ab40ajhyphenhyphenS1sShxAAKZBA7BLcMKtPwotVIsjk6_u_RL08CDL9Ss4Mt7UrZoKnr3k3cSFDjXmILYqQl82xgnEd3umELsNE5DixYe43TFeNIvlUqPVw/w637-h462/Arch_Enemy_Angela.jpg" width="637" /></a></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In March 2012, I interviewed Angela Gossow the singer of the Anarchist Death Metal band Arch Enemy. After a planned phoner fell through, I was asked to send some questions by email. Interviewing by phone and by email require quite diffent approaches. With the phone you get instant feedback, but with email it's more important to create the kind of questions that can 'live on their own.' This means that they should not be the sort of questions that can be easily answered with a simple yes or no. They should also be mildly provocative so as to get more than the basic press release kind of answer. This might also require a spot of humour. This particular interview is a masterclass in the art of the email interview, as Angela delivered plenty of good copy.</span> <span class="fullpost" style="font-family: georgia;"> <br /> </span><br /> </span><a name='more'></a><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b> Liddell: </b>Your voice is astonishing. Do you remember the first time you sang or spoke in that kind of "death growl"? What were the circumstances? I imagine it was when you suddenly got angry with someone and then you produced that deep, scary voice and then you maybe thought, "Wow, I can do that" and the rest is history. Was it like that or how was it? <br /> <br /><b> Gossow:</b> I discovered Death Metal when I was 16. I was simply singing along to my fave vocalists – Chuck Schuldiner, John Tardy, David Vincent. I did my best to emulate that sound they produced – and one day I succeeded. Thus said I was naturally angry every minute of the day, being a teenager and all, ha ha. That def fuelled my love for this extreme vocal style as well. <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Do you ever use 'The Voice' in anger, like when someone cuts in line or bumps into you or something in daily life? Also, that kind of voice must be pretty scary or a turn off for your boyfriend. Is that ever a problem? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">No, I don't growl at people. I usually stay calm with a firm voice. Shouting in daily life makes you look like you've lost control. If you want to be in charge and on top, you better stay calm. <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">In your performance, you seem angry and enraged. How genuine is the rage we see on stage and what makes the rage? Is it just tight trousers? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">I feel empowered and wild. I guess it comes across like angry and enraged. But a roaring lioness is not always angry either – It's just being interpreted that way. My performance is very genuine, I feel very strong and dominant on stage and my voice transports these notions. <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">How do you keep your vocal chords intact? Got any special secrets or does it just involve going straight to bed after each concert while the guys in the band party? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">That is such a cliche – you really think the guys still party after every show, twelve years into touring, having played thousands of gigs? That gets old and boring so very fast. We usually have a rather chilled evening after the show, enjoy some nice food, a glass of wine, listen to music and hitting the shower and bed early enough to get a good night's sleep. If you have pride in being a good performer you have to preserve your energies. We all do this, not just me. As for my voice – I do a quick but effective warm up before the show and a warm-down after the show. I make sure I keep fit and healthy and try to get enough sleep. <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">You recently lost a member in Christopher. How did that happen and did you try to stop him leaving? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Chris just wasn't happy for quite some time, he doesn't want to play extreme Metal. We could tell that he wasn't really feeling it. You can't stop a traveller – and Chris simply needed to move on. We are cool with his decision and very confident about Nick and the future of Arch Enemy. <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">How and why did you choose the new guy Nick? Is he on board for good or just filling in temporarily? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nick can pull off Chris parts with utmost ease. He's young, driven, talented, positive and hungry. He is just as passionate as we are. We don't know yet if he will be a permanent member – the upcoming tours will show if we'll get along in extreme situations. The stress test is about to commence ;-) <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">When you visit Japan, will you be mainly playing 'Khaos Legions'? What about other material? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">We will cover the entire back catalogue. Japan loves Arch Enemy since the release of the first album in 1996. We will honour that of course. <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">The themes of the latest album seem to reflect your atheist ('We Are A Godless Entity') and anarchist ('Under Black Flags We March') views. I take it you wrote all the lyrics? Do the rest of the band share your values or are they too scared to disagree with you? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Why would they be scared of me? They are not weak little boys. We are all atheists and we live like anarchists. An autonomous cell. We do all our own business, we are self-managed, we own our music, our merch and our publishing. Nobody can tell us what to do. <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">BTW, calling oneself an atheist has always struck me as strange. For example, I don't believe in pixies, but I don't call myself an 'apixieist'. If you don't believe in something why even mention it let alone make it part of your identity? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Religion is such an overpowering force in this world that I feel I need to tell people about an alternative way of thinking. Atheism means believing in science and reason. It is a very new idea for many people out there – not everybody grows up in a free society like you and me do. I have to think more global as our audience is global. And I have to make a very clear stand for some of our fans as otherwise they are mislead, believing we are Satanists or support some kind of religion in one way or the other. I dont want to leave any doubt about my beliefs. or rather, non-beliefs. So I call myself an atheist. <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Typical modern Western civilizational values are freedom, choice, democracy, and tolerance. In a sense these are all negative values in that they are open, empty, and undefined until each individual defines them, as opposed to positive values that just tell people what to do or be like (e.g. beards are good, wear a hijab, etc., etc.) Although your lyrics have an added element of violence and aggression, Arch Enemy's values seem a perfect fit with mainstream Western values: "Be as free as you can be..." Are you in effect just a cultural wing of the Western global superstate? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Be as free as you can be - the line is taken from the song <i>Cult Of Chaos</i> which describes how the universe was created from chaos, the beginning of this world, a chaos that has given birth to so many different life-forms and creatures. I interpret this line in a more artistic and philosophical way, not in a social or political way like you do. Freedom Of Expression. You can always be absolutely free inside your mind – there are truly no limits. Your interpretation of the line is already limiting, trying to put it's meaning into a 'box', so I reject it. <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">You recently made a post on your Facebook page about the persecution of EMO kids in Iraq. You said "If they target EMO kids they will most likely target Metal fans..." Your comment echoed the famous quote by Martin Niemöller (first they came for the communists...). This sounded a little bit like you are equating Islamic conservatism of the Iraqis with Hitler. Is it really that bad? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">You are putting words into my mouth. I simply stated that I'd be a target too in Iraq – just like these emo kids – if I'd be living there, being a female Metal fan. The Iraqi police is waging a deadly war against 'Satanism' – how do you think wearing a Slayer, Morbid Angel or Death t-shirt will look to them? <br /> <br /> My culture, appearance, as a teenager, would have put me right in the crosshairs of this particular outrage. I feel empathy and revulsion. with the story printed worldwide, the Iraqis will know that they are being watched. That it's not being ignored. That's all we can hope for. It might save one kid's life. That's what I am trying to do. Not having some fancy discussion about Islamic conservatism and Hitler. <br /> <br /> And yes, it is that bad. Child murder is THAT FUCKING BAD. It is the most horrible, awful, disgusting crime one can commit. <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Despite cultural differences, Metal in its various forms continues to spread to new cultural zones. This tour sees you visit India and Israel for the first time. Even Japan, which is familiar territory, has a very different culture. How aware are you of the cultural differences as you tour the world? Does this effect the way you play to different audiences, or does everyone get the same show? <br /> <br /></span><b style="font-family: georgia;">Gossow:&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">We are very aware of the cultural differences, but we have also found that the passion for this extreme form of music unites people and overcomes those differences in a very powerful way. Every audience gets our maximum output of energy and passion. I don't change my message either, no matter if we play in a Muslim country, in Israel, China or Turkey. I am not afraid of Governments or religious extremists. Whatever happens, happens. We practise what we preach. Fuck the system. Be as free as you can be! <br /></span><br /><b>OPD 12/04/20</b></span></div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-89513676916916316222022-11-15T23:33:00.005+00:002022-11-16T00:26:25.433+00:00Kazuhiro Uno, painter<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYAFssYFXb3jTOXyz6vw-pL53rLJDEv_tVQjPqgGDtPnlS8hu6fhEX7k6Qs2JlZRjl9P8eJegcXnnw6vsNLxcl9BV76S05pe99Vue5VyRxAHQPdB8NSUO59WSNDM17V9SUeLZuseIm5Q4NxLLnvGZHGRzc4EkQT9scboJ866Ae5NtjzvFoX6_vo41K0w/s560/Kazuhiro%20Uno.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="560" height="629" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYAFssYFXb3jTOXyz6vw-pL53rLJDEv_tVQjPqgGDtPnlS8hu6fhEX7k6Qs2JlZRjl9P8eJegcXnnw6vsNLxcl9BV76S05pe99Vue5VyRxAHQPdB8NSUO59WSNDM17V9SUeLZuseIm5Q4NxLLnvGZHGRzc4EkQT9scboJ866Ae5NtjzvFoX6_vo41K0w/w706-h629/Kazuhiro%20Uno.jpg" width="706" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes interviewing can be very precise and specific, but other times you just throw out questions and hope for a good response. In February 2012 I interviewed three Realist artists for an article I was writing about the Hoki Museum. As they were all good painters of nudes, I sent them three identical sets of questions. This is the response from Kazuhiro Uno.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;"><span></span>Liddell:</b> Tell our readers why you have become a Realist painter?</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><b>Uno:&nbsp;</b>Because realist painting is the most natural way for me. Once I tried to express myself through abstract representation as a study, but it was not for me. I went back to realist painting.</div><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Liddell:</b>&nbsp;How is the situation of Realist painting in Japanese art? Is it still marginalized?&nbsp;</div></span><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Uno:</b>&nbsp;<span style="text-align: left;">I don’t think realist painting is the mainstream in Japanese art.&nbsp; In my university days, only a few students studied realist painting. In the art market, I think realist painters are not so many. I don’t think that realist painting will go mainstream, probably. Because the way of expression is not very original, it won’t represent a cutting edge of the culture while pursuing new things. But realist painting is always there, from ancient times to the present, like a big tree in the forest. I think realist painting is going to be forever there in the future.&nbsp;</span>I think that the originality of realist painting is the origin of people that they always want to come back to. I think most people have an interest in realist painting. It is in demand and it is supplied.</div></span><div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><span style="font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</span><span style="text-align: justify;">Last week I went to three exhibitions at major public museums of Japanese contemporary artists. Of course, none of them were Realists. What do you think about the dominance of non-Realist art in public museums? Do you sometimes get angry about the apparent bias?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Uno:</b><span style="font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</span>I think, unless social consciousness changes, public museums will not exhibit realist paintings&nbsp;</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Liddell:</b>&nbsp;Who are the artists who have influenced and inspired you the most?</div></span><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Uno:</b>&nbsp;<span style="text-align: left;">I was affected very much by the American artist Andrew Wyeth.</span></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Liddell:</b>&nbsp;You are best known for your paintings of the female form and nudes. What is the attraction of the female form to you, apart from the attraction it has for any healthy heterosexual male?<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2dpxkYdpP8zMADxCdj8SJhutRpYIYYNTWveiH5dZ_GrJd_MeMocQ7LzNbPZ9WexqpHqB-6O8dNO4-yRfUmRhjyqqIzJyTJCNhHUVA8LDmSEf4l6amkY30AaZmGhMmuYnhyb8fNRJdvVFSFQ9KLZJ4ZOfOBtwJiBjRAEL2gnoNHsaVT6u9h0GBO0pAnQ/s2000/Kazuhiro-Uno-Tutt'Art@-13.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1717" data-original-width="2000" height="550" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2dpxkYdpP8zMADxCdj8SJhutRpYIYYNTWveiH5dZ_GrJd_MeMocQ7LzNbPZ9WexqpHqB-6O8dNO4-yRfUmRhjyqqIzJyTJCNhHUVA8LDmSEf4l6amkY30AaZmGhMmuYnhyb8fNRJdvVFSFQ9KLZJ4ZOfOBtwJiBjRAEL2gnoNHsaVT6u9h0GBO0pAnQ/w640-h550/Kazuhiro-Uno-Tutt'Art@-13.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></span><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Uno:</b>&nbsp;Because of the flexibility which only women have. This suits my painting when I express the nature and soul. I am a man, so, I think, it is natural to paint pictures of women.</div></span><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Liddell:</b>&nbsp;Realist oil painting is considered a very European style of art. The tonal qualities in particular are very different from anything in indigenous Japanese art. This has led some scholars to speculate that there may even be some differences between the way in which the European and East Asian eye perceives light. Light in Western Europe is more diffuse because of the clouds, mist, and the angle of the sun (it is much further North), while Japanese light is characteristically bright and intense, so that bright colours are more important than tones. What do you as a Japanese painter working in a tonally-rich Western Realist style think about these points?</div></span><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Uno:</b>&nbsp;As European art has been influenced by Japanese art, such as Ukiyoe, and developed, Japanese art has been also influenced by the Western culture and developed. In these days we can take any information across the sea, it is slightly difficult to talk about only the influence of environment of the region. But I am influenced by the environment of my childhood days, especially for the sense of beauty. I think beauty is to adjust. While I paint Western realist painting, the experience of light in my childhood days influences me. I think Japanese realist paintings have the essence of Asia.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Liddell:</b>&nbsp;How important is it for Realist art to have someone like Mr. Hoki who collects realist art and creates a museum like the Hoki Museum?</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Uno:</b>&nbsp;Yes, thanks to Mr. Hoki, realist painters can go to another stage and achieve public fame.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Liddell:</b>&nbsp;How do you feel about showing your art, which is very traditional, in such a futuristic building as the Hoki? What do you like about the building? What are its good points?</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Uno:</b>&nbsp;The building of the Hoki Museum gets a lot of attention in the area. I think it is OK for people coming to see the beauty of the building. The building of Hoki museum is futuristic, but it was especially built for the traditional realist paintings. I don't feel this is unusual.&nbsp;I like the Hoki Museum. The light is good for viewing paintings. The interior design is simple, so that we can concentrate on paintings.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Liddell:</b>&nbsp;At the exhibition you are showing a painting called&nbsp;“Forest Seen in a Dream.” Could you tell our readers a little bit about the story of that painting, such as its origins and meaning?<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3wrg-VDdhKtj_9V5XwddB_9MsPMLeJLbVh5gdMHrkOW1tc3srdSH81tb7p4u9fS1XSNVhShWT78AGqcfrwjeERfvn0ZE1nHUws9qMzbSZTaHi2f0zekKS9jjkjYhQpZxa3EBMAmJsZThIWMeAfoaxsw9EyvgsCeIoixxGiVhwhbYsRpZ_kFIM-ybiw/s2000/Kazuhiro-Uno-Tutt'Art@-9.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1366" height="739" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha3wrg-VDdhKtj_9V5XwddB_9MsPMLeJLbVh5gdMHrkOW1tc3srdSH81tb7p4u9fS1XSNVhShWT78AGqcfrwjeERfvn0ZE1nHUws9qMzbSZTaHi2f0zekKS9jjkjYhQpZxa3EBMAmJsZThIWMeAfoaxsw9EyvgsCeIoixxGiVhwhbYsRpZ_kFIM-ybiw/w506-h739/Kazuhiro-Uno-Tutt'Art@-9.jpg" width="506" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Uno:</b>&nbsp;“Forest Seen in a Dream.” is inspired by the artworks of Andrew Wyeth. I think that it seems slightly surrealist. I always draw a picture by my sense, not always as it is. Sometimes a woman floats in the air, sometimes she is caught in sunlight, even at night. I may imagine 'as if I am walking on the clouds' when I am excited and feel high, and when I want to cry, I may feel 'as if cold rain is falling.' I always draw a picture as such a free image. I always take a walk at night. When I take a walk on a wooded path, I feel something mysterious. Once I dreamed of a black forest at night. I went through the forest as if I were swimming and walking. I felt that I was living and spending time, just like the air, trees, leaves, moon, and stars are doing. I kept painting “Forest Seen in a Dream”&nbsp; to feel the silent breath of the air in the forest.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Liddell:</b>&nbsp;How do you work with your models? Do they pose for long periods, or do you use photography? How about when you paint nudes? Does that create any special difficulties? I am thinking the models must feel very self-conscious. How do you deal with that?</div><br /><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Uno:</b>&nbsp;Sometimes, I do the drawing while the model is posing for a long time. Drawing is the process to clarify the image, but I use photos to paint.&nbsp; For me, I do not reproduce the reality, I reproduce the image, so I try to reject the relation of reality between the model and myself. When I paint nudes, I take photos. It is a problem that only a few models undertake this job. It is difficult to find a good model. I always make an effort to find a good model. Her self-consciousness can have a negative impact on the painting. I try to achieve her understanding of my intent in my painting and get her to cooperate. Sometimes I try to make good mood, for example we have a cup of coffee and talk and make her relax.&nbsp;</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Liddell:</b>&nbsp;Have you used foreign models?</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="text-align: left;">Uno:</b>&nbsp;I have not asked foreign models. I do not have a friend among them, so I can’t form an image of a foreign model.&nbsp; If I have a foreign friend, I ‘d like to paint a picture of her. If I have a chance to do so, I would like to try.</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></div></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-6223750217954875232022-08-15T16:44:00.010+01:002022-08-16T16:33:01.871+01:00Jean-Claude Wouters, Artist<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V-A7YxfaUQ0" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Belgian artist Jean-Claude Wouters explains his mysterious and often difficult-to-see art. Interview from around 2010.</i></span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span><a name='more'></a></span>Liddell: </b>So the first thing that you notice, of course. is how faint the images are. Now, a lot of people would would find that a difficult thing, y'know, because it's maybe too low-key for a lot of people. Why did&nbsp; you "turn the contrast down" so much?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Wouters: </b>It has nothing to do with "turning the contrast down" or whatever. It's a long process. I take photography then I re-photography re-photography and when I re-photography, because it's kind of macro photography, I use lenses, I do it close to a window,&nbsp; and I have a reflection of the sky and the lenses, and this is what in a way erase the appearance of the images.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>So the most important thing is the process not the end product?&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>For me the process is important because it's my life. It takes like nearly two months to make it. Of course in two months, I can make 10 pieces or 15 pieces, but the processing itself is quite long. Also because when I have what I think a good negative I go to my... I don't print them myself, and everything is organic. There is no computer whatever and this is really black and white paper like 19th century with... They are selenium tones also which is the best quality for preservation of all what exists in the world for photography.&nbsp;</div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How long will that last then?&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>But the oldest one we have treated with selenium are still 100% the same, so this this is the best...</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Because if it faded anymore it would be a problem, yeah?&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>Not for me, no. No because there always would remain a trace, and what interests me is the trace, the ideal, but basically it's up... Maybe you should see what there is in the other room because it starts...</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is really a [___] work. This is a portrait, and the work on the Buddha, this is something different that Mr Hoshi from the Marunouchi Gallery asked me to do, but normally this is the most relevant thing I do, when I do portraits on commission, and so, again, it's not a question of fading or not fading, it's just what I wanted to do is to give to the people an image that provoke a kind of human warmness when you discover the image, and a feeling of spirituality on one hand, second hand I want it to be very discreet because when you have a flashy painting on the wall, after two days your subconscious erase it and you don't see it anymore, so this is like the wall, and if you want... I mean, I don't know if you don't feel well or whatever but you just sit in front of your portrait, and it's like a long corridor, tunnel. You go inside of yourself. It's something like that, and third, as I said before, I wanted it to be low technology and very simple, so that's all, and in a way it's the opposite to what is photography now because, as the Japanese say, they say "shashin," which is copy of reality. In English or French we say "photography," which means to design with light or to draw with light. What I do is drawing with light, but most of the people what they do is they copy, they try to copy the reality.&nbsp;</div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>So you see this as, in a way, more real than...&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>Closer to the reality. Also because, like, for example, no it's okay because you film me. If you take just a picture it will be one piece of one 60th of a second of me, and I will be like that or like that, and there is no reality in there. I did the portrait of that&nbsp; young woman, I think, two years ago. If I make a portrait in five years it will look quite the same, in a way, and on the other hand it works also like, if you think of someone you know... We always visualize in our brain and... But, for example, you will remember me, like, tomorrow or in one week, you will mix maybe five or ten impressions of image you had of me here in the gallery. If you think about your mother, you mix instantly maybe one hundred thousand times you met her, and even it will be all mixed, even when you are three or five years old, and which also... <br /><br /><b>Liddell:</b> It's atemporal.<br /><br /><b>Wouters: </b><span>It's an&nbsp;</span>impression that, for you, your mother will always look younger than for for me that would discover her today, you know what I mean. In a way...&nbsp;</div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>The older you get, the more you become yourself in other people's minds too because there's an accumulation of different things seen at different times, and the person in the moment is not the total person.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:</b>&nbsp;Yeah, of course.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>So you're going for a more the essence of the person. This style of photography gets at the essence of the person more than a more direct form of photography, yeah?&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>Yeah.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Now, yeah, it's kind of there but not there as well, and in a way that makes it more real to the mind, because you're sort of constantly switching between seeing it and not seeing it, and this process of constantly switching makes it feel more there. Y'know, once you see a picture very clearly, you tend to, like, put it in a box and...&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:</b>&nbsp;Exactly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Y'know, so that's why I thought this would be a very interesting exhibition. But, of course, a lot of people will see this, and they'll think, "What the hell is this?" and, y'know, "This is a painting I can hardly see," and "Why would people buy this?" and this kind of thing, so there's going to be, of course, a kind of reaction against it.</div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Wouters:&nbsp;</b>Yeah. It's not easy to sell, but the people when they have it at home, they send me emails that really, even after two or three years, they still enjoy it because it's like, what I give is a slight trace and you, having the piece at home, it's the image&nbsp; built in your head, and day after day or week after weeks, and so it's still alive. It's like here you&nbsp; have only 30% of the image and 70% is in your head in reality.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeah.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>You do the work, I don't. I just propose...</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell</b><b>:&nbsp;</b>It's a collaboration between the viewer and the artist and the subject, and... It's sort of like the picture exists in a sort of middle point between&nbsp; the artist, the subject, and the viewer, whoever that viewer may be. Now you're asked to apply this very interesting technique to Buddhist sculptures and statues and... So, can you tell me a little bit more about that? Whose idea was that originally?&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>Of Mr Hoshi because in reality... Well, I have another part of my work, is I work on old images from book[s] that I scratch and repaint and re-photography. And, at the time, I was living in Brussels and working with a lot of black... And I had found a Italian book of Chinese antiques... And in there there were some Buddhas, and so I did work on those. Also, the thing is, since I'm twelve, I've been always very interested by Zen. It's something quite natural for me. It's not exotic in itself, and...&nbsp;</div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How would you define Zen, though? Because...&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>I won't do it.I have an easy answer. I would not... But I live with this kind of philosophy, let's say, and Shinto also...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Some people&nbsp; would say that Zen is a kind of lack of focusing, not to focus on things too much, to keep a kind of open-ended attitude to everything at the same time.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>Yeah I think there are many ways to describe Zen, and this is very...</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>I mentioned that particular [____] because... yeh, obviously, because you're going for a very soft, fuzzy...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Wouters:&nbsp;</b>People talk about "wabi sabi" when they see my work, which is quite true, yes, it's quite "wabi" and "sabi." So, about the Buddha you mentioned, so I was doing those Buddhas that are bit, a mix&nbsp; between photography and the painting, and when Mr Hoshi saw that, well he was not interested to exhibit it, but he said "I would like, if you accept, to go to Nara and Kyoto with you, for you&nbsp; to photography the real pieces, real Buddhas, and to apply the technique you use for&nbsp; your portraits. In the beginning I was quite reluctant, because what [I do] is not just a trick that I will photography everything with, but... And, well, it's just pieces of wood. For me the real name of those Buddhas it's "Burnt Buddha Floating in the Water," and it refers to a Zen story, but maybe I will tell that later, and so, in a way, it works well because those Buddhas are from the 9th or 10th centuries. Some that have pieces missing... But there is a head, if you go... If you come here you can see it.&nbsp; Or from here you can see even better.&nbsp;</div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Just from the side the head&nbsp; starts to appear.&nbsp; Yeah.&nbsp; That also suggests... That also suggests a kind of light around the&nbsp; head, a kind of halo effect, so that maybe works to the advantage...&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>So, the ideal of, well, of course the Buddha is not this piece of wood, is not any kind of subject.&nbsp; It's not like flowers or a chair, and for ten centuries people did pray in front of it, or something like that, and you can imagine that, with this kind of image, you feel all that spirit, you know what I mean. They are charged, that, if you see a old Buddha like that, and in a shrine, and you go, and maybe there is something special&nbsp; about it. I don't know. I'm not a believer. But, in a way, it reveals that being treated that way.<b>&nbsp;</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b>&nbsp;So, the way that people have touched it emotionally, is that what you mean?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>Yeah, it's like people praying in front of an object, then this object is 'charged' with something from all those people.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>It's like old religious statues, people touch them for good luck...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>Yeah, this kind of thing...&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>And that, kind of, creates a patina, so, in a way, you're trying to photograph the patina of devotion?&nbsp;</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Wouters:&nbsp;</b>What you say is really too precise. Maybe it has to do with it, but it's too precise. I would not put things in words like that.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>That's the job of art journalists to do that. Yes, to exaggerate and clarify and simplify. Yeah, they're very interesting works, and they do have a kind of strange atmosphere that normal paintings don't have, and I guess that's because it's forcing the brain to maybe work more than it's used to.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters:&nbsp;</b>I would say, no, it's the opposite. It's forced you to to relax. If you want to see, you really have to let go and relax. If you have to concentrate. In fact, sometimes because... I'm referring to the portraits or the things in general, and I... Well.... Also, I mean... It's not a question to see or not to see. It's just I know that I have... What do you call that? I know with a print, the less readable it can be and the more readable it can be. For example, this is the more, this is the less, and in that range, for me, it's all fine, and I don't control it, because, as I said, I work close to the window, so, in the winter time, in the summertime, if it's sunny, rainy,&nbsp; all that changes, and I don't control at 100%, and that's of course what I like, and&nbsp; I think that's what makes the work better, because I think if you control everything, the result would be quite poor, because life and nature is so much stronger than we&nbsp; are. Just... You know what I mean?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now with a computer, where you can control everything, and then you end up with quite a poor image, because you did not take advantage of accidents and what people would call fate or God, whatever...&nbsp; Like, so, when you work with a[n] advertising company, and then, you know, before they make a layout of what they want, the client has his idea, the agency has the idea, and especially now, with the digital, they see directly the results, and for sure they are losing a lot, because when they see what they have in mind, that's it; and all what will not look like that, they will say "No, we don't want." But before, when we were working with the traditional photography, the photographer was shooting, shooting, shooting, and then like one week later or three days later we were going to the agency, and the agency choose the photography that looks like what they had in mind, and then they see another: "Oh but this is interesting too! Maybe we can propose that to the client also."&nbsp; And all this doesn't exist anymore. And it's like scientists. They say, they complain that&nbsp; before... If you are going, I don't know, to the place where all those scientists were working, you had [a] couch, and they were taking a nap quite often, and they say now, because of the computer, it's impossible. You spend all your time in front of your computer. And they say during the nap they often had the right ideas.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's when the brain does a lot of its&nbsp; work and that's no longer available, but just to clarify, you say you work next to the window a lot, so that means you're developing the film not in a dark room, but with...&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>No, no, no, I said&nbsp; when I re-photography, and because I don't want... Again, I don't want to use artificial light because I want to take them, to take advantage the most of the existing light, which is the light&nbsp; of the sky. It's like when I do the portrait, the first image I do, like, I place the person in front of the window and me I'm back [behind] the window, so you don't have too much shadows and it's always daylight<b>.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>So how does the picture become, well, in a way, brighter and also less contrasted?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>Because, as I said, when I re-photography I use... so that I have my image like that, and I use lenses and the reflection of the sky. You have the reflection of the sky...&nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>On the glass?&nbsp;&nbsp;</div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>On the glass, and so, in a way, the kind of light grey you see, it's like a super[im]position of the image of the face and the sky, but I do it two or three times.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>I see, so that evens it out. You don't get clouds or other things from the sky?&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>Yeah.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>By doing it many times it evens out the background texture...&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">&nbsp;</b>And also because I'm kind [of] in the macro photography, you know,&nbsp; so it's so far it's out of focus.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>Okay, yeah, yeah. And so you're allowing the natural light to do the work, and you're not interfering too directly. I'm just curious about maybe how your&nbsp; dancing background informs your visual art, because maybe we can make an analogy between&nbsp; how a dancer responds to gravity and how you are allowing the light to work, not going&nbsp; against the light.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">&nbsp;</b>Oh, maybe, yes yes, yes, also it's a bit like to be in a river, and to follow the flow of the river, of course, I mean, yes, of course.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>What can we say about your dancing&nbsp; background? How does that... Does that have any influence on how you work as an artist?&nbsp;&nbsp;</div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:</b>&nbsp;It gives me some humility, I would say, and, because you work with your body, it's painful. And then you interpret. Someone gives you a choreography and you play the choreography like a piano player will play a piece of Bach, and some will take more freedom and some less. Yeah, yeah, as you said, to take... Not to think that you can control everything. In a way the opposite to be a film director, to be an interpreter, a dancer, or a classical viol[inist], or a musician. It's just you have to take... To do the most with what you have, to be realistic. A film director is the opposite. He say[s], "Oh I have a vision" and next thing, everything['s] in green, and then, especially in the commercial, in advertising, and all that, and the customers, they like it, and then he says "Oh no, and then I want it orange now," and the people say, "Oh, he's a genius," you know, and it's just fake and all that.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>So, it's the opposite of being a control&nbsp; freak?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Wouters</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:&nbsp;</b>Yeah.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell</b><b style="font-weight: bold;">:</b>&nbsp;Yeah, okay, right, I think that should provide plenty of material. That's probably more than enough, thank you very much.</div></div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-58205479693331474422022-04-17T18:18:00.012+01:002022-08-16T16:47:12.421+01:00Masaru Igarashi, Curator <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAEOdbJBUF-joIFuzx2dtamV-vLfbjCcjACuZigVFlzUKr3HniHj2RwXuTQdhDCLdaojx7dfOP2Yx7WkKi8doHApyu3UpLI83ch2SzEuTXDcjY3ciiwmRtwEzb7TQMb9lEor8Yod_IBlAv/s320/img002.jpg" style="clear: left; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="311" r="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAEOdbJBUF-joIFuzx2dtamV-vLfbjCcjACuZigVFlzUKr3HniHj2RwXuTQdhDCLdaojx7dfOP2Yx7WkKi8doHApyu3UpLI83ch2SzEuTXDcjY3ciiwmRtwEzb7TQMb9lEor8Yod_IBlAv/w269-h311/img002.jpg" width="269" /></span></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In 2004 I was working on <a href="https://brushpusher.blogspot.com/2022/04/a-double-dose-of-picassos-personal.html">an article</a> about two Picasso exhibitions happening in Tokyo at the same time. I decided to email a few questions to Masaru Igarashi, the chief curator of one of the museums involved, Sompo Japan. Mr Igarashi kindly responded, although possibly a little late, as I did not use any quotes from him in my article. Publishing his comments here, 18 years after the event, thus presents me with a chance to right this historic wrong.&nbsp;<br /></span></div></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"></span></b></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br />Liddell: </b>What are the similarities and differences between&nbsp;<span style="font-family: georgia;">the exhibition at Sompo and the one at the Museum</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;of Contemporary Art?</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Igarashi: </b>As you know, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo covers only Picasso works between 1925 and 1937, i.e. Surrealist time. All works are from the Picasso Museum, Paris and most of them came to Japan before. O</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">ur works cover from early time to the late time.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ours are new to Japanese audiences.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Almost all works are first showing in Japan.</span></div></span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell: </b>What is the concept or main themes of the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">exhibition at the Sompo?<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Igarashi:&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Works in Jacqueline collection are hidden for long time and nobody knew the contents of that so far. This time is the first to show works to the general public.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Jacqueline had received 35% of works when Picasso died.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is the epoch-making chance.<br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>The title of the exhibition, "La Metamorphose de&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">la Forme," refers to Picasso's constant changing of&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">forms. What do you think drove Picasso to constantly&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">change forms?<br /><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Igarashi:&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">He is very obsessed with the idea of pioneer in the 20th century art.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">He believed in his leadership, superiority to Matisse, Chagall and other artists.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Therefore he had to change the artistic style constantly to be the leader.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b></b></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCOvXZPApG_j5CmmOxe61b9_uzfWWbzoUfVF2LoxeZ7PiLks9tFTrAxMEL3pHzZZp3sGDRDF21zG_aV3t78k8iiAqoYrOsQNiwUJOZe0o9CAXwyUQnR6JaIlzuQs7f894LEgqJdXbs5085RbhnepODDbLwYWdr2YKsZQUlo0AhCfWZl1HjsBfzDDmwyg/s515/1932-Nu-couch-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="515" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCOvXZPApG_j5CmmOxe61b9_uzfWWbzoUfVF2LoxeZ7PiLks9tFTrAxMEL3pHzZZp3sGDRDF21zG_aV3t78k8iiAqoYrOsQNiwUJOZe0o9CAXwyUQnR6JaIlzuQs7f894LEgqJdXbs5085RbhnepODDbLwYWdr2YKsZQUlo0AhCfWZl1HjsBfzDDmwyg/w524-h408/1932-Nu-couch-1.jpg" width="524" /></span></a></b></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nowadays, for normal people, Picasso's name has&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">become a symbol of the 'crazy artist' who paints&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">ridiculous, distorted forms for no apparent reason.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Isn't Picasso too famous, so that people just laugh at&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">such pictures and say "Picasso" without really looking&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">at his paintings properly? In other words, he has&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">become a cliché.</span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Igarashi:&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">No comment on this. I believe he is a genius. People can't follow him, because he is too big to digest and understand.</span></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell: </b>Picasso always liked to paint subjects he was&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">close to emotionally and sexually. How do you think&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">this effected the perspective (and the form) he used&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">in his paintings?</span></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Igarashi:&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">As you point out, he was influenced by women and those women were influenced by Picasso as well. Without the women he loved many works would never have been born.</span></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell:</b> Some of the Picasso sketches are rudimentary and&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">basic, for example [Catalogue numbers] #108 to #111, don't show any great&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">talent. Are these pictures included simply because&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">they are drawn by Picasso, or is there some less&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">obvious artistic merit?</span></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Igarashi:&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">I don't think as the way you look. As an art historian, I think all works by Picasso are the subject to research meaning worthy ones.</span></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell: </b>Picasso was an extremely prolific painter so that&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">there are a great many works by him, some of them&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">brilliant and some mediocre. Also a great many&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">sketches, studies, fragments, and unfinished works are&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">presented as valid artworks. With so many mediocre&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">works in existence in galleries and exhibitions,&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">doesn't this devalue his great works</span></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Igarashi:&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">All original works by Picasso are worthy ones to research, but some <i>estamps</i> or commercially made prints are not worthy. Specially the framed prints made out of a book with Picasso illustration are too easy to get money for galleries.</span></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell: </b>Which works at this exhibition do you think are&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">particularly good or interesting? Why?</span></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Igarashi:&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">I wrote the essay for the catalogue titled "The relationship between Picasso and Women: from the view point of gender." Looking at Picasso works, it is very interesting to think that how Picasso thought about women he loved and painted.</span></div></span></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXtm8b9gp4NfqR5Foku0ujOKOd1XRtkMes8u8QhQWA1wa0spJhi1Le26IkOnXNdnf3-Uq7vBY0F4bkfVgA0Oj-8Dz1JL8tRwUkIJBFQe6n_kJE0c58-l5LCwalwvn922zN0iftzQrFZOPuCbTysbdvUFgDo3XNPlTgcnq49kgF8-x9ahDXHKVD0Su7Eg/s919/artfichier_243973_8819961_202011100328464.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="919" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXtm8b9gp4NfqR5Foku0ujOKOd1XRtkMes8u8QhQWA1wa0spJhi1Le26IkOnXNdnf3-Uq7vBY0F4bkfVgA0Oj-8Dz1JL8tRwUkIJBFQe6n_kJE0c58-l5LCwalwvn922zN0iftzQrFZOPuCbTysbdvUFgDo3XNPlTgcnq49kgF8-x9ahDXHKVD0Su7Eg/w573-h426/artfichier_243973_8819961_202011100328464.jpeg" width="573" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-54578827731824408672022-03-31T09:59:00.003+01:002022-03-31T10:05:47.564+01:00Katsuo Suzuki, Curator<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ-dDQ1yfRwPW7Ptqg767RT1Y9igXjwYcfgffIci0CDYRA-6wONqRhE1_YwV60-hr3uf5UfzxukME34DQyNxo1nuW-X_7hr5kA_Orx376JGb2iiANhPTJgwHexNFzX6tcFOXqopdExHcTWZJDhd8Z_EUqANx29LGmEZrKGmTR77CUn26zBPol9gQy59g/s2917/Katsuo%20Suzuki.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1935" data-original-width="2917" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ-dDQ1yfRwPW7Ptqg767RT1Y9igXjwYcfgffIci0CDYRA-6wONqRhE1_YwV60-hr3uf5UfzxukME34DQyNxo1nuW-X_7hr5kA_Orx376JGb2iiANhPTJgwHexNFzX6tcFOXqopdExHcTWZJDhd8Z_EUqANx29LGmEZrKGmTR77CUn26zBPol9gQy59g/w640-h424/Katsuo%20Suzuki.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Suzuki received his MA in art history from the University of Tokyo and has worked at MOMAT since 1998, specialising in modern and contemporary art of Japan and the West. I interviewed him by email in 2002 for an article about a Kandinsky exhibition that I was writing for the <i>Asahi Shimbun International Herald Tribune</i>. The sourcing of all the paintings from Russia could be seen as part of Putin's early attempt at cultural power projection.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b><span><a name='more'></a></span>Liddell:</b> It must have been possible to have got some&nbsp;Kandinskys from Japan or the West. Why are <i>all </i>the paintings from Russian museums?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Suzuki:</b> This exhibition was organized with active support from the Tretyakov Gallery, as well as Prof. Dmitry Sarabianov, to introduce Japanese audiences to the rich collections of Kandinsky’s work in the Russian museums, especially featuring “Composition VI,” “Composition VII,” and the artist’s Russian period. Besides, this project has also an aspect of promoting the cultural exchanges between two countries. That is why all the works in this exhibition are borrowed from Russia.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell: </b>In his earlier work, how much was Kandinsky's&nbsp;&nbsp;abstract tendency strengthened by his desire to express colour in the manner of the Fauvists? Was this the origin of his non-representational art?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Suzuki: </b>It was important for Kandinsky&nbsp;to find the strength of colour itself released from local colour in order to step forward to painting consisting of independent pictorial means. Colour and form. The question “What is the origin?” is sometimes difficult to answer. It is true that Fauvism had some effect on Kandinsky’s&nbsp;painting and might be a stimulus for his abstract painting. But I can’t say it is the origin of his non-representational art.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell: </b>Was Kandinsky&nbsp;trying to achieve total freedom <i>of </i>form or total freedom&nbsp;</span><i style="font-family: georgia;">from </i><span style="font-family: georgia;">form?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Suzuki: </b>I can’t fully understand what you mean by the words "total freedom of/from form"” with regard to his paintings. Kandinsky was trying to conceal the form of the objects to enhance their "inner sound." But he didn’t do it completely, and left some remnants in his most paintings at this stage. In any case, it is without saying that he was very much concerned about the effect of the form within his painting.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell: </b>Although he escaped from conventional forms, Kandinsky had to substitute new abstract forms -- clusters, groupings, nodes, crisscrossing lines, etc.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Suzuki: </b>Yes. He continued to create a new painterly vocabulary.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBO4Ick2A-NYNZldccoLof61CERNWjqlKvuSTCcAhXkR70XqMBwmOZnV7K-MJtpKr6n3MotMjRRWuh2_BZfn8pmXnXEfV8qZsQWutIPNvVYRC9f6re5xDMMOrmh2mYbJtOej2lsXYKR6BXHkJbv9D-XMYxqnZIyy58WEtH5Ja4kkcr5ojefTVNvxj4xg/s1000/Vassily_Kandinsky,_1913_-_Composition_7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="1000" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBO4Ick2A-NYNZldccoLof61CERNWjqlKvuSTCcAhXkR70XqMBwmOZnV7K-MJtpKr6n3MotMjRRWuh2_BZfn8pmXnXEfV8qZsQWutIPNvVYRC9f6re5xDMMOrmh2mYbJtOej2lsXYKR6BXHkJbv9D-XMYxqnZIyy58WEtH5Ja4kkcr5ojefTVNvxj4xg/w640-h420/Vassily_Kandinsky,_1913_-_Composition_7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><i>Composition VII (1913)</i></b></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell: </span></b><span style="font-family: georgia;">From the titles it is clear that some pictures are intended to work like music. To what extent was he successful in this?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Suzuki: </b>“Some pictures are intended to work like music” is your subjective impression. So, “To what extent was he successful in this?” should be answered by yourself.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell: </b>Was Kandinsky&nbsp;trying to create pictures that caused an initial sensation of disharmony, followed by a subsequent sense of harmony? That is, at first, the viewer is overwhelmed and perhaps confused, but with continued viewing, a deeper harmony arises. Which pictures best exemplify this phenomenon?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Suzuki: </b>He said that "opposites and contradictions - this is our harmony." According to this remark, seeming "disharmony" of his paintings is what he called "harmony." I think ”Composition VII” is one of the best.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell: </b>Abstract art is widely considered confusing and ‘difficult.’ How do you recommend the common viewer approach it?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Suzuki: Feel and experience it with activating all senses instead of understanding it by notion.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell: </b>People inevitably seek order and patterns. A good example of this is cloud gazing where we see distinct forms in the changing clouds. Is this a good way to view K.’s works, looking at his colours and shapes and use them to build <i>our </i>own patterns?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Suzuki: </b>Yes. As I told you, Kandinsky left the remnants of the objects in his seemingly abstract paintings, which function as a clue to incite viewer’s association.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Liddell: </b>Doesn’t this mean that we can never really share the artist’s <i>true</i> vision?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Suzuki: </b>It depends what this “true” means. I think that we can communicate with Kandinsky and share his "inner sound" to some extent through his painting. We don’t have to worry too much about if we can really understand his vision. The value of art work exists beyond the artist’s control, which means that it is we, the viewer, that give a new meaning to it. But it goes without saying that we should make an effort to approach the works of Kandinsky with modesty.<br /><br /><b>PS: </b>Not a single quote made it into the final article&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-82805668466199252172022-03-12T17:00:00.012+00:002022-04-17T18:30:33.828+01:00Ian Astbury, singer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7bfaA8B9r6k0GcOl5GijblEro9IUs23YxLqtV4kJUFI6hzGjaiN-4scjoygF2dNBvGoc-aGYqT-emUxt2kegjuJHekViavZdVDah4oGVyIlkI13tK8sMhBAlV1Qsdx9m6bRsSDLbtIzhu/s1600/IanAsbury.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7bfaA8B9r6k0GcOl5GijblEro9IUs23YxLqtV4kJUFI6hzGjaiN-4scjoygF2dNBvGoc-aGYqT-emUxt2kegjuJHekViavZdVDah4oGVyIlkI13tK8sMhBAlV1Qsdx9m6bRsSDLbtIzhu/s640/IanAsbury.jpg" tt="true" width="480" /></a></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <i>On the 26th of March, 2010, I did a telephone interview with Ian Astbury, the singer of the legendary rock band The Cult. He was in the USA (New York). I was in Tokyo, probably late in the evening, He was very happy to talk, and the interview could easily have been extended well beyond the one hour that it lasted. Also check out the actual recording&nbsp;now up on <b><a href="https://youtu.be/7gP1tkav7VY">YouTube</a></b>.</i><span class="fullpost"><br /> </span><br /> <a name='more'></a><div><b>Astbury: </b>Hello</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Liddell: </b>Hello is that Ian Astbury? Hi, this is Colin Liddell. I’m phoning from Japan on behalf of the International Herald Tribune Asahi Shimbun. I’m going to talk to you about your forthcoming stop in Japan.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>OK.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Right, so, right now, you’re doing the, the Love Album Tour.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yes.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>How far into that are you? How long have you been doing it, and how long is it going to continue?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>It started last… Let's see, we did UK in the Fall, North America in the late summer, we're doing dates in New Zealand, Australia, and one in Tokyo, which will probably wind it up actually. I don’t think we’ll…We might take it to South America. We'll see. We're looking at dates in South America right now, so it will go on for a little while longer. But we're not actively… Actually we came off the road and went back in the studio again, so we done one show this year so far. This is the beginning of our touring season.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeh, so you've done maybe about twenty or so shows?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;&nbsp;</b>No. we've done probably more than that, more like fifty.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Fifty, so how does it feel doing the same kind of set list like that again and again every night? How do you keep it fresh?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Well, every night's different. Every venue's different. Every audience is different, everyday's different. You get up differently everyday, I mean… It’s interesting coz… you don’t really think about performance all day. When we're actually in the performance, you're kind of very present and I think that’s how you keep it fresh – is not to carry it around all day long, y'know.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeh.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>There's something about music. I mean one of the things that y’know we never see when we see written… I mean a lot of what we know of music is, y'know, communicated by language or in the written word, and people read a lot of reviews and these are communicated verbally, but the real thing is it's an intuitive form, so It's really more about the emotive quality and that's something that you really can't explain with language, so a lot of the work is done… once you step on that stage you enter a sort of place of a... it becomes more of an emotive process and it’s more about being in the right emotional place to form songs, and the songs are really a framework that you hang your emotions on, and that's I think that's how you keep it fresh, is being in tune with the emotive aspects of what it is you’re conveying. I mean to me as a singer I can access that whenever I need to.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeh.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>And that’s… I've been at it so long.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>So, it sounds like, then, that the show, each show, depends on how you feel that particular day and what's going on around you.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeh absolutely the environment's key. The environment's actually the key. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>OK, well, sort of zooming in on that point then, well, you’ve been to Tokyo before and so what sort of stimulus do you think playing Tokyo will give you?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Well, for me, personally, I mean I think about Tokyo a lot… I have friends in Tokyo, so for the past ten years I've been going, I was going at one point several times a year, three, four, five times a year so I’ve been to Tokyo, and what to do with like art and fashion, as opposed to music, although recently I've become friends with the band Boøwy, who are a Tokyo band whom I admire greatly. But we played two shows in 1985. In Tokyo we played… Sorry, we played Osaka and we played Tokyo. Forget the venues. But… so had a long love affair with Japan, since 1985, I mean that's, what, 25 years?</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeh.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Y'know, growing up in the North of Britain, Scotland and England, and I think Japan was the most exotic, otherworldly –&nbsp;especially Tokyo – place that we'd ever been to.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>That's one of the reasons I ended up here, I guess, but, yeh, keep going.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>It's like science fiction instantly, y'know. So everything we’ve seen about the East, was kind of… I mean, I wasn't prepared for I mean everything, oh my god, the architecture, the language, food, hospitality, the level of intelligence. I just became obsessed with Japanese culture, and…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>What sort of things in particular about Japanese culture intrigue you the most? I mean, is it the Shintoism, the different mindset, the technological aspects?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>I think it's, like, this idea that there’s no separateness from nature. I mean the Japanese do culture that really is in harmony with its environment. I know that there’s a lot of problems with modern Japan in terms of stress and everything, but…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Hopefully you’re not talking about bonsai trees.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>No. What’s that… What’s that reclusive…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Reclusive people?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeh. The ‘hikkikomori’ who stay in their rooms cut off from society, yeh. Yeh, yeh, and that’s a kind of interesting element, but, I don't know. Certainly from an outsider's perspective, I mean, like, going to Kyoto and seeing the temples and the parks and... Japan feels just so much more integrated. I was blown away by the fact that I never saw people eating on the street. You don't see people, even the transients, the area's completely orderly. I mean I saw these two kids walking down the street – I remember very distinctly how one guy threw a cigarette butt on the ground and his friend hit him in the shoulder. It was like "yeh, of course."</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>The thing that gets me is the red lights, when there's a red light, there's no car in sight, they all stand there waiting for the red lights to change.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>I just love that in their culture, but, getting deeply into it, I mean, I’m a major fan of Japanese fashion, especially street fashion and, companies like Neighbourhood, WTAPS, and Undercover, and Mystery Bathing Ape, and those guys, and I’ve known those guys for probably ten years, and the way they observe the culture, the work ethic, their production values, what they actually create, they're just so immersed in the world of creativity and I just think they have an incredible work ethic and a real appreciation for craft, craftsmanship a real incredible aesthetic, just incredibly gifted at putting things together I just think, wonderful way they put things together. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>But how about their music, cos I always think one of the areas where Japan lags behind a bit is musically, and they're very reliant upon the West for a lot of their models?<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>I mean I love Ryuichi Sakamoto, certainly it’s a name I grew up with especially being like a huge Bowie fan. I know that Bowie was like a major Japanophile. Like I said, I love Boøwy, the band Boøwy, I think they're excellent. Acid Mothers Temple I admire greatly. But yeh, I mean I can definitely see the influence in, y’know, Japanese take Western music…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>When you arrived in Japan, originally, there must have been like a real reaction to you, coz this was like such great music coming from the UK, and so people must have been jumping on that.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Well it’s that first wave. I mean I think it was like the first wave of bands coming over to Japan. It was just beginning, in the mid 80s, and, like, we were definitely one of the first bands to come over. It was so much more orderly. I remember there was like a red rope, much like the velvet rope, in front of the stage.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeh.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>And ushers, white-gloved ushers standing in front of that rope, and the kids wouldn’t jump around at all. And after every song, they’d be this pause of probably about five, six seconds, and then they'd burst into applause, then the applause would die down, and we'd start again. I'm "Shit! Like what!?" It's just amazing how orderly the audiences were, and all the kids were immaculately dressed. I mean you could definitely tell who their role models were from the West that they'd studied, and their costumes, the clothes they were wearing were pristine, and incredibly well researched, and you’d see kids dressed head-to-toe in Vivian Westwood. Immaculate! Incredible! I mean you would never see kids like that in London. You might see the one or two, but not the way the Japanese kids put it together. I was blown away by how those kids looked.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Well the good thing about Japan is, is that you don’t get beat up walking down the street for wearing funny fashions, so there’s a lot more tolerant environment about fashion compared to the UK, y'know what I mean, because dressing in certain way is asking for a fight in a lot of towns.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>I think that's one of the things, y'know, you come out of the UK, I mean, like, we came out of pretty much, y'know, for want of a better label, working class environments. We did, we came out of the industrial North West and Scotland, and we had a very humble view of the world, y'know. All the **** we learnt it came from either radio, TV, or newspapers, and word of mouth. Somebody had been to London and came back with that incredible pair of shoes shoes or that album that we didn't get. There'd always be somebody coming back from London, especially in the punk rock days, and so walk through the streets of like Liverpool or Glasgow dressed as a punk rocker in1978 or 79 going to see the Clash perform, you were taking your life in your hands.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeh.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>It was just so incredibly violent, and going to Tokyo, I don't know if you... how we looked in 85, but I had short white hair, I was wearing... I was really, really into, like, Brian Jones and psychedelic rock. I loved Jimi Hendrix, I was into Morrison and the Doors, so the look that I kind of affected was like y’know straight from like 68. Y'know I used to go to a club in London called Alice in Wonderland and that was the look I affected, so, when I arrived in Tokyo, I was just it was amazing, because kids would come up to me and talk to me about my clothes. They were so into my haircut and my clothes, and they were like, just the way how fascinated they were…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>So, around that time you were, like, wearing sort of frilly shirts and bandanas, or what sort of look did you have?<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>More kinda like… I mean I used to seek out, kind of y'know… I mean I used to have, like, Granny Takes a Trip original velvet hipsters with that, y'know, 28 waist I’d sought out. I mean this is stuff that people didn't want in England, like an old Salvation Army jacket from the late 1800s. I mean I really studied kinda like what kids were into in 67, 68, 69. That look was just amazing to me and it seemed sort of Dandyism. It was kind of Romantic, going back against the kind of Symbolist poets, such as Byron and Shelley, that kind of Romanticism.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Well, it's sort of invoking a lot of stuff, wasn't it? And that probably fed into the music as well, I’m sure.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeh, absolutely, I mean it was escapism if you go back to that period, y'know, being young and growing up in that period, I mean basically Year Zero. It's like punk rock had finished the major rock stars, the Stones and the Beatles, and all those guys either as individuals or groups, become unobtainable. They no longer spoke to individuals in the street really, except through their music from when they were younger. But we didn't really have that music for ourselves. It's like the fans had picked up, the fans had become the musicians. I mean... the fans of the Pistols and the Clash had become actual musicians so, y'know, most of our heroes had kinda disbanded and we were almost abandoned in some ways, I mean I think Ian Curtis would have been very important had he stayed alive, but… And since I was in a band at 19, so maybe I had a different perspective, y'know, maybe, I'm… thinking out maybe for an audience, cos I still have Bowie. I still love Bowie immensely, and Iggy and Bowie and I still have those guys and they're still making. I mean I love "Serious Moonlight." I mean I love that record, it's amazing. I mean I love "Scary Monsters" I think they were incredible records, but for me I went back to, like, I was just discovering music from late 60s and early 70s, I mean going deep into things like psychedelic rock, Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Chocolate Watch Band, Music Machine, all that kind of stuff, and then like early Floyd, Syd Barrett Floyd, and then stuff like, y'know, Krautrock and Neu, Amon Düül II y'know, just…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>So this is all stuff that’s really made it into the "Love" album, then, in one form or another?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeh, I mean **** “Love” is like a car crash between, y'know, late-60s sort of Pysc-influenced rock, I mean the amateurism, I guess the kind of, like, the dilettante aspect of being like y'know punk rock kids who knew three chords and very limited language to express ourselves. You know what's funny y’know, it always been amaze me, when critics go, "Well, the lyrics are always very waspish." Absolutely, y'know, where do you think we went to school? I didn't go to Eton. I didn’t go to Eton, y'know. I was, like, my father worked in a refrigeration factory, my mum was a nurse. I grew up, like, blue collar kid. I didn’t have the benefits of that kind of education. I mean, what I’ve learnt over the years, I taught myself, I mean, pretty much, but my vocabulary was quite poor. I wasn’t well educated I would say, but I mean…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>That can be an advantage because if you’re overeducated, y’know that can get in the way, and, when you’ve got less words, you sort of make them count for more.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Well, I think again, y'know, it’s like on paper you can pull things apart but, again, it seems to me what makes a great performance, a great piece of music, even a great piece of acting, whatever is the emotive quality, that truth, that kind of, like, authenticity in the performer. That’s what I really respond to. I don't care how flowery or prosaic or whatever the words are, or, y’know, well thought out. Unless there's that kind of emotive quality… That's what I really connect with. I think the language is so limited anyway. And I think it’s really harsh right now, I mean you've got such… Some of the critiques I’ve seen of bands now, you're going like "really unbelievable." It’s almost like you're taking and dropping a nuclear bomb on something that should be treated more with kid gloves, and really harsh critiques of, y'know, college and university educated 'experts'…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Well, it’s all ego-driven sneering, a lot of it, isn’t it? A lot of music criticism, I have to say.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Fear and jealousy y'know, and the sad thing is there's so much space out there. There's room for everybody, and there's plenty for everyone to go round, and this idea of coveting something like it's yours, y'know, this intellectual bourgeoisie kind of coveting this… What? Coveting like the language, coveting, I don’t know, intelligentsia, fashionistas, all that kind of stuff. I hate that kind of snobbery, and that, in a lot of ways, has killed the arts to a great degree and that’s why we have a…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Well I’d say it's something that's very typical of Britain, especially. I mean British culture's very geared that way. Probably it’s a bit different as you travel round the world though, I should imagine.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Well, I don’t live there. You're living where now? I live in New York. Aha, and Duffy's in Los Angeles. Is that right? Yeh, he’s in Los Angeles, yeh.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Doesn't that make it a bit hard to sort of work together sometimes?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Well, we just came out the studio, and we just did four songs with Chris Goss, and I would say that it's our most together, harmonious work that we've done for… I couldn’t even put a time-line on it. The thing was we went in with the intention of like creating… of letting the songs dictate... We have no agenda in terms of career. We have no agenda in terms of fulfilling record company contracts, fulfilling expectations. All that stuff, it's become irrelevant for us. So we went in and made a record that, y’know, essentially is Cult 2010, 2011, and I'm really, I'm really excited about...</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Is it a full album?<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>No, I mean this is one thing that I personally have kind of looked at and I've thought, if you have a whole album worth of work in you, I mean, I can only speak for myself, I feel that if I have an album in me and I wanna go and record that, I'll do it. But right now I don’t. I mean I could put an album together out of all the material that I've got, but the Cult don't. But what I think the Cult do have is we write great songs on the spot. So, instead of, like, you write two or three great songs and then put another seven songs around it and dress it up as an album, why not put those two or three great songs out? Y’know, and then go away and have experience and have some other things come into your life, so you fill up again, and then when you've got something to say, release it again. And that’s the whole idea of working with the idea of what I call a capsule now. Not an EP, a capsule. The idea of it is a capsule collection, which I borrowed from fashion, which is when they usually do a collaboration, y'know, two companies like, say Jun Watanabe and Comme des Garcons'll do a collaboration together, and do, like, four or five pieces and a pair of shoes and maybe a perfume, and call it a capsule collection. I thought that was brilliant. So I came up with the idea of like two new songs, a re-recorded version of an older song, maybe mixed differently or sang with different lyrics or carved differently or arranged differently, then a cinematic version of a song, a song that's mixed with all the vocals out of it, maybe putting strings and piano, whatever, make it sound more like a film soundtrack, and then, along with that, a short film. Not a video. This is film, it’s an actual film. Y'know, I mean the songs’ll be used as a, partly, soundtrack, but the film is, by it’s own integrity of the film, is a piece of film…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>This is very reminiscent of the kind of cinematic ideas behind some of the Doors music as well.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Absolutely and that's something that's really… Honestly how can I be with Ray and Robbie for, for, y’know, nearly four years of my life and then not be influenced by it, y'know… I mean, one of the most profound moments when I was a kid was going to see "Apocalypse Now." Went and seen it in Glasgow, and a bottle of wine, into it, y'know, about halfway… I mean when "The End" came on, with the destruction of Kurtz's camp at the end, that was a religious experience for me. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Just for the record, was that a bottle of Buckfast wine?<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Was it Buckfast?<br /><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yes.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Oh, God, no! Buckie, no, not Buckie. No stay away from that. No, it was probably something like, probably something like really crap, like Olde England Sherry, Stagecoach, or something like that. Some real 99p, y’know, three cans of larger job. That's what it was, y'know, the carry out, in the plastic bag. It was actually stuck in a schoolbag, stuck it in the schoolbag, Sauchiehall Street, ABC, or whatever it was. That was a religious experience, seeing that. I came out of there and I was like "What was that?" I mean I was just so transformed after that moment. I never saw the Sex Pistols but I saw "Apocalypse Now" when it was put on general release in the UK.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Was that the first time you heard a Doors song, though?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>No, I mean, see I grew up in North America as well, I grew up in Canada. I spent 5 years in Canada, and thing was when I came to Canada, they had the FM radio. So, FM radio's this incredible... You get like this beautiful stereo mix… I remember this station in Toronto called Q107 maybe, and on the weekends they would play the entire album, entire album. They'd go, "And that was the first side of 'Dark Side of the Moon' and now I’m going to play the other side." No commercials, completely uninterrupted. They'd play Roxy Music, and I remember hearing entire Bowie albums, Roxy Music albums T. Rex, Floyd, Zeppelin I mean, just the whole record! I mean it was just unbelievable to sit there as a kid with the radio and just sit in the house. We were drawn into that, really like reclusive, in my bedroom, very isolated. **** I just wanted to do was go home, wanted to go back to Britain. I missed it so desperately. My parents decided to emigrate, so the music really kept me… Y'know, I had a passion for that as a kid. Film and music, strangely enough, I mean since I was very young, very very young.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>About your time in Canada, how old were you at that time?<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>I moved to Canada when I was about 11 and a half and I left when I was 16. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>And it was like somewhere in the middle of nowhere or one of the big cities or what?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>It was Hamilton Ontario, which is just South of Toronto, and it's probably known best for its steelworks, Dofasco and Stelco, and all the steel that they used to make there used to go down the Great Lakes to Detroit to the automotive industry, and that’s where my father worked in that kind of industrial area, and both my mother and father contracted cancer in that city and both subsequently died of their cancers. Y'know, you can talk about sort of industrial communities, and I mean I’ve experienced that, y'know, first hand, my family was decimated by the industrial society and consumerist society, so, at that age it was all grooming me to become, I guess, a voice, to express myself in that way. I mean I had a lot of pain because of what we went through. We all seemed to be just above the breadline. I mean. Sure we had a roof over our heads and everything, and we had a car that worked but... Y'know, we had the basics, the bare minimum to keep us going and... Not a Dickensian sob story by any stretch of the imagination... <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeh, I'm just thinking a lot of the things you’re talking about there, a lot of people of the same generation were obviously going through that too, and a lot of that kind of fed into what happened in the 80s, really, musically. There was a bit of escapism, there was a lot of grit, there was a lot of interesting things in the 80s, wasn’t there? I mean I think personally I think it was a very under-estimated or under-regarded musical decade.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeh, true, I mean I think a lot of those kids, those kids, those bands, those post-punk bands. I mean, starting off with Joy Division, probably Durutti Column and bands like that, certainly what Factory were doing and Tony Wilson and then going to things like Public Image... Y’know, we were like refugees from… I mean, I was born 17 years after World War 2 and we were still in this kinda like refugee Britain and still, y'know, they had the Summer of Love, but that had all fallen away and the Pistols had just kind of total total dystopia And it was basically people saying there’s nothing down for you. There’s no work. There's no future. It's Year Zero, 1984, George Orwell, Thatcher, there it is. Bang! You’re going nowhere, you're nothing, don’t even think about being anything colourful. But what did we have, like, the Socialist Workers Party and the NF? All those people on the streets being active and violent and really dire. It was horrible. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>In some ways it’s almost like, for lots of parts of Britain, the 80s was like a delayed 1960s coz the 1960s kind of only happened in certain select neighbourhoods, and then it didn’t really reach a lot of parts of the country until later.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Absolutely. That's well said actually That's a very good observation. Yeah, the 60s didn't happen... Probably the pop aspects did, but that kind of like incredible free love and y’know… That scenes all happening in Notting Hill gate, isn't it? Sure, a little bit happened up North, a little bit, but everybody seems to come to London. London is the real epicentre of what was going on. But definitely acid house kicked in. That took over the whole country. That was something completely different. But at that point we had already gone. At that point, we were like road weary. We had already been on the road for 6-7 years. We were like old road. We were like old veterans, old soldiers, who had been through many campaigns, and we were, like, y’know, watching our friends die. I mean, people were committing suicide and dying, and ODing at an incredible rate at that time the late 80s. A lot of musicians, rock musicians, friends of mine, were dying of all kinds of things -- AIDS, y’know, drug-related stuff, suicide, I mean. And the way that we were kind of wrung through by the way the industry was. You would tour for a over year, and then you would go straight back into the studio. So we were working for "the man," y’know, and we definitely felt it. So, by the time the early 90s came, I was just ready to bail out. I wanted out, I wanted out the whole thing, I wanted out more than anything. It was just that I was literally exhausted. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeh, well after the “Love” album, and that kind of opened things up a lot for you, and then I think you were targeted much more in America, and you went for a heavier sound, and even showed in the way you were presented, you know what I mean, so… And obviously that would have meant a much harder workload as well, because America's one of those places where you've got to go everywhere to actually break it, y’know what I mean. It's not like the UK.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeh and especially in the day because, y’know, America could take years to break. You'd have to keep going back and keep touring, and keep going back and doing interviews and touring, and having a presence. I mean, MTV helped immensely but we still were going out and doing 180, 200 day tour, through the sort of like 86, 87 through 90, 93, y’know, 94 even. We'd be doing these incredibly long tours, and, great, then the Internet comes along. We don't have to do that much...&nbsp; <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>But that's why somebody like Lady Gaga can happen so quickly. It's all Internet driven. I was just reading she had like... She's the first person to have -- what is it? -- one billion views on the Internet.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Guy Debord hit the nail on the head: "society is a spectacle." People go on about about Warhol “famous for 15 minutes,” I think it's more of a Situationist... They saw it coming, they called it. Y'know society is a spectacle. It's amazing. I saw this great keynote speech from Malcolm McLaren recently who said "We celebrate stupidity. We celebrate shallowness. We celebrate veneer. We celebrate the surface but we do not celebrate real craft, real guts, real toil and work and craft, and that tends to get pushed to the side. What's ever y’know, directly in front of us, this sweet stuff that we can just instantly get an instant reaction from, that's what we celebrate. But, I'm not some kind of big reactionist against the way things are. I'm not a big nostalgist. I don't go, 'Oh, it used to be that you'd have to lift your own body weight.' No, I mean it is what it is. So, well, I ain't gonna stop the iPad. No way. Just embrace it. You have to embrace it, or you're gonna get lost by it.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Well, the way you're making music now, is it's a lot more suited to the technology, and it's not so tied to the old traditional album format which was basically dictated by the constraints of vinyl and the size of a record player, y’know what I mean? So you've kind of embraced the technology in that way.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeah, the formatting.... There's a wonderful.... You know those little "33 and a Third" books? A series of books on albums. I think Mojo put them out. They’re called "33 and a Third." There's one on Radiohead. There's one on “OK Computer.” There's a brilliant dissertation in there by, I think, some Oxford professor, and he says how formats have driven music. When the format’s driven music. When the 7-inch single came out people started writing pop songs that were two minutes three minutes long. It drove the whole industry so the artist was focused on that format. And then basically y’know vinyl gave more dimension to the album, and then the CD became... Then you started seeing people put 16 tracks on a CD and the music got really poor. Now it's like, I think what's really set the format is the attention span of the audience is very short. So my idea is, like, give them higher quality, less off it, but higher quality. I'd much rather have one or two songs from an artist who I absolutely worship, admire. Like if David Bowie dropped a song, one song, even now, I'd y’know be really excited. But I'll take one good song over an album of mediocre material any day of the week.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>But this is all very, horrendously ironic because you are coming over here to play a whole album from end to end really, aren't you, and... <br /><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>We are, we are. I mean, that's the calling card I mean that gets us in the door, but we're actually... What we're doing is, as the Cult touring entity, is to go out on the road you have to have some kind of marquee, something that's going to go on the marquee that's going to draw the audience in, and for us it was like... one of the ideas was reintroducing an audience to an album that we felt was probably our most earnest, purest record that we've made, and a lot of those influences still influences that we have today. But we basically perform the “Love” album. Then we take a break. Like two separate sets distinguished by y’know just different looks to the set. But then the actual set, we would play whatever we want to play that night. It's not really an encore or anything like that. It's just two halves of the show. Yeah, so we play like, y’know, we play the album with the... It's not like we play it note for note perfect. Absolutely not. Play it differently every night but... <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>So, the first half of the show is the same every night, the second half varies a lot, yeah?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeh, it really depends on how we feel, I mean we chop and change songs, we chop and change songs in the second half of the set. It works, it's working very very well because when we come out for the second half of the set, the audience are like "there's gonna be more?" we're like "yeah." In fact the “Love” thing is like yeh that’s, that's like, we're here, we've done that, now it's time to stand up in your seats and kind of get involved and... So it’s worked out really, really well, and I was really happy because I kind of conceived the idea of doing two separate sets, and everybody's like “oh we can't do” that, y'know... I'm like “why not?” Do whatever you fucking want. Why not? It's 2010, do... Please, I mean come on!</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>You're old enough, y'know,</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yes, you're old enough. You do whatever we want and I think there's a kind of format that I want to see when I go to a show. I mean who's, who's got the biggest ego to think an audience is going to want bludgeoning for, like, 2 hours 3 hours whatever? Y'know. It's like if you're wrong about that show, then it's over 3 hours long. In the day I mean a great show, maybe see a Doors show, some of them are like... I spoke to Ray and Robbie they play half an hour they'd leave the stage, sometimes they’d play for 3 hours. But now with the venue constrictions and blah-blah blah blah, and contract restrictions. I've got a contract that says you must perform for 35 minutes, 120 minutes, 95 minutes, whatever it is, y'know, and if you go over there's union charges or if you go over it's like, y'know, some kind of building insurance charges, something crazy. But a lot of these formats are driven by the venues, companies like Live Nation, whatever, y’know the actual venues have policies of security and theft. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>When you mention Live Nation it just reminds me of Starbucks for some reason, this kind of globalisation and everything having to be in the same format and fit the same size, y'know, one size fits all, that kind of mentality.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>One size fits all absolutely and one thing we're seeing kind of a healthy reaction to that in the sense that some people are walking away from... that kind of experience and creating their own reality… There’s a whole kind of, like, psychedelic, organic, hippie folk through kind of like darker more pagan-esque music scene now in the United States which is fascinating. People are going playing unestablished venues. I've some got friends who have a band called SUNN O))). They're from Seattle and... they basically don't have a drummer they play drone it's almost like a black mass, heavily influenced by Indian raga. They just play these tonalities and this incredible ritual they play in... They would never play a black... They would never play a Live Nations venue. They play places like this place called the Brookdale Lodge, where where affluent actors and businessmen would take their molls in the 1930s. It's an old 1930s lodge up at south of San Francisco. It's an amazing place! They play these old houses and masonic lodges and the idea of like, y'know… You see that a lot in New York, like, people going for, y’know, picking up your old warehouses and.. I love that. I mean that's amazing. So I'm down for doing a bit of that I mean we've been talking about the Cult playing Indian reservations in the United states, going out and just performing purely on reservations. And the reason why Indian Reservations is because they have completely different laws on the reservations in terms of y’know noise restriction and what time you can perform at. The idea is that you go on-stage at midnight, and we perform all the way through to the dawn, y’know, till the sun comes up. Yeah coming out of these urban areas. Mean playing like next to sort of Phoenix, and you have to drive like 80 miles out into the desert and you're on Indian land and then its like, it begins at midnight and everybody comes and is part of the spirit of that...</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>You see, once you start doing that a lot of people end up being late for their job at the office the next morning.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Good!<br /><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Which is probably what they need.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>I think that's what we all need, is a bit more of that right now. I mean it's overwhelming, the information age is "shoo!" We're getting lost in it and, y’know, I'm a huge fan of Terence McKenna, brilliant, brilliant man visionary, shaman. Wrote a book called “Archaic Revival,” one of the most eloquent spokesmen for expanded consciousness and... connectedness to the Earth. In fact, it’s amazing that if you look at “Avatar,” and “Avatar” is the biggest film of all time and a lot of Terence McKenna’s kind of ideas and observations are expressed in “Avatar” y’know, like a species of humanoids that are more highly evolved, more sensitive, more connected to their environment, directly in harmony with the natural world, and the natural order of things, and that being something to aspire to instead of something to destroy, and that's kind of like more what I would advocate in that way, is something more along those lines. And technology is amazing but human technology's amazing as well, human sensitivity is amazing, and I think that the real, I guess, journey we're on right now to discover more about our awareness, the inward journey, y'know, this inward journey and discovering God or whatever that is within ourselves and sharing that... I mean really we're still fighting these mediaeval wars over religion. Unbelievable! Really? 21st century! Oh my god!</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeh, but could I just like put you on the spot and ask what do you actually believe in? Because some people are Christians and Buddhists and some people in, y'know, they're atheists and agnostics. What do you actually... If someone puts the question to you, what would you say is your believe system?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Well, I wouldn't pin myself down with one belief system, with philosophical system I think they all basically are jump off points to the same conclusion that the ego is only an aspect of... of self, and ego is almost like a grounding, a self identification thing but the sum, we are we, it is made up of something far more profound than that, and I just believe in expanded consciousness. I love the idea that time is curved, y’know, if you travel in quantum physics, the idea that time is curved. If you journey out far enough you'll come back to the beginning again. And you're wrapping your head around... And that's what scientists... These are the conclusions that are coming back. This is the intelligence that's coming back from the scientific community. But they’re also coming back with the fact, y’know, talk about the Boson Particle They found that they've identified the smallest quantum particle and it disappears, and they don't know where it goes. Science can't explain it, so, I think we get out of the realm of language and symbolism and y’know labelling of philosophy and language and culture and all that kind of thing, and then it becomes an intuitive thing, and it's an answer that I couldn't give verbally, and that ****** you...&nbsp; If we look at each other, we'd understand each other. I wouldn't have to label it or say anything about it. You know those moments, you've been with someone you're very close to, and you look at each other at the same time and you just go... You don't say anything, you just know. I mean I couldn't put a label on that. I could not put a label on that, but I know it's Terence McKenna, right now he's my most important guru, shall we say. For me, I'm deeply, deeply, deeply into his archeozoic fire, completely endorse his perspective…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>A lot of people would peg you as some kind of pagan.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Well, fine. Good. Fine, I'll take that, pagan's fine. So occasionally I go like, people go “what are you?” I go like I'm a pagan, y'know, Buddhist, pagan, Wiccan, naturalist, Libertarian whatever, y'know. I mean there is expanded consciousness. There's wisdom in there, and that's what interests me more than the Society of the Spectacle. I mean, y’know, yes, kitten flying an aeroplane on YouTube 50 million hits. Great! Fantastic! Keep going. There's technology for you. The biggest things with technology are pornography and, y’know, YouTube. You know when you see those, images of, like, patients in a mental hospital like Bedlam that are slobbering on themselves? That's kind of like what we must look like, looking at that shit. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>I think there's maybe too much inter-connectedness these days. I mean that's the other side of the technology. Everybody can see everything all the time and so it creates a kind of shallowing of experience. Before, y’know, like cultures and societies were separated more by real distance and so they developed much more unique character that way.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yes the globalisation process is definitely taking over. I mean it's sad to see that... I heard Gabriel Byrne on the radio today talking about the fact that the Gaelic language only really disappeared from Ireland in about 1855. 1860 or something like that, and then he said, y’know, “Within a hundred years we produced Joyce, Beckett, Oscar Wilde, y’know we basically took the English language and just completely took it to another level in theatre, in poetry, and literature.” And he's speaking in Gaelic, and it's amazing that when he's speaking in Gaelic, all of a sudden I personally felt deep movement within myself. It was like connecting to something far more profound, a language that sounded like it came from nature. And to share that connexion to that language, and it was being very rich and that, very rich. And my language, I don't know, the English language it just feels so inadequate. And with the Japanese, when I'm with my Japanese friends, and the way that they’re explaining in incredible detail about something so small, y’know, something like, really, like, the way a napkin is folded or something and why that's folded that way and why is important and why... I'm just fascinated by that, and, y’know, I go back to Britain and it's just chav central! It’s shockingly poor.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Well, it seems to be the difference between a very rooted culture and a kind of rootless culture. I mean, because we are part of the English speaking world, English speaking culture is very rootless now, it's become globalised. I mean it’s the first one to be globalised, and Japanese is still clinging on to its own locale, its own identity, its own idiosyncratic way of doing things, because of the language, and you can probably say the same thing about Gaelic, where it is still spoken, a culture which is still rooted in the one place, which is still resisting globalisation. <br /><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>One thing that we're seeing in North America is we're seeing native indigenous Native Americans, now with the advancements in technology, going... More and more communities are going, y’know, really all out to try and capture whatever elements of their culture they have and get it recorded and get it digitally available to the communities and make it accessible so that they can be like language, ritual, all those elements that make a culture, they're basically trying to encourage their language and their rituals being spoken in the 21st century.~<br /><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">[Line cuts]</div><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Hello<br /><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeh, hi, I got cut off. The card ran out. I guess we were rambling too much.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Get me going and that's it, I mean I get going on this. I'm like... I mean, don't get me going, I can't stop. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeah, but anyway I think I've got plenty of material for the article, which is a good thing, and so I'll probably just leave it there and maybe hope to see you when you come over. <br /><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>That would be amazing. I mean one thing you will not get with the Cult is a jock rock experience This is something I explained to a friend of mine. What the fuck happened to American music? I said what happened to American music was that the kids who used to play sports picked up guitars, and all those kids that were like really kind of introspective and, y’know, androgynous and slightly damaged, those poetry kids…They just kind of turned into really, really, really anaemic... They've become very very weak, very weak in the poetry department, and those wonderful romantics that we used to have. It is completely, outrageous like Lady Gaga, which isn't really that outrageous, I mean, for fucks sake, come on. Y’know, Elton and Mick and y’know, Iggy, and David, they were way more outrageous than Lady Gaga...</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>So, you're saying that the kind of more introspective, introverted, creative types tend to be pushed down a lot more and forgotten?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeah, yeah I think so, and, y'know, and also there's this kind of like this kind of like piousness that's come into this... The kind of like the REMs and the Sonic Youths of the world have become overseers of what is considered to be y’know artistically valid, and...<br /><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Sort of like artistic political correctness?</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>YPrecisely, and that's become like an institution, and that institution isn't acceptable to everyone, because not everyone comes from educated backgrounds or has that base, yknow.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Well, it's a kind of puritanism isn't it. Those kind of attitudes which underlie that way of looking at things.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Thank you, it is very puritanical and, y’know, that's one of the reasons why people say why do Cult play rock music? Why don't you guys evolve into more kind of like... You had The Smiths coming out, you had REM coming out, more textural, kind of pastorial kind of music. And I always, like, because I just found that to be really... I used to despise that whole looking down your nose at someone, yknow, being lofty and... <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>You're going for something more visceral, aren't you? Because when you play rock music you're connecting and if you're, y'know keeping it very very polite...</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeh, well the music... I think the best, Robert Plant described it. It's like it has to happen from the waist down and the neck up, y'know. I don't want to go to a concert where I'm like... if I want to be intellectually stimulated I'll read a book, maybe I'll watch a film. But when I go to a concert performance - there's an exception to every rule - when I go to a performance I want to be emotively moved, I want to have catharsis, I want to have an emotive experience. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Would you say it's a middle class working class kind of dichotomy there?</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>I think it's just that whole thing of like intellect versus, y'know, brains versus sexuality, that kind of, like you're saying, that kind of really&nbsp; puritanical fear of letting go. What happens if I let go? My god, what's going happen? What happens if I release the bodette? And it's interesting, like, all these kind of pseudo intellectuals now are embracing things like y’know, Sabbath and Zeppelin and, like it's...</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Oh, but they're doing it ironically I think. <br /><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeah, they're doing a bit tongue in cheek, but they're actually really getting into what it is though. The reason why Led Zeppelin are still... kids are still picking up... You've seen, you must have seen “It Might Get Loud” with Jimmy Page, Jack White, and The Edge.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Oh yeh, yeh.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>When he's played the riff, y’know “It's a Whole Lotta Love,” they're both sitting there with their mouths hanging open. They can't believe... And he's the only one that talks about the music being orgasmic, it being rude. He talks about it like its a fucking... <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>You can't beat a big, dirty, old riff can you?<br /><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>No... And he's talking about it in a very sexual context.&nbsp; He's talking about it in a really emotive context, and y’know got Edge with all his “la-la-la” different sound effects, and then Jack White, y’know, kinda like whacked pastiche ****** That's not what the Blues was about. It wasn't Tim Burton, dude. Tim Burton wasn't the guy who created the Blues. Y’know, like, if Tim Burton was Robert Johnson, you would have ended up with Jack White. But... I quite like the Dead Weather. I quite like... I mean, I like them. I like him, I like that, but put him against Jimmy Page, he's like a domestic house pet.</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Yeah, you like him but in a different way.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeah, it's like cats looking at a panther. <br /><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Well, y’know, sounds like it's going to be a great show, so, y’know, I'll definitely be there, and hope to hook up with you.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Yeah, absolutely, come by, come by whenever you want. Come by for a sound check or…</div><div><br /><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>OK, I'll ask the promotion people about that, so, yeah, should be possible. Well, have a good time in the meantime, and I'll see you when you get to Tokyo.</div><div><br /><b>Astbury:&nbsp;</b>Alright, take care.<br /><br /></div><div><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>Okay, cheers!</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7gP1tkav7VY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-43753735710506062232021-09-30T22:15:00.004+01:002021-09-30T22:50:51.191+01:00Alberto di Mauro, diplomat<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirMOvXgLSQo7dYY-4CZKAypxkU9vjO7GRXmT4nEtDbe-oCGBdJefZhhmti35Eg1T98VxRbpAd8KmKeWSBGrLwHdMzpeuo05oSDRp34lCCqdzEJMN2P9dSwA4vzdk3IbJ7C74hq3nt1-FdV/s320/c1-105.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="320" height="536" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirMOvXgLSQo7dYY-4CZKAypxkU9vjO7GRXmT4nEtDbe-oCGBdJefZhhmti35Eg1T98VxRbpAd8KmKeWSBGrLwHdMzpeuo05oSDRp34lCCqdzEJMN2P9dSwA4vzdk3IbJ7C74hq3nt1-FdV/w640-h536/c1-105.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Back in 2005 I was doing a piece for <i>Tokyo Journal</i> on the new Italian Cultural Institute in Japan, and also reporting on a exhibition of Etruscan artefacts that was being held there. In order to get a few quotes I contacted the Institute's Cultural Director, Alberto di Mauro by email, and carried out the following brief interview:</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: georgia;"><span><a name='more'></a></span>Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> My name is Colin Liddell. I got your name from Ms. Furukawa at the Italian Cultural Institute. I regularly contribute articles on art-related subjects to the </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">Japan Times</i><span style="font-family: georgia;">. This paper has asked me to write about the exhibition "Il Mondo Degli Etruschi."</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: georgia;">Di Mauro: </b><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thanks for your attention and your interest in our events.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: georgia;">Liddell: </b><span style="font-family: georgia;">What is the purpose of this exhibition?</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: georgia;">Di Mauro:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: georgia;">To make known in Japan Etruscan civilisation. Every one knows about Romans and Greeks, but Etruscans are&nbsp; not yet so popular. Nevertheless their culture was very spread out and influenced even Romans for a certain period.</span></div></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><b>Liddell: </b>Does the exhibition have any particular theme?<br /><br /><b>Di Mauro: </b>There is not a special theme, but different sectors to analyse the aspects of their civilisation: arts, religion, urban society, power. You will find them in the panels displayed in each section.</div></span><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell: </b>What do you hope to accomplish with this exhibition?</span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Di Mauro: </b>Italian&nbsp;culture since ancient times is a very composite culture, recording influence and contributions of different people. This exhibition is a contribution to discover the complexity of our culture.</div></span><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b> How many pieces do you have on show?</span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Di Mauro: </b>235 pieces, their provenance from the region actually called Toscana.</div></span><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell: </b>How was the exhibition organised?</span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Di Mauro:</b> The exhibition has been chosen as the main event on the occasion of the opening of the new premises of the Italian Cultural Institute. It is organised by Regione Toscana with the support of Foundation Monte dei Paschi di Siena. All the works are chosen by Sovrintendenza Archeologica of Toscana. Further information you will get in the catalogue.&nbsp;</div></span><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b> What is the particular beauty of Etruscan artefacts?</span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Di Mauro: </b>From one side their realistic approach in the arts. Sometimes their conception is so modern that it has influenced modern artists (Marino Marini, Giacometti, etc.). Their pieces of jewellery were the most refined productions in the area in that period.</div></span><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell: </b>What is your favourite item in the exhibition? Why?</span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Di Mauro: </b>The canopic jar for its anthropomorphic shape: a mix of symbolism , realism, and at the same time a cult object.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhITUpzibmO5ZKBuM5HMkfpoQoJDjg7Pn1_GLhYC9Foo9kRJ4l4LDZS29J20-Es2kI8z2ONbkNLunEHYXsOEQ_70TnUyF1gYeXOpOd9K-hh6eSRDY4JBde8g8YE5fjeLnLAMFW6xO4ephaS/s1024/d6afd44a013905d70383c4ccd28771c1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="716" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhITUpzibmO5ZKBuM5HMkfpoQoJDjg7Pn1_GLhYC9Foo9kRJ4l4LDZS29J20-Es2kI8z2ONbkNLunEHYXsOEQ_70TnUyF1gYeXOpOd9K-hh6eSRDY4JBde8g8YE5fjeLnLAMFW6xO4ephaS/w448-h640/d6afd44a013905d70383c4ccd28771c1.jpg" width="448" /></a></div></span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-77350967194111208162021-03-14T16:13:00.003+00:002021-09-30T22:50:27.757+01:00Tadashi Kawamata, curator & artist<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrQpuLT0mQMfkp-kUsAXmkwzaF8nvkhlwgi1BIkvblngDc2ALHRxFBLpHtFGml7HAhdej9z18Dr8hvtvjItDtLfEegWxBbkKMDl35uxoCWNI0MKFgs9glBIOiOpeTF27MbZzYaZAPZe4CI/s1341/kawamata+-+Edited.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="826" data-original-width="1341" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrQpuLT0mQMfkp-kUsAXmkwzaF8nvkhlwgi1BIkvblngDc2ALHRxFBLpHtFGml7HAhdej9z18Dr8hvtvjItDtLfEegWxBbkKMDl35uxoCWNI0MKFgs9glBIOiOpeTF27MbZzYaZAPZe4CI/w640-h394/kawamata+-+Edited.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2005 I was doing a story on the Yokohama Triennale and sent some questions to Tadashi Kawamata, an artist who was serving as the Director of the event.&nbsp;</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Colin Liddell: </b>There were special problems with this Triennale: short time and a site that wasn't suitable for every kind of art. How did these problems or pressures help shape your concept of the Art Circus? You had, I believe,&nbsp; 9 months to prepare this Triennale, which is a very short time. Was it stresful? What was the biggest obstacle that you faced?</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><span></span></b></span></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tadashi Kawamata: </b>It wasn't a real problem that we had only 9 months to prepare. We have chosen the site specific art work for this tirennale, and lots of artists who participated came to see the site. As soon as I decided to work on this triennale, I went to Europe to see the artists and to ask for their participation. The word "Art Circus" was introduced by Daniel Buren.</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Colin Liddell: </b>The theme of involvement threatens to blur the distinction between artist and audience. Indeed, I was sometimes unsure who the artists and who the audience were. The more the audience participates, the more they are the artist.A big part of art's appeal is the pseudo-religious idea of the sacredness or specialness of the artist. Doesn't your concept of the "Art Circus and its spectator involvement threaten this proscenium barrier?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Tadashi Kawamata:</b> I think having no boundary between the artists and the audience should not be a problem. For this triennale, the artists also participate in other artists' work as well as the audience. I think the word "artist" should not be treated as a certain status. The artists are also an audience.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Colin Liddell: </b>With a theme of involvement, it was odd that visitors were not allowed to photograph their involvement, as this would be an ideal way of involving them. Is this restriction because artists don't want their works to be photographed? Doesn't this create a barrier between artist and audience?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Tadashi Kawamata: </b>For this current situation, I personally think taking photographs with the mobile phone has a different meaning from taking photographs with an ordinary camera. People get more familiar to taking photographs. It becomes far more difficult to control the use of cameras. We inform&nbsp; "no photographs" at the entrance, when they buy tickets, as well as at the information board, but we would like to leave it to each individuals' common sense.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-59676133138600955982020-08-30T16:48:00.000+01:002020-08-30T16:48:57.471+01:00Carl Barat, musician<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="text-align: center;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cTQyxiMH1dE" width="560"></iframe></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 2010, Carl Barat of Libertines fame came to Tokyo to promote his eponymous solo album. I interviewed him at the offices of the company promoting him in Japan. Even though he was somewhat jet-lagged and disheveled he allowed me to video the interview, so rather than the difficult job of transcribing it - his speech is often very unhclear - here is the actual interview itself. The article that this produced can be read <a href="http://the-revenge-of-riff-raff.blogspot.jp/2012/02/interview-carl-barat.html" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;</div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-87971542564016630222019-07-18T00:51:00.001+01:002019-07-18T00:52:15.120+01:00Keiko Nakamura, Curator<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMIHAvlZNlOTV4BZ9lt_x-XBPwcx_M9sHNqURDWAnX2ENl_0bE5Qd9EGzzIDM-Rqc1pIkTa5avKqQPiUWsqqqTiGdZWq2SA39tef8J9D22ALPWBvwJ_kthlK6sYRnLv3D11OzeVwolvTqZ/s1600/keiko+nakamura+yayoi+museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="947" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMIHAvlZNlOTV4BZ9lt_x-XBPwcx_M9sHNqURDWAnX2ENl_0bE5Qd9EGzzIDM-Rqc1pIkTa5avKqQPiUWsqqqTiGdZWq2SA39tef8J9D22ALPWBvwJ_kthlK6sYRnLv3D11OzeVwolvTqZ/s400/keiko+nakamura+yayoi+museum.jpg" width="270" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;verdana&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Keiko Nakamura is the curator of Tokyo's Yayoi Museum, which is one of the best museums in Tokyo, with nostalgic exhibitions focusing on popular illustrators. In 2015 I wrote a review of an exhibition of the work of Sayume Tachibana for <i><a href="https://metropolisjapan.com/sayume-tachibana/" target="_blank">Metropolis Magazine</a></i>. In preparation for this I also interviewed the museum's curator Keiko Nakamura.</span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;">______________________</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b></b></span> <a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b> Tachibana's paintings reflect an idea of women as attractive but dangerous. Was there any personal reason - such as an experience, a relationship, or a habit - that can explain Tachibana's fascination with this idea of woman?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilAgO4gsYXcg0OEUXz4wvzJiwulPBG9rM98oiH8CNfGYx_lLqnhFVXYqeGEknDpqY_hMH_33SStyz7DjR6ZxNlcm3rYuDCC4zdnmpw-UwZhmsjKHJeXfKSGrFzMSLtU4IcneOMFzMF0T16/s1600/CCF16042015_0005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="890" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilAgO4gsYXcg0OEUXz4wvzJiwulPBG9rM98oiH8CNfGYx_lLqnhFVXYqeGEknDpqY_hMH_33SStyz7DjR6ZxNlcm3rYuDCC4zdnmpw-UwZhmsjKHJeXfKSGrFzMSLtU4IcneOMFzMF0T16/s640/CCF16042015_0005.jpg" width="355" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Nakamura:</b> Sayume suffered from heart failure since he was a small child. So he spent most of his time in childhood reading literature and folklore rather than running around like every other child does. Japanese folklore and tradition he loved are full of enchanting and bewitching beauty and he was strongly fascinated by these women and embodied them in his works of art.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;">At the same time, as he was told by doctors that he would not live until 20 years old because of his heart disease, he was obsessed with “the other world” after death. Female nymphs and ghosts living in another world were not only attractive but also familiar to Sayume who was feeling close to death all the time.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b> When was he most active and successful? Was he recognized as a great artist at that time? How has reputation changed since then? How has his popularity changed over the years?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Nakamura:</b> Apparently most of his Japanese paintings were produced from year 8 to 12 in the Taisho period (1919-1923). Unfortunately, however, many of them were lost or burnt out in the big earthquake in 1923 and war. So now we cannot overview his artworks as a whole. At that time, engaged in painting as an individual painter and illustrator, not belonging to any of the groups, he was not so highly praised as any great painter in his lifetime.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3sUFtBg3vO1h6P4PLAJ0txSjaXdpyB2I5XcAlTb3KOtJHcvnhFqirKmiNrzQCMvE5895g-KzT6eiMQtw2pVlkaH5XP1bJ5sfUa7XoI50UG2d3qfm8WTwq51wh1BHEd1aRVrPiFDq_od17/s1600/CCF16042015_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1447" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3sUFtBg3vO1h6P4PLAJ0txSjaXdpyB2I5XcAlTb3KOtJHcvnhFqirKmiNrzQCMvE5895g-KzT6eiMQtw2pVlkaH5XP1bJ5sfUa7XoI50UG2d3qfm8WTwq51wh1BHEd1aRVrPiFDq_od17/s400/CCF16042015_0002.jpg" width="361" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;">As for the illustrations for books and magazines, Sayume seemed most productive in 1916 and 1917 and from 1925 to 1928. His inconsistency and the intermittence of his production was partly caused by his physical weakness. As was mentioned above, Sayume was born with heart failure. He had to stop working on his art and take a rest when he felt seriously ill. This is one of the reasons for the misfortune that he could not get the reputation that he deserved.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;">Another reason for his misfortune was that he was born too early to receive the proper appreciation of his art. The fantastic and illusory air of his paintings was clearly against the tide of the age when militarism started prevailing in Japan from the beginning of the Showa Period (1925 onward). Under these circumstances, Sayume was not well known during his lifetime.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;">But in Japan today, free from any of the political restraints, let alone militarism, Sayume’s art attracts people, particularly young people living in the big city who are sensitive to the edge of the time. Like Vincent van Gogh and others, we know many cases to find great artists after their death. Sayume will be one of such examples, I believe.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b> Many of the artworks are connected to books and literature. Was he simply reflecting literature or was it a two-way process? Did his art also influence literature and the works of writers?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Nakamura:</b> Sayume was acquainted with his contemporary artists, like very popular detective stories writers, Edogawa Rampo and Yokomizo Seishi, whose fames were established at the time. Sayume and these writers shared their taste for a mysterious world. In that sense they may have effected each other, but we cannot definitely say that his art had a specific “impact” on his contemporary writers.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzp69xsw51ssS8WbqVYHTxpM68e717HV4_SBw8-UNNAl5pcfQLKx3n7NhnvC-HmUQ2WZvqh7GLejLHiDFpVyTFZscflfLa9Fx9GBACY2ZE50s8Q8Q_x-1ciQYq23sPpC27wakxTCQpQJ3q/s1600/Water+Sprite+1932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1037" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzp69xsw51ssS8WbqVYHTxpM68e717HV4_SBw8-UNNAl5pcfQLKx3n7NhnvC-HmUQ2WZvqh7GLejLHiDFpVyTFZscflfLa9Fx9GBACY2ZE50s8Q8Q_x-1ciQYq23sPpC27wakxTCQpQJ3q/s640/Water+Sprite+1932.jpg" width="414" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b> Many of the works are "sexually charged." Did he have any problems with&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;">censors in those days? How were the standards of censorship in those days - strict or lenient? I believe they were more lenient but then became stricter later, but I am not sure.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Nakamura:</b> One of his representative works ‘Suima (Water Sprite, lithograph, 1932)’ was prohibited from exhibiting and publishing. It is sure that the painting looks erotic with a stark naked woman in the water, but the reason for this prohibition was not solely due to its sexual charge, but maybe because the danger of this sensuality comes from the ambivalent feelings about death it represents——dread and fascination——deeply rooted at the bottom of our heart. People are afraid of death but at the same time they can sometimes find “rest and peace” in death.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;">1932 was the year when Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai was killed by young naval officers. That revolt called “The 5.15 Incident” was the turning point in Japanese modern history when the nation rapidly got militarized and the militaristic government tried to make the Japanese conform to one monolithic idea, militarism. Such government wanted to sweep away all those enigmatic and uncanny elements from the society. To the eyes of people today, Suima does not look so sexual. Without doubt, it is counted as a masterpiece of art in the 20th century Japan.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b> His paintings have a unique character. One imagines that he had as unusual a personality as his art. What can you tell me about his personality? Was he as strange and unusual as his paintings suggest?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Nakamura:</b> Sayume’s artworks surely have bizarre elements. People easily imagine an artist who created such enigmatic art should be eccentric and dangerous. On the contrary to the images evoked by his art, Sayume was quite a normal Japanese man who loved his family, with a wife and 4 kids, refrained from smoking and drinking, kept regular hours, and devoted himself to caring for his wife in bed at the age of 63. Particularly after her death, he was a very home-oriented father who did cooking, washing and cleaning. Far from being a pervert, Sayume was quite a gentle and nice man who often made people laugh with his good sense of humor.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-30291384900832733852019-06-05T21:24:00.000+01:002019-06-05T22:01:40.423+01:00Toyo Ito, architect (2)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkpalVvDjUfmU0UyUHslCxCp8LogiI0oWVOWWEI1fADOKZ0QJNS0WXB6FpoOpEP6Wg3VB4mzi0LaRbprAGgzPvrYBdWNOLs6DIpSoz6oOEKw2YLw7OvuLq3Pni1e9i1gTBdGFHcsa_vbjh/s1600/nil2htpyg387ooos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="768" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkpalVvDjUfmU0UyUHslCxCp8LogiI0oWVOWWEI1fADOKZ0QJNS0WXB6FpoOpEP6Wg3VB4mzi0LaRbprAGgzPvrYBdWNOLs6DIpSoz6oOEKw2YLw7OvuLq3Pni1e9i1gTBdGFHcsa_vbjh/s640/nil2htpyg387ooos.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />In late 2010 or possibly early 2011 I interviewed the Japanese architect Toyo Ito for <i>Architecture Week</i> magazine. It was a face-to-face interview at a venue somewhere in Tokyo (I will consult my diary later to clarify these details). Here is a cleaned up version of the text I sent to the magazine.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">_________________________________________________</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b></b></span> <a name='more'></a><br /> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b> A very simple question to start with. Maybe the answer will be complicated. How do you feel about being awarded the Praemium Imperiale?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;Of course I'm very pleased to receive that prize, but at the same time I want to be as young as possible, both as a person and as an architect as well. Getting the prize is like stepping up to the next stage, but for my next challenge I want to stay as young as possible.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;So, what you're saying is that the prize makes you feel a little older?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;Yes. Now, compared to when I was young, it is difficult to say whatever I want to say to the architectural society and to other people. Because of all the prizes, it's a little bit difficult to speak up about whatever I want to say. Nevertheless I'm very glad to receive the prize.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;So you've become part of the establishment?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">Well, I have always liked the establishment, of course, and from my youth I have looked forward to receiving such honours, but at the same time I feel nostalgic for my younger days as well.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;I wonder if Sophia Loren felt the same way. I guess you must have met her at the prize awarding ceremony.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">I was very happy to see her.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;She's aged quite well. I guess she's probably a bit older than you. Is that right?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;Yes, she's 76.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;Wow, it's hard to believe.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">She looks very young.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;Looking at the previous winners of the Praemium Imperiale architecture prize, who do you most admire and why?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">It's actually a very difficult question to answer because if I look at the rest of the prize winners, I find rivals and mentors and other people, so it is very hard to choose whom I most admire. But from those honoured there are only two people who have already passed away. One is James Stirling and the other is Kenzo Tange. Those two especially were very impressive architects for me. Kenzo Tange was also professor when I was a Tokyo University student.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;When you think of Kenzo Tange, what comes to mind? What kind of image do you have in your memory?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:&nbsp;</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">When I was a student, Yoyogi Stadium was under construction. That was very impressive for me. I think that was the peak of his career. After the 1970s, he got a very big name and got other commissions from other countries, and he didn't have many such commissions in Japan, so his career after that was a little bit disappointing, but his career in the '50s and '60s was very much impressive, and the buildings he designed then must remain as masterpieces of architecture.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="1200" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwyTzX3DNCmZYW74q0SdTzh3duCBNiXDgJRF32RyH8n9UigHTI_4NwXwH7iosouJiFZwiYkAy4SRqrcHNQU80lZnYS327w__b59UUJfW1YoJDc5G2YQI73x-DTpj7SJlYOAkB-JdS8aT4f/s640/kenzo-tange-olympic-stadium-tokyo-08.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Tange's masterpiece -- Yoyogi Gymnasium</i></span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-family: georgia, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif; font-size: large;"><br />Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;">&nbsp;Are you making a distinction between the work he did in Japan as good, and the projects he did overseas as not quite so good?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;It's not like what he did in Japan was better than what he did abroad, but he kind of reached the peak of his career before the 1970s and after that his peak had passed.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;So perhaps his creativity became too diluted or thinly spread?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;I don't think it's just about his own personal creativity to create great architecture. It's really related to the economy and also who was working for him. There are many processes involved to make architecture. But the time of the '50s to '60s was special for Japan. There was the economic boom, so in that time Kenzo Tange was the perfect architect for the moment. The man and the era came together.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;Regarding the Praemium Imperiale, the selection process is a bit mysterious. I'm not sure how they decide. Why do you think you were selected for the prize this time?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;I don't know. I want to ask them the reasons. This prize is not for the man of the year or the person who did something this year. It's not like that. It's a kind of lifetime achievement award. So, it really depends on the jury. I'm really not sure why they chose me.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;So, looking back at your "lifetime achievement," which of your projects are you most proud of?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;If I have to choose one, it would of course have to be the Sendai Mediatheque.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;What is it about the Mediatheque that makes you so proud of it?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;It's mainly because it changed the whole way I think about architecture and society. Before this project I didn't think society actually expected much from architects. My idea was that we didn't really have much of a social impact. But after that project, I actually watched what happened at the Mediatheque, and the people who used that space really enjoyed that building and it changed their behaviour, so my thinking towards architecture and society completely changed.&nbsp;</span></span><br /> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">We have a project in Europe. I felt something different there, as if European people really expect something important from architecture, but here in Japan, the architect's role is thought of in more limited terms. But, after Sendai, attitudes started to change. I started to think that if I make an effort to create something, then it will have more social impact and be accepted by society.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="1600" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1oKkwuiMU3FnIHr6BwlFJjQuOTNZBNik4cipHb6QO6HqqYAy-VsdiWS3Tf5NjG3kTpgoBtafOOY9QrZPPZEttlu5D-BW1HKLsA6K0niCOVpKYf8vOURU2d-iaXLEU061IDSZ6pfrlBW7p/s640/cri_000000211293.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mediatheque: plan</i></span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b><br />Liddell:</b>&nbsp;So, through the Mediatheque, you widened your horizons and realized there were more possibilities and effects from architecture?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;That's right.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:</b>&nbsp;Talking about the Mediatheque, I read somewhere you had some disappointments with the Mediatheque. In particular, the "diaphanous swaying webs" you imagined on paper became much more rigid and bulky. Is this true?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;Maybe you have read this sentence somewhere in a book or something, but it's a little bit different. At the time of the competition for the Sendai Mediatheque, it is true that we were considering very delicate, very beautiful tube-like structures, and that during the process of design and construction, they became more thick and strong. But this wasn't a disappointment for me, as I enjoyed the way that the actual Mediatheque developed in contrast to some of the aspects of the design, especially as the strength of the tube and structures were important. It is normal, I think, for architecture to change during the entire process.</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell:&nbsp;</b>As you suggest, there is of course a certain tension between creative imagination and realization. When you take things from the mind into the physical world, a lot of adjustment has to be made. How conscious are you of that? difference? Do you fight against it or do you actively expect it to be different?</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Ito:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;That process from creation to realization is very difficult to explain, because, generally speaking, when I imagine something, there's no gravity and there's nothing restricting imagination, but when we embark on the process of realization, we have to enter the real world. In this respect also, the Sendai Mediatheque was key to me. When I first imagined the Mediatheque, I wanted to create a beautiful space and beautiful architecture, especially because, at that time, I didn't think society really expected anything beyond 'architecture' from architects. I had that attitude, but the process and the realization changed my mind, because, during the process of planning and building, there were actually many people against the design. I had to fight to convey my vision to the wider society and spread its appeal. After it was completed, it may have been different from the originally envisioned space, but the architecture now had more sharply defined appeal for the people using the building. Imagination, creation, the process – it's actually very difficult to explain the gap, but in the case of the Mediatheque, my thinking and attitude to society and architecture changed <br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;">&nbsp;So, in the case of Mediatheque, there was a very strong dialogue between the different aspects, first between idea and realization, then between the plan and the public reaction, and then between your ideas and the critics of your ideas? <br /> <br /> <b>Ito:</b>&nbsp;Yes, definitely.</span></span></span></div> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"> </span></span> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>It seems that there was a lot of pushing and pulling.</span></span></div> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"> </span></span> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></span></div> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"></span></span> <div style="font-family: georgia, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><b>Ito:&nbsp;</b>Including the people who were against the Sendai Mediatheque in the loop, then incorporating that within my own mind, then looking at architecture as part of a social process – that was actually the first experience for me. I had designed and completed other public buildings before, but the citizens hadn't really been involved in the process much. Instead, just the mayor would come to the opening and make a speech saying, "This is very unique building, blah, blah." After Sendai something changed.</span></span></div> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"> <div style="font-family: georgia, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif; text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; font-family: georgia, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDlElJ8eRj_SuEpDubCInN251anHR3wOjLT3unhOwSLwH6x-PbJ7qb_RHXi_yi9WnF1s0lRgd7NXtm5N0RLmEzbXs4ZdtTGj3Qp8loR0xd78S4Garhh8Cria1r9857GF1gFmPs4f-SFUQR/s1600/5986329738_3465167683_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="693" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDlElJ8eRj_SuEpDubCInN251anHR3wOjLT3unhOwSLwH6x-PbJ7qb_RHXi_yi9WnF1s0lRgd7NXtm5N0RLmEzbXs4ZdtTGj3Qp8loR0xd78S4Garhh8Cria1r9857GF1gFmPs4f-SFUQR/s400/5986329738_3465167683_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Mediatheque: realisation</i></span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>So it sounds very Hegelian – thesis, antithesis, synthesis. From the struggle, something new is created.</div> <div style="font-family: georgia, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif; text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:</b>&nbsp;Yes, yes! That's right!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:&nbsp;</b>To focus on the details, what form did the opposition take? What kind of criticisms did people actually make about the design?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:</b>&nbsp;The users who were going to work in the library and the gallery were really against the design because they couldn't imagine how such tubes in the structure would work. Their way of thinking was that if it were just a normal structure with conventional columns and walls, it would be more convenient for placing books and hanging paintings on the wall. For them it was very difficult to respond to the Mediatheque space, because they assumed there was a room for this and a room for that, and this is how space is used, so it was very difficult for them to imagine how they could actually use the space, the tube structures, and the space. The biggest characteristic of the building is there are no walls within the building, dividing it into rooms, so after it opened, many interesting things happened. For example, there was a workshop by students, and just next to them there was a computer seminar for the elderly with no wall between them. The old people were actually very happy being with the young people, so I heard that their fashion actually changed to reflect that of the young people.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>Your architecture is sometimes described as an attempt to blend the virtual world and the actual world, meaning you create a very media-sensitive architecture, but what kind of problems does that create?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:&nbsp;</b>In answer to your question, this question is not only about the architecture. In society now, there's much information – the virtual and the physical have merged not only in architecture, but also in other aspects of society. For example, when you go to a restaurant or somewhere, you actually find the information you need from the internet or something. We are covered by information and we are also influenced by commercials as well. But, at the same time, physical reality -- how we feel about the food -- changes, so both the virtual world of information and the physical realm coexist in the 21st century. Architecture has to respond to that, and the architect has to respond to how people use the architecture and the comfort and usability. There have always been elements of the virtual and the physical in architecture, so it's not about mingling the virtual and actual. It's just a very natural thing that the virtual and the physical co-exist at the same time.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>In previous ages, the typical house was built around the fireplace. You'd have a big fire and everything was built around that, or focused on that. Now the internet, computers, video screens, etc., are much more important. Just today I was walking past a convenience store and they had these large plasma screens in the window playing advertisements. That's the kind of thing we never saw before. Could we say your architecture expresses an aesthetic appropriate to the society we now live in with modern media and internet technology?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:</b> It's a very difficult question, but, of course, as you said, nowadays people don't gather around the fireplace. The internet has replaced that position and everybody acts very cool and detached. They don't get together and do the same thing. That means there's no central point in this society. There are multiple points and people just move through as it pleases them. With the Sendai Mediatheque, it's not the place where all the information gathers. People just like go to relax and maybe read some books. It's not like the centre of the media, but more like a free central point of the city.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>How does it change people's behaviour?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:</b>&nbsp;It facilitates unscripted behaviour. For example, in the library people can take a nap on the sofa or the bench, while on the other side people can eat a lunchbox. They actually feel free within this space. I want to create a kind of new salon of the society. In the case of Sendai, the citizens have come to accept the centre as a new symbol of the city, as one of the central points of the city, but also somewhere they can use very freely.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>From your explanation, I get the feeling that your architectural philosophy is a kind of inversion of the old Metabolist idea of architecture, which believed that buildings should be designed to be flexible and constantly change to suit human needs. Of course, your buildings don't move around and alter themselves in accord with Metabolist principles, which is frankly a kind of unrealistic idea, but instead your architecture allows the people to be flexible, and so promotes human flexibility rather than structural flexibility.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:</b>&nbsp;Yes. Exactly!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>So, can we say that your philosophy has been inspired by Metabolism, but that you've taken it to a different place?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:</b>&nbsp;Yes, that's correct.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>A few months ago I went to the "Where is Architecture?" exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art. Generally, I was not so impressed by this exhibition, but I enjoyed the display that you prepared. It was based on your design for the Deichman Main Library competition in Oslo. When I saw this display, which emphasized geometry, I got a strong impression that you're very interested in mathematical properties. I got the feeling that you enjoy the mathematical side of architecture. How true is that?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:</b>&nbsp;I'm very happy about your comment regarding that exhibition. On the night of the opening, I went to dinner with the young architects involved in that show and I made a really harsh speech, strongly criticizing them. As the exhibition's title was "Where is Architecture?" my question to them was the same: "Where's your architecture?" I think that I'm very serious about what I make for tomorrow, but they seemed a little bit more complacent. I wouldn't say they're relaxed, but maybe they're not serious. Making something for tomorrow is a very serious thing for an architect, but I didn't have that impression from their exhibits. To answer your question about mathematics, I really want to change the geometry of architecture, because now I am interested in finding something between architecture and nature, using the new type of fractal geometry. As you said, I really enjoy the mathematical aspects of architecture. It is true. I really feel that way. In the office we don't yet know how to apply the new geometry to the real world of architecture, so we are wrestling with this.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> .</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>You are critical of the architects at the "Where is Architecture?" exhibition, but which young architects do you actually admire in Japan at the moment?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:</b>&nbsp;One is Sousuke Fujimoto and the other is Akihisa Hirata. Both of them are around forty.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>I saw Fujimoto's recent "Future Visions -- Forest, Cloud, Mountain" exhibition at the Watari-um and was very impressed by it. What particularly do you like about his approach and his style?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-QiZAKwY0LKedIV15mvbRoQQ6zzm7JQ5bSxfd53rCwXEp3bT71VrPcoO2Dmz3As_BsnuflkOQPdded0-2L7_-llayznUhGwqqrM1K8P1raU9NLz3t9FqlNzKrDNiE6nJSZakJCUWMMWwm/s1600/tods_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1009" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-QiZAKwY0LKedIV15mvbRoQQ6zzm7JQ5bSxfd53rCwXEp3bT71VrPcoO2Dmz3As_BsnuflkOQPdded0-2L7_-llayznUhGwqqrM1K8P1raU9NLz3t9FqlNzKrDNiE6nJSZakJCUWMMWwm/s640/tods_01.jpg" width="505" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>TOD's Aoyama</i></span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:</b>&nbsp;Mr. Fujimoto has the approach of "future primitivism," which is a kind of similar philosophy to mine. In society right now advanced media is all around us. Perhaps because of this we also have a strong craving to feel the primitive, natural side of life. In this way, I feel there is a common philosophy between me and Mr. Fujimoto. With Mr. Hirata, he doesn't have many built projects yet, but also we share the same outlook. He used to work for my firm before, on the Tod's building in Omotesando, and also the Taichung Opera House, which is under construction right now. He had an installation for Canon at the Milan Salone this year and last year. Both the geometry and design were very interesting.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="font-weight: bold;">Liddell:</b><b>&nbsp;</b>Right now the Japanese economy is pretty stagnant and the country seems to be under a malaise. How does this effect architecture and what is the way forward?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </span><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Ito:&nbsp;</b>There are not many architectural competitions in Japan now, and architecture is in a bad way. This situation makes architects go abroad to work. But we also have to think about our construction skills and ability. The craftsmanship here is very, very high, especially the construction workers. We shouldn't lose those people -- for example, the workers making the concrete forms and steel rods. It may not be a particularly respected job, but those people have exceptional skills. For example, when we made the Tod's building, they used three-dimensional computing programs and made the very complicated forms. From my experience, this level of skill and techniques only exists in this country. Also, at the same time these techniques and skills also point the way towards new architecture. Tod's Aoyama and the Tama Library are really good examples of this. Without these really good workers we couldn't have achieve that.</div> </span></span><br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-23793210331251254442019-02-15T16:56:00.000+00:002019-02-16T08:33:42.426+00:00Judith Nasby, writer and curator<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcv2RFiPZxwwTvlLbSCD4N3xqEIZg4e_fukXkycnxAJnJpFjhFqXs9mqtizeKJjaipOuEnfbJNoqNANtShxhnK3lfACGHWk2GghB4a9XqwFkySFACM7aLCRi0t73oOKudkELeRO3Nx4NbD/s1600/B821423886Z.1_20131024074115_000_GI013KTEQ.1_Gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcv2RFiPZxwwTvlLbSCD4N3xqEIZg4e_fukXkycnxAJnJpFjhFqXs9mqtizeKJjaipOuEnfbJNoqNANtShxhnK3lfACGHWk2GghB4a9XqwFkySFACM7aLCRi0t73oOKudkELeRO3Nx4NbD/s640/B821423886Z.1_20131024074115_000_GI013KTEQ.1_Gallery.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;">In 2007, I interviewed Judith Nasby, a Canadian Curator, who was organising an exhibition of art by the Eskimo/ Inuit artist Irene Avaalaaqi at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo. From my notes, the interview appears to have been a face-to-face or a phoner. <i>Yes, I don't actually remember any of this!</i> <br /> <br /> </span> <a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell</b><b>: </b>Why is this exhibition happening here and now? <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby:</b> Part of the Canadian government’s purpose is to show a diverse range of art from various groups in the country. <br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> Will it be shown at other embassies?&lt; <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby:</b> Maybe in Korea and Taiwan, and in Panama. <br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> Is this Canadian art or Inuit art? <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby:</b> It’s synonymous. The person’s background…. She brings her culture and own life experience. That what’s important. There are 15,000 Inuit in the Nunavut territory and a high proportion are involved in art. <br /> <br /> </span> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71NRr7sm6SCNw49b0cC-2-Wm5TkVkeRNaoTG6a5gJMM1TR5lm5zMBEmR4Tzxty8ObEMchiXSOQciAX2uWFGZXDzeSK3paMbE3VZSdS1TTcAI9vh73RZahGqKASe9Dd8_u-oKsVbjRYjqx/s1600/irene-avaalaaqiaq-spirit-cloud-and-dancers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="470" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71NRr7sm6SCNw49b0cC-2-Wm5TkVkeRNaoTG6a5gJMM1TR5lm5zMBEmR4Tzxty8ObEMchiXSOQciAX2uWFGZXDzeSK3paMbE3VZSdS1TTcAI9vh73RZahGqKASe9Dd8_u-oKsVbjRYjqx/s400/irene-avaalaaqiaq-spirit-cloud-and-dancers.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></span></div> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: &quot;georgia&quot; , &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Liddell</b>: Why are so many involved in art? <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby:</b> During the period of starvation in the 50s and 60s, the Canadian Government started to help the people. Art making was introduced as a way to help the people survive. The women were encouraged to make parkas. With the scraps, they started to make artistic designs. <br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> Why did you write your book on Irene Avaalaaqi? <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby:</b>&nbsp;I was struck by her art and her story. I was fascinated by the power and imagination of her work. It was different from the other Inuit women working in this medium. Previously, Inuit art had been seen as decorative, and it was treated as such by collectors, but by interviewing the artist I realized that it was not decorative, but contained mythic elements and stories. <br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> Most people looking at the art will be struck by its naivety. <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby:</b> There is a certain childlike quality to it, in that she sees the World in symbolic terms and that’s how children see the world. But I think it’s wrong to call it folk art because this is the high art of the Inuit people. It’s would be wrong to see it any other way. <br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> Yes, her art is very pure. There are no influences from other artistic traditions or even hints of modernity. <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby:</b>&nbsp;That’s a very interesting question. She’s been to the South of Canada several times, and even abroad. Often when I’ve taken her to art galleries, she would ignore other art forms and go straight to any Inuit art to see if she knew the person… It’s a shutting off of any interest in Western art form. <br /> <br /> <b>Liddell</b>: But isn't this pureness something also that the market finds very attractive, rather than other forms of Canadian art that are tied to European art or international modern art? <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby:</b> That’s a huge selling point. Inuit art, like Aborigine art in Australia, is the most recognizable and famous form of Canadian art. <br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> But doesn't this pure ethnic art simply reinforce the idea of the Inuit as naive, "other," exotic, and isn't this therefore a form of racism? <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby:</b> I wouldn’t say that because if you approach it as modern art, you will see it as a person expressing things that are very important to them….When Picasso and other European painters were interested in African and Pacific island art in the early 20th century, they were interested mainly in the form. They didn’t care about what it meant. <br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> How does knowing what it means effect the way we, the viewers, see it. <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby:</b> If we do not have that content, you’re still blown away by the artistic energy of these works. Just like any art work, if it is successful it will communicate visibly. <br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> Doesn't that contradict what you said about earlier generations merely seeing it as decorative? <br /> <br /> <b>Nasby: </b>Not everybody has the privilege I had. The problem in the whole art world is that so much art is sold without additional information on the artist.</span></div> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmq_32Wi72uqEVw-KFoAs-gmL84_c9sdvDmPyn_Tx7WCT81P8K03aGN31zO2ZttakjhWLBwOLlo0Z1N16neZn8MfuWQykKtz_JW8jl2KWGnvJok_YIteIBjEUjHbO9shwjXqZPxiG38-Cu/s1600/EskimoArt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="1342" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmq_32Wi72uqEVw-KFoAs-gmL84_c9sdvDmPyn_Tx7WCT81P8K03aGN31zO2ZttakjhWLBwOLlo0Z1N16neZn8MfuWQykKtz_JW8jl2KWGnvJok_YIteIBjEUjHbO9shwjXqZPxiG38-Cu/s640/EskimoArt.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> </span> </div> </div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-50802799741236343302016-11-15T23:31:00.001+00:002016-11-15T23:31:28.252+00:00Jean Michel Jarre, musician<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFzHNCNvNKhdqZjLmfBO_kQqvDbbgb5YpCXmaK3VfK4g5Zmwy3-f4cq2aLKV6S5XgQxEhpDfZU4PaqE9LRwh3Q0X6iS29BENhv9EqI8FvaU-N3n_yPSGqSglfmKynunmEFkV2kRITFsvtC/s1600-h/jarre_keys.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="412" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183002169364905970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFzHNCNvNKhdqZjLmfBO_kQqvDbbgb5YpCXmaK3VfK4g5Zmwy3-f4cq2aLKV6S5XgQxEhpDfZU4PaqE9LRwh3Q0X6iS29BENhv9EqI8FvaU-N3n_yPSGqSglfmKynunmEFkV2kRITFsvtC/s320/jarre_keys.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="550" /></a><br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <i style="text-align: justify;">On the 12th of May, 1993, I attended a press conference at the Odeon cinema in London’s Leicester Square held by the French musician Jean Michel Jarre in connection with his new album "Chronologie" and a concert tour, which was being sponsored by the Swiss watch company Swatch.</i> <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;"> ++++++++<br /> <br /></div> <a name='more'></a>CBL: If you were being sponsored by someone other than Swatch – say McDonalds – would you have still called the album <i>Chronolgie</i>? <br /> <br /> JMJ: The reason I called it <i>Chronolgie</i> is because of the stages of life... As for working with Pepsi and McDonalds I leave that to Michael Jackson. I was also very interested in the work being done by Swatch involved with youth and street culture, for example, the use of Keith Haring... <br /> <br /> CBL: So you drew them in, not the other way round? <br /> <br /> JMJ: Well, they wanted to do it too. <br /> <br /> [A gap during which other journalists asked some questions] <br /> <br /> CBL: Being from a rock magazine, I would like to ask you what you think of some of the multi-media rock concerts of bands like U2 with their ZOO TV shows, or Pink Floyd in the past? <br /> <br /> JMJ: I think it is good that they are trying to escape from the traditional clichés of rock, visually, by exploring the use of video, and in their music as well. They are trying to subvert the idea of the one point of focus... The rave, this is a format that I am wanting to explore. I feel close to the rave movement - where the experience is not focused on one person... <br /> <br /> CBL: So, is your show going to be coming at the audience from different angles? <br /> <br /> JMJ: We had the old ideas of a concert, and in the 60s we tried to have the happenings all around. We are not fish: We do not have eyes, one here (points) and one here (points). We have to respect this human vision which looks to the front, but people need to be released from the fixed point.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8239743616263573907.post-23583270948293349172016-11-15T15:56:00.000+00:002016-11-15T15:56:10.902+00:00Claire Constans, curator<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZx-vwQjHxUxmEiVl48QbDS0yLdwA2AgdSNybc1Jn1d_E_tey9VpBT-I80Q6C0MM9iJfn5dxDjkxpodIGZgxEpeeBsVGmggR8l99RhIvZnEd3DcjjzcKfY99lqQJvmJ7g6HFVxzvR9gYm/s1600/AVT_Claire-Constans_2318.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZx-vwQjHxUxmEiVl48QbDS0yLdwA2AgdSNybc1Jn1d_E_tey9VpBT-I80Q6C0MM9iJfn5dxDjkxpodIGZgxEpeeBsVGmggR8l99RhIvZnEd3DcjjzcKfY99lqQJvmJ7g6HFVxzvR9gYm/s400/AVT_Claire-Constans_2318.jpeg" width="296" /></a></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <i>Back in May 2006, I interviewed Claire Constans, the chief curator of Chateau de Versailles, for an article I was writing. The interview was a set of questions sent by email. <br /></i> <div style="text-align: center;"> ++++++++<br /><br /></div> <a name='more'></a><b>Liddell:</b> What is Napoleon's significance for French identity and society today?<br /> <br /> <b>Constans:</b> After the Revolution, which was such a severe civil-war, Napoleon reassembled the French people, allowing the noble Emigres to come back to France, pacifying the religious problem with the Pope etc... Inside the country, he organized the administration for a new beginning, for the society had changed a lot from the monarchy of Louis XIV.<br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> Napoleon is seen as a symbol of French identity. But, wasn't he really an immigrant, like the millions of immigrants in France today?<br /> <br /> <b>Constans:</b> Napoleon was born in 1769, and the island Corsica was acquired from Genova (Italy) in 1768, so, formally, he was an inhabitant of the French kingdom.<br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> The exhibition seems to glorify and glamorize Napoleon, but some&nbsp;people will say that he was just a ruthless warmonger whose actions caused the deaths of perhaps millions of people through war, famine, and pestilence.<br /> <br /> <b>Constans:</b> Yes, he was, as an Emperor, and before, as a young general, a war ruler. But war was the daily manner of life for many centuries in Europe, the kings and princes considering it as a way to prepare peace; and, generally, diplomacy took place at the same time as the battles, with ambassadors going throughout Europe. For Napoleon himself, he used the same manner, but, for the battle of Eylau, for example, he stayed two days on the battlefield to manage the wounded soldiers and bury the dead ones.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENHKGqUmb8hx7LrfGGANSMZIh6wZlg5KBJ_kxZXlRQFcpbfQVYHW4wGBQxMlV71bypenrC1xnd583DuJjBZpdgdsmZ8ew9xNjhtwadxEK0oyWrKXQQ7agyG9egFdnJgvUTMtlypWLf4bb/s1600/Napoleon_at_the_Great_St._Bernard_-_Jacques-Louis_David_-_Google_Cultural_Institute.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENHKGqUmb8hx7LrfGGANSMZIh6wZlg5KBJ_kxZXlRQFcpbfQVYHW4wGBQxMlV71bypenrC1xnd583DuJjBZpdgdsmZ8ew9xNjhtwadxEK0oyWrKXQQ7agyG9egFdnJgvUTMtlypWLf4bb/s400/Napoleon_at_the_Great_St._Bernard_-_Jacques-Louis_David_-_Google_Cultural_Institute.jpg" width="333" /></a></div> <b>Liddell: </b>Why is David's "Bonaparte franchissant les Alpes au Grand-Saint-Bernard" the most iconic image of Napoleon? What does it capture in the great man?<br /> <br /> <b>Constans:</b> This is iconic, because the artist painted an image ordered by the model, as a fair horseman etc... but not in such a realistic way (soldiers under the legs of the horse, names of Charlemagne and Hannibal prestigious predecessors in going across the Alps to Italy...) where the model is presented in a definitive attitude in the air.<br /> <br /> <b>Liddell: </b>Neoclassicism is associated with Napoleon and the French Revolution, but there is also a strong element of Romanticism in this period. Why did such a Romanticist period choose to express itself visually in the cold rational style of Neoclassicism.<br /> <br /> <b>Constans:</b> You are right. It is the same time for neo-classicism and&nbsp;pre-romanticism. But we can consider that the lesson of Antiquity was double: one way was the admiration for the heroes, virtue, courage, especially through history and texts (Homer, Caesar, Pliny, Livy...), and the other was inspiration from the antique art, well designed, rediscovered in excavations in Greece and Italy. The enthusiasm of youth, military courage, happiness after the victory were painted in a more coloured &nbsp;manner, with more emotion: generally speaking, that was the case of the younger artists. David, in fact the premier painter, kept a more classical painting.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtl4K7XdI9RpnD-zZDL3e-Pt_E9LBiGx9PLdoAZAXiof_YNk6crTx5xGv_t4roMaLZXCiwxuieRRcVgaq4fAbPayFoI3zVycZwoKhVxTBv8RNgJAukt29eBlEUcqn1kmRSn9nnfJ7nJvMU/s1600/Vase+of+Auserlitz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtl4K7XdI9RpnD-zZDL3e-Pt_E9LBiGx9PLdoAZAXiof_YNk6crTx5xGv_t4roMaLZXCiwxuieRRcVgaq4fAbPayFoI3zVycZwoKhVxTBv8RNgJAukt29eBlEUcqn1kmRSn9nnfJ7nJvMU/s320/Vase+of+Auserlitz.jpg" width="236" /></a></div> <b>Liddell: </b>The "Vase of Austerlitz" is a wonderful piece. But at the same time it&nbsp;is odd because it is too classical in that it actually seems like an original Greek piece rather than a 19th century interpretation of Classicism. How can such an odd item be explained?<br /> <br /> <b>Constans:&nbsp;</b>This vase is a perfect example of this style where artists copied, in a strict way, some antique models, or invented some in the same way.<br /> <br /> <b>Liddell: </b>Versailles is most strongly associated with Louis XIV, not Napoleon. I believe Napoleon stayed in other palaces as well. How much time did he stay in Versailles and how important was it to him? Also, why did you choose the name 'Napoleon and Versailles" for the exhibition? Was it connected to the popularity of the Japanese comic series <i>Rose of Versailles</i>&nbsp;that focused on the same period?<br /> <br /> <b>Constans:</b>&nbsp;Napoleon did not stay in the proper chateau of Versailles, but in Trianon. We associated his name with Versailles, because the collections of his furniture in Trianon are yet in the apartments of Trianon, and because the paintings, ordered or bought by the Emperor at the Salon, are displayed in a very important number inside the museum. It was also a manner to signify that Versailles had a new life after the Revolution, as a museum. But nothing to do with the fashionable comics!!<br /> <br /> <b>Liddell: </b>Many of the items on display suggest that Napoleon had a strong sense of family. How important was his family to him? How did he think of his relatives?<br /> <br /> <b>Constans:</b> As a Mediterranean person, Napoleon had a true sense of family. And, if his mother was always reluctant about the "adventure" of her son, and if the relations between all the brotherhood were, sometimes, not so calm (sisters jealous about Josephine, the king of Holland Louis anxious of the prosperity of his kingdom during the " continental blocade"... ), Napoleon installed his brothers and brothers-in-law on several European thrones: his desire was to create a dynasty for the French Empire, and a sort of large European state outside the frontiers.<br /> <br /> <b>Liddell:</b> &nbsp;I was interested to see Napoleon's bidet at the exhibition. Why was such an item included in the exhibition and what can it tell us about the great man?<br /> <br /> <b>Constans:</b>&nbsp;The bidet was included in the exhibition because it is, as all the objects of the same vitrine, a good example of the objects daily used by the Emperor, and it shows the elegant quality of the alliance of mahogany and gilded bronze. More, it shows that Napoleon was anxious of toilet and body neatness (I am not sure that he had the same comfort on the battlefields...), though he had, for himself, very simple tastes in his daily life.<br /> <br /></div> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0