Jikken Kōbō
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jikken Kōbō (実験工房, official English name: "Experimental Workshop") was one of the first
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
artist collectives active in postwar Japan. It was founded in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
in 1951 by a group of artists working in various media. Until its disbandment in 1957, a total of fourteen members participated in the group. Members were typically in their twenties and hailed from different backgrounds – the group included not just visual artists and musicians, but also a printmaker, a lighting designer, an engineer, and others. The famous modern art critic
Shūzō Takiguchi was a Japanese poet, art critic, and artist. He was the central figure of orthodox Surrealism in pre- and postwar Japan. Devoting his life to exemplifying the movement in its orthodox form. Starting in the 1950s, he began offering new experime ...
was the key mentor and promoter of the group. Jikken Kōbō organized its own exhibitions of group members’ works, which were influenced by Western avant-garde art and showed a strong interest in new technology. However, they are best known for their collaborative “presentations” (''happyōkai'' 発表会): theatrical or musical performances where each member contributed their individual works to create a
multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
production.


Origin

Jikken Kōbō was formed by a group of young artists and creators. Original members included visual artists Hideko Fukushima, Katsuhiro Yamaguchi, and Shōzō Kitadai; music composers
Tōru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental phil ...
, Hiroyoshi Suzuki, Keijiro Satō, and Kazuo Fukushima; the poet Kuniharu Akiyama, the lighting designer Naoji Imai, and the engineer Hideo Yamazaki. Fukushima, Yamaguchi, and Kitadai had attended the Modern Art Summer Lectures in 1948 and were mentees of the art critic
Shūzō Takiguchi was a Japanese poet, art critic, and artist. He was the central figure of orthodox Surrealism in pre- and postwar Japan. Devoting his life to exemplifying the movement in its orthodox form. Starting in the 1950s, he began offering new experime ...
. Prior to the official formation of the group, many members had befriended each other and had been meeting to listen to music and to discuss art. Kitadai explained that “out of this spontaneously grew the desire: we want an occasion to work in collaboration!" The group adopted the name “Jikken Kōbō” (“Experimental Workshop”) at the recommendation of Takiguchi.


Manifesto

Jikken Kōbō did not publish an official
manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...
, but prior to their first collaborative project in 1951 – a
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
production titled ''The Joy of Life'' and inspired by
Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
– they did write a provisional group agreement. They wrote that their aim was “to combine the various art forms, reaching an organic combination that could not be realized within the combinations of a gallery exhibition, and to create a new style of art with social relevance closely related to everyday life.” The agreement explained that the group would create
painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
, objects,
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
,
music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
, single pieces and combined works. Rather than presenting works separately, their exhibitions should be spaces where “the works are organically interrelated. They are not presented as single entities.”


Method


Collaboration

Jikken Kōbō is often analyzed for its collaborative artistic efforts. It has been characterized as a comparatively loose and diffuse collective, where individual members had few obvious similarities other than a desire to experiment. Kitadai notably argued that even if their group experiments failed, they would not be disappointed as they still “succeeded in collaborating.” Group member Yamaguchi characterized the collaboration of Jikken Kōbō as a dynamic tension between individual works and group projects: “The energy of ikken Kōbōalways radiated in both
centripetal A centripetal force (from Latin ''centrum'', "center" and ''petere'', "to seek") is a force that makes a body follow a curved trajectory, path. Its direction is always orthogonality, orthogonal to the motion of the body and towards the fixed po ...
and
centrifugal Centrifugal (a key concept in rotating systems) may refer to: *Centrifugal casting (industrial), Centrifugal casting (silversmithing), and Spin casting (centrifugal rubber mold casting), forms of centrifigual casting *Centrifugal clutch *Centrifug ...
directions. By centripetal I mean an inward movement away from the outer directed teamwork of the group, a return to the individual work. By centrifugal I mean the attempt to combine work in the various fields of art, music, and literature logically necessary ideas.”


New media and technologies

Jikken Kōbō’s works drew inspiration from a wide variety of Western avant-garde practices including
Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
,
Constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
,
Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
, and the
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
. Their mentor Takiguchi was a key figure in prewar Japanese Surrealism and offered a direct connection to these prewar avant-gardes. Inspired by Bauhaus master
László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the i ...
, Jikken Kōbō was interested in incorporating new media and technology into their experiments. For this reason, Jikken Kōbō has also been compared to the Independent Group in postwar England – both groups referenced science fiction and technology relevant to the rapidly modernizing postwar era. Jikken Kōbō also shares similarities with Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), an American organization that provided technical assistance to avant-garde artists working with new technologies. Both Jikken Kōbō and E.A.T. were collaborative and multidisciplinary. In this spirit, artists from the Jikken Kōbō collaborated on a series of photographs of mixed media collages for the publication '' Asahi Picture News'' in 1953''.'' Jikken Kōbō artists collaborated with the filmmaker
Toshio Matsumoto (25 March 1932 – 12 April 2017) was a Japanese film director and video artist. Biography Matsumoto was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan and graduated from Tokyo University in 1955. His first short was '' Ginrin'', which he made in 1 ...
on his first film, '' Ginrin'' (Silver Wheels), in 1955''.'' Kitadai and Yamaguchi assisted with the direction, and Suzuki and Takemitsu produced the music. The film is often considered the first special effects color film in Japan.


Japanese traditional arts

Jikken Kōbō group members also worked with elements of traditional Japanese culture including
Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
and ''nō'' theater. This fascination was piqued by Akiyama’s correspondence with the American composer
John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
, who himself was inspired by Zen and Japanese music. For this reason, Jikken Kōbō’s group works have been characterized by their embrace of both experimentation and tradition. The ''nō'' play the group created in collaboration with Takechi Tetsuji, ''Pierrot Lunaire,'' is an important example of their avant-garde interests combining with Japanese tradition. It was performed at the presentation ''An Evening of Original Plays by the Circular Theater'' in 1955.


Influence

Jikken Kōbō’s ''The 5th Experimental Workshop Presentation'' (1953) is cited as an important early postwar art project for its experimentation with new technologies. Works in the presentation were presented using either the automatic slide projector or the tape recorder, both technologies which had recently been developed by Tokyo Tsūshin Kōgyō (precursor to
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
).The presentation featured several “auto-slide” works projected on to screens in the theatre, accompanied by pre-recorded audio tracks. These works ultimately focused on creating a unique experience for the audience. ''The 5th Presentation'' is also considered an early “intermedia” endeavor that set the stage for later experiments with technology and new media in Japan. The group disbanded organically in late 1957, but many of its members continued to work independently and helped influence the trajectory of Japanese avant-garde art in the 1960s and after. Group member Jōji Yuasa credited Jikken Kōbō with being the catalyst for new experiments and collaborations, recalling that it was “a crucible, a magnetic field of youthful, fresh spirit and individuality,” and that “it was a valuable source of encouragement and stimulating interaction.” In 2013, Dale Eisinger of ''Complex'' ranked ''The Joy of Life'' (1951) the 21st best work of performance art in history. Jikken Kōbō has often been paired with the
Gutai The was a Japanese avant-garde artist group founded in the Hanshin region by young artists under the leadership of the painter Jirō Yoshihara in Ashiya, Japan, in 1954. The group, today one of the most internationally-recognized instances o ...
collective as two examples of avant-garde art groups who created cross-genre or interdisciplinary projects, exhibitions, and performances in early postwar Japan. However, in contrast to Gutai, which has been the subject of several major English-language books and exhibitions, historically Jikken Kōbō has not been as well known outside of Japan.


Significant works

Jikken Kōbō members worked both collaboratively and independently. Their collaborative projects were often performances or concerts. Their more traditional gallery exhibitions still folded in musical components and can also be considered collaborative projects. The division between exhibition and collective artwork was not clear. The works listed below are performances, concerts, exhibitions, and other projects on which the majority of group members collaborated. * 1951 - ''Picasso Festival: Ballet “Joie de Vivre” (First Experimental Workshop Presentation),'' Hibiya Kōkaidō Hall, Tokyo * 1952 - ''The 2nd Experimental Workshop Presentation “Contemporary Music Concert,”'' Joshi Gakuin Auditorium, Tokyo * 1952 - ''The 3rd Experimental Workshop Presentation “Plastic Arts Exhibition,”'' Takemiya Gallery, Tokyo * 1952 - “Work A” and “Work B” (plywood reliefs) * 1952 - ''The 4th Experimental Workshop Presentation in Commemoration of Takahiro Sonoda’s Visit to Europe “Contemporary Works Concert,”'' Joshi Gakuin Auditorium, Tokyo * 1953 ''- Asahi Picture News'' header series (mixed media construction photographs) * 1953 - ''The 5th Experimental Workshop Presentation'', Daiichi Seimei Hall, Tokyo * 1954 - ''Experimental Workshop “Arnold Schoenberg Concert,”'' Yamaha Hall, Tokyo * 1955 ''- Ballet Experimental Theater,'' Haiyūza Theater, Tokyo * 1955 - ''An Evening of Original Plays by the Circular Theater,'' Sankei International Conference Hall, Tokyo * 1955 - ''Looking Down into the Bottom of the Ravines from the Country of the Gods,'' Nichigeki Music Hall, Tokyo * 1956 - ''Musique Concrète/Electronic Music Audition,'' Yamaha Hall, Tokyo * 1956 - ''Summer Exhibition for the Enjoyment of a New Vision and Space by the Members of Experimental Workshop,'' Fūgetsu-dō, Tokyo * 1957 - ''Summer Exhibition by the Members of Experimental Workshop,'' Fūgetsu-dō, Tokyo


ParticipantsList of members compiled in Tezuka, “Jikken Kōbō and Takiguchi Shūzō: The New Deal Collectivism of 1950s Japan,” 352.

Founding members are noted with an asterisk. * Shōzō Kitadai (painter, photographer)* * Hideko Fukushima (painter)* * Katsuhiro Yamaguchi (painter)* * Tetsurō Komai (printmaker) - joined after founding * Kazuo Fukushima (music composer)* * Keijiro Satō (music composer)* * Hiroyoshi Suzuki (music composer)* *
Tōru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental phil ...
(music composer)* * Jōji Yuasa (music composer) - joined after founding * Kuniharu Akiyama (poet and critic)* *
Kiyoji Ōtsuji was a Japanese photographer, photography theorist, and educator. He was active in the avant-garde art world in Japan after World War II, both creating his own experimental photographs, and taking widely circulated documentary photographs of other ...
(photographer) - joined after founding * Naoji Imai (lighting designer)* *
Takahiro Sonoda , September 17, 1928 – October 7, 2004) was a Japanese classical pianist. Life Sonoda was born in 1928 in the town of Nogata, today a part of Tokyo and renamed Nakano City. He was first taught piano by his father, Kiyohide, a student of R ...
(pianist) - participated briefly * Hideo Yamazaki (engineer)*


General references

* Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, et al., eds. ''Jikken Kōbō ten – sengo geijutsu o kirihiraku / Jikken Kōbō: Experimental Workshop''. Tokyo: Yomiuri Shinbun-sha, 2013. Exhibition catalogue. * Mermod, Melanie and Obinata Kin’ichi, eds. ''APN Research''. Bern: Kunsthalle Bern, 2012. Exhibition catalogue. * Satani Garō, ed. ''Jikken kōbō to Takiguchi Shūzō /'' ''Experimental Workshop: The 11th Exhibition Homage to Shūzō Takiguchi''. Tokyo: Satani Gallery, 1991. Exhibition catalogue. * Tezuka, Miwako. “Experimentation and Tradition: The Avant-Garde Play ''Pierrot Lunaire'' by Jikken Kōbō and Takechi Tetsuji.” ''Art Journal'' 70:3 (Fall 2011): 65-85. * Tezuka, Miwako. “Jikken Kōbō and Takiguchi Shūzō: The New Deal Collectivism of 1950s Japan.” ''positions east asia critiqu''e 21:2 (Spring 2013): 351-381.


Notes

{{Authority control 1951 establishments in Japan Japanese contemporary art Contemporary art movements Japanese artist groups and collectives Japanese contemporary artists