Not Identical, but the Same: Yuuki Matsumura’s ‘Almost-Dead Sculpture’ Yuuki Matsumura – Untitled (2009), set of three aluminum sheets, 30 x 65 x 45 cm, each. Let’s begin with the dualism of “things that can be reproduced any number ofView More >
Columns
‘Dispositif’ Theory: Returning to the Movie Theater
By Olga Bryukhovetska What is Dispositif? The concept of “dispositif” is best known as a key term in late Foucault that first appeared in his History of Sexuality, Volume 1 (1976) to replace the use of “discursive formation,” which forView More >
‘Where Three Dreams Cross’
Between Blue Rocks By Aveek Sen Dayanita Singh – Dream Villa 40 (2008), C-type print. Courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London. To approach photography through the gates of poetry is to complicate the relationship of both to whatView More >
An Indexical Survey of Tokyo in the Age of Cinema
By Shinro Ohtake Left: Vintage promotional pamphlet for the film Wu yue yu zhong hua, xia ji (Blossom in Rainy May Part 2, 1960), directed by Kim Chun, produced by Kong Ngee Motion Picture Production Company, Hong Kong. Right: VintageView More >
Laser Karaoke Three-Minute Theater of Life
By Kyoichi Tsuzuki There are certain individuals who in their youth avoid any place associated with karaoke, stubbornly preferring to remain cool and aloof by refusing to sing even when taken to such establishments, but who upon reaching middle ageView More >
Ming Wong
Stranger on the Road By Hu Fang Cinema billboard designed by Ming Wong, painted by Neo Chon Teck (2009), variable dimensions, acrylic emulsion on canvas. All images: Courtesy Ming Wong. Word Order Many of Ming Wong’s work titles invert aView More >
Critical Fieldwork 8
New developments in ‘double-line painting’ In the essay I wrote for the monograph nobuya HOKI drawings, published in 2004 (1), I indicated that there is a problem at once ancient and new at the root of Kyoto-based artist Nobuya Hoki’sView More >
The Backdrop of Chinese Contemporary Art
By Naohiko Hino IUHunJGsBMU Set in Beijing World Park, the plot of Jia Zhangke’s 2004 film The World follows events in the lives of several fictional employees at an actual theme park in Beijing that features miniature recreations of famousView More >
The Question of Periodization I: Japan as Galapagos?
Doryun Chong reviews Japan as seen in both national and international imaginaries This is the first in a series of essays by the author addressing questions related to historical periodization, cultural particularism and the avant-garde. During a visit to JapanView More >
Noi Sawaragi: Notes on Art and Current Events 8
To Whom Does Art Belong? On the forced resignation of Fram Kitagawa (Part II) In Part I of this two-part essay on the current conditions for exhibiting contemporary art in Japan, Noi Sawaragi reviewed the historical relationship between fine artView More >