Takahiko Iimura
Writing With Light: White Calligraphy
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Add rightsFormat DVD Interzone
Original format 16mm
Year 1967-2010
Artist(s) Takahiko Iimura
Running time 30 min
Films
WHITE CALLIGRAPHY, RE-READ (1967-2010) 12'
PERFORMANCE 1, WHITE CALLIGRAPHY (1967/2009) 9'
PERFORMANCE 2, WHITE CALLIGRAPHY (1967/2005) 9'
Description
"In White Calligraphy, Re-Read, Takahiko Iimura revisits one of his earliest works. White Calligraphy, which he created in 1967, consisted of scratching characters from the Kojiki, an ancient Japanese text, into black 16mm film. In this re-reading of an originally illegible work, the film is slowed down and sometimes randomly stopped through digital processing, while words, suddenly made legible, are spoken by the artist on the soundtrack. This creation is both a translation (not only between Japanese and English, but also between different media languages) and an abstract play between image, sound, and word.
This new work stems from Iimura's performative practice which, over the years — from works related to Fluxus to his notion of Video Semiology — has radically explored systems of meaning in the creation of moving images."
— Dr Duncan White (University of Arts London)