Norio Imai: Film and Video Works Time Severed, Jointed and Stretched

As the closing event of the exhibition A Feverish Era in Japanese Art. Expressionism in the 1950's and 1960's, this screening / talk focuses on a pioneering voice that led the next generation of Japanese contemporary art. As Gutai’s youngest member, Norio Imai’s white relief sculptures might be familiar, but his works involving film, slides and video have received very little attention. 

This special event includes the first international presentation of the installation Severed Film (1972) and screenings of his film and video performances from the 1960s-80s, all of which show him testing the limits of each medium by removing them from their usual contexts. In an age in which all images are compressed onto digital screens, Imai’s hands-on relationship with the image apparatus is a timely counterpoint to the age of swipe and scroll. The screening will be followed by a conversation between Shoichi Hirai (a leading Gutai expert and curator at the Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto) and film curator and researcher Julian Ross.