Japanese Bring Their Own Perspective to Video Art

“I think that some of the most interesting artists working here and those working in the States, their ideas are connected. Artists are these amazing sensors, and they’re always two years ahead of what other people are thinking,” said Barbara London, the director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art video program.

London, who established MOMA’s Video Exhibition Program and Video Study Center (the first new medium MOMA has added since it was founded), was on her fifth professional visit to Japan. “Working with the arts is one way of trying to deal today on a one-to-one with other cultures. I think it’s really important,” she said. (She recently concluded this visit and returned to MOMA.)

With MOMA’s sanctioning, London applied for and received a three-month National Endowment for the Arts research grant for museum professionals. “I proposed that I come over to look at High Definition Video, because MOMA, with its large film and video program, has to think about the future,” London explained while balancing slender Japanese eggplant on her chopsticks in a sunny Tokyo cafe.

“I came to look at what the changes are in both consumer and industrial use, and also to look at contemporary art. All along, I’ve been interested in putting video in the context of contemporary art. To me, nothing exists in isolation. It’s important to have that perspective.

“Having the luxury of time, I can pursue ideas,” she said.

London first came to Japan in 1978 on a small grant from the Japan Society to put together a video show.

“I was one of the first people from abroad to come and look at video in Japan,” she said. “They gave me $5,000, and with that money, I came here, did the research, chose the work, bought it and published a catalogue at MOMA. All for $5,000.

“As Westerners, to view the work here we must loosen up and try to see where things are coming from. There are different values here. There’s a real love of materials, a sense of style that comes from the traditional arts forms, which have been venerated for centuries.

“It’s fascinating to see how the work differs from what I see in the U.S. Some of the first Japanese artists using video came out of kinetic art, so, like in the States, there was a lot of exploration of form and actual materials. Also, in Japan, there’s a lot of emphasis on design and looks, so, while video is a moving image, early on it was seen more as two-dimensional. Artists were designing for within the frame,” London explained.

“But there’s been a real generational change. Today, young Japanese artists can use technology without embracing it. Because they’ve grown up with video games and computers, they are stepping back more and are being more critical. There’s a lot more content.

“I visited Nintendo, the biggest game manufacturer here, and they feel a responsibility to their audiences. They’re pulling together better script writers and musicians, and the images are improving as the technology gets better. So maybe there’s going to be a whole new category someday. Maybe on the fringes of that there’s going to be amazing, provocative works,” London mused.

To London, “it’s an exciting moment now in Japan, because there’s money, and with money comes more recognition of culture. In Japan, contemporary art has not had the government support that traditional arts have had. But slowly there are companies starting to think about hanging something besides traditional Japanese paintings in their board rooms and in their lobbies. They are commissioning sculpture for their plazas. Some of the dealers and curators who are advisers to the corporate world are trying to find new venues.

“The art world here is different. In Japan, everybody is an artist. Everybody can write haiku. Lots of museums have citizens’ galleries. So the ordinary mortal, for one week, for however how much money, can show his or her painting.

“At the same time, there are only a handful of galleries that really are selling. Many are what are called rental galleries, where young artists might collectively rent a space to show their work. So gallery directors are, in fact, gatekeepers. And the directors have a huge financial burden because the rents are prohibitively high.

“But the first show after the New Year is not a rental, it’s the gallery’s choice, the vision of the director. And often, in time, they do pick up the work of the young artists who show in their spaces. So there are museum directors making the rounds of the galleries. And gallery directors visiting studios.

“This trip has given me lots and lots to think about. I’m as fascinated as I was when I came. But I’m more confused than when I came.”

London looks out the cafe window at the tidal wave of hip, young Japanese streaming by. She smiles. “It’s a very complicated culture.”