{"id":19712,"date":"2017-07-08T22:57:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-09T02:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/?page_id=19712"},"modified":"2017-07-08T23:04:31","modified_gmt":"2017-07-09T03:04:31","slug":"19712-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/archive\/?page_id=19712","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

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Monday July 17, 7:30pm<\/span>
\nKo Nakajima: Mt. Fuji<\/strong> <\/span>
\nIntroduced by Mio Nakai<\/span><\/p>\n

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Still from “Mt. Fuji” by Ko Nakajima (1984) – Image courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n

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“Mt. Fuji” takes dozens of photographs of Japan’s iconic mountain (by Kozan Saito) and, with a computer, rotates them through video-space. They rise from a lake, drift through the air like leaves and lodge (with sharp corners) in a field; they are built into tunnels and into cubes that float like U.F.O.’s. At one point, a three-dimensional, topographical rendering of the mountain rotates to reveal a fiery volcanic core.<\/em> – Jon Parles,\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, 1986<\/span><\/p>\n

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Microscope Gallery is extremely pleased to present as the final night in a two-part series of works by the Japanese video and computer animation pioneer Ko Nakajima the full 90-minute version of his most well known work \u201cMt. Fuji\u201d, made in 1984. While the 20-minute version has previously screened in the US – including in the 1986 program \u201cNew Video: Japan\u201d as part of\u00a0\u201cClose Up of Japan, New York 1985-86\u201d at the Museum of Modern Art and the subsequent traveling program, among others – the original version of the work has rarely, if ever, been shown in the US. A 7-minute long\u00a0\u201cshort version\u201d also exists.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Mt. Fuji\u201d involves\u00a0animations and computer graphic manipulations of hundreds of photographs of the Japan\u2019s highest mountain and cultural icon generated on the \u201caniputer\u201d, a portable machine designed by Nakajima and created in collaboration with the Japan Victor Company (JVC) in 1982. This personal animation computer allowed him to manipulate, combine, distort, superpose, and embed images within computer generated objects moving through the three-dimensional plane of imagery shot in real life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMt. Fuji\u201d is also the first in a cycle of three stand-alone works by Nakajima, each representing Taoist elements, with Mount Fuji\u00a0signifying Earth. Two other works “Dolmen”\u00a0(1987) representing Stone and “Rangitoto”\u00a0(1988)\u00a0representing Fire, were screened in\u00a0Part 1\u00a0of this series. Versions of \u201cMt. Fuji\u201d\u00a0can be found in collections including MoMA in New York and Centre Pompidou in Paris.<\/span><\/p>\n

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General admission $8<\/em><\/span>
\nMembers and students w\/ ID $6<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

ADVANCE TICKETS<\/a><\/div>\n

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Program:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mt. Fuji<\/span><\/strong>
\nby Ko Nakajima<\/span>
\nsingle-channel video, color, sound, 1984, 90 minutes<\/span>
\nUsing photographs of Mt. Fujiama by Kozan Saito<\/span>
\nMusic by Tsutomu Yamashita<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ko Nakajima\u00a0was born in Tokyo in 1945 and graduated from the Tama Art University in 1963. From 1965 he worked in the field of experimental film animation. A pioneer of video art and computer animation, he participated in various exhibitions on the theme of computing, and regularly hosted workshops contributing to the dissemination and popularization of the electronic image. Starting more consistently with the videos \u201cMt. Fuji\u201d (1984), \u201cDolmen\u201d (1987) and \u201cRangitoto\u201d (1988) the artist combined these technologies with his interest in earth and nature, and also producing a series of large video installations involving monitors intertwined with natural elements such as trees, rocks, etc. Most recently, in 2014 he completed a video \u201cDance of the Dead\u201d shot in the Tohoku region right after it was hit by the earthquake.\u00a0The artist also contributed to broaden the technical possibilities of the medium by developing the \u201cAnimaker\u201d with Sony in 1978 to simplify video animations and later the \u201cAniputer\u201d with JVC, a portable machine\u00a0that facilitated the access to 2D and 3D computer graphics\u00a0to the\u00a0public and\u00a0led to the production of his best known work \u201cMt. Fuji\u201d.\u00a0Ko Nakajima lives and works in Tokyo, Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mio Nakai\u00a0is a young curator of Japanese 1970s experimental film and video. She received a BFA from the Tokyo Gakugel University in 2015 and a MA from Sotheby\u2019s Institute of Art\u00a0in 2016. Mio Nakai currently lives in New York.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Still from “Mt. Fuji” by Ko Nakajima (1984) – Image courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n

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With the underwriting support of the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/h1>\n

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Monday July 17, 7:30pm Ko Nakajima: Mt. Fuji Introduced by Mio Nakai Still from “Mt. Fuji” by Ko Nakajima (1984) – Image courtesy of the artist “Mt. Fuji” takes dozens of photographs of Japan’s iconic mountain (by Kozan Saito) and, with a computer, rotates them through video-space. They rise from a lake, drift through the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mc_calendar":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19712","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19712"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19719,"href":"https:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19712\/revisions\/19719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microscopegallery.com\/archive\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}