Takahiko Iimura is a Japanese experimental filmmaker who has been a pioneer of cinematic form since the early 1960s. This screening is a retrospective spanning 30 years of his work, from 1962 to 1993. Takahiko defines his own career as having three distinct phases, all represented in this screening -- His early, “imagist” films depicting concrete imagery, scenario, performance - such as Ai (Love) (with original score by Yoko Ono), and Onan.

The 1981 performance “Circle and Square” by Takahiko Iimura, New York-based Japanese film and video pioneer, evolved from the artist’s interest in exposing the apparatus of projection and the materiality of image and light begun in the mid-60s. The work commences with the projection of a long loop of black 16mm film leader suspended from the ceiling. The artist punches a hole on the film’s surface and as it loops through the projector’s gate, a single white circle of light pierces the darkness. With each subsequent punch the film builds before the viewer’s eyes into a cascade of white circles before reaching its abrupt and revelatory conclusion.