[Blake_Stimson,_Gregory_Sholette]_Collectivism_aft(z-lib
After the “Descent to the Everyday” 61post-HRC performance unit was Kato Yoshihiro, who joined the grouparound 1963. He moved to Tokyo in late 1963 and started an electric store,the income from which Wnanced the group’s subsequent activities in Tokyoand other cities.Zero Dimension’s body of work is diverse, numbering over threehundred performances (Kato’s estimate) 47 with some thirty participants or sofor each. (The number was a factor in creating a presence in Zero Dimension’scollectivism.) Mainly “naked demonstrations,” its projects ranged fromsimple acts (e.g., crawling on the streets) that sometimes deployed large orsmall props to carefully planned stage productions, all imbued with a senseof absurdity and silliness. In addition to the urban streets of Tokyo, it alsoused various outdoor spaces, including commuter trains, graveyards, and barricadeduniversity campuses; the indoor spaces they performed in were oftenvaudeville and underground theaters and clubs. Its frequent nudity andoccasional pornographic male-female acts, together with Kato’s provocativewords (“We rape the city” 48 was but one), produced abundant mass-mediapublicity, and they were invited to TV programs and starred in a few Wlms(see Figure I.2 in the Introduction).Kato’s description of Buck-Naked and Masked Parade in Tokyo onDecember 9, 1967, gives a sense of what to expect: “On the streets of Shinjukubustling with a Saturday-night crowd, totally naked men made a procession,raising their right arms, trailing the long pipes of the gasmasks theywore, and deliberately taking one slow step at a time on the freezing concreteof shopping streets, as though no man had ever walked on it.” 49 In1965–68, the group’s activities intersected with the burgeoning undergroundculture in Tokyo, whereas in 1969–71, it drew inspiration and energy fromradical politics that transformed Japan’s urban streets into battleWelds, as thenation geared up to the Anpo ’70 struggle. Like many ritualists, Zero Dimensionjoined the cultural left’s opposition to Expo ’70, another internationalshowcasing of afXuent Japan. 50 While working with radical student groupsnationwide, it formed Joint-Struggle Group for the Destruction of Expo (BanpakuHakai Kyoto-ha) with Kokuin and others. However, the joint groupcollapsed after Kato and a few central members were arrested by securitypolice in 1969, and after 1971 Zero Dimension practically stopped its activity.Bikyoto and the Institutional CritiqueAmong activist collectives organized by artists and art students in the midstof the nationwide campus conXict in the late 1960s, Bikyoto outlived itspolitical life and went on to contribute its own modernity critique in theform of “institutional critique.”Bikyoto (Bijutsuka Kyoto Kaigi, or Artists Joint-Struggle Council)
62 Reiko Tomiiwas formally founded in July 1969 by, among others, Hori Kosai (chairman)and Hikosaka Naoyoshi, students of Tama Art University in Tokyo. Arisingfrom the “nonsect” movement of Zenkyoto (Zengaku Kyoto Kaigi, or All-Campus Joint-Struggle Councils), Bikyoto had its origin in such on-campusactivities as the drama and Wlm clubs, Self-Burial Ritual (a procession-likeperformance in 1967 at Ginza by Hori, Hikosaka, and others), and Leagueof Plastic Artists (Zokei Sakka Domei), which organized an exhibition onthe barricaded campus of Tama in June 1969. Bikyoto identiWed its battle-Weld not as students but as artists (bijutsuka), aiming to “Dismantle the PowerStructure of Art!” 51 Its logical enemies included the stronghold of the moderninstitutions: the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, where the salon andthe organizational annual exhibitions were traditionally held, as well as Nitten(the postwar incarnation of Bunten) and kobo-ten. The postwar institutionswere also targeted, including Expo ’70 and such major exhibitions asthe Tokyo Biennale. Forming intergroup alliances with other student radicalsand art professionals, Bikyoto made a few small successes: in one of them,the members joined the Nissenbi Smashing Joint-Struggle group to interrupta jury meeting of the Nissenbi (Japan Advertising Artists Club) annualposter competition; jury selection was eventually completed but an exhibitionFIGURE 2.4. Hikosaka Naoyoshi, Floor Event (invitation postcard to “Revolution” part of BikyōtōRevolution Committee’s Solo exhibition series), 1971. Silkscreen and offset, 10 x14.5 cm, collectionof the artist. Copyright Hikosaka Naoyoshi.
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After the “Descent to the Everyday” 61
post-HRC performance unit was Kato Yoshihiro, who joined the group
around 1963. He moved to Tokyo in late 1963 and started an electric store,
the income from which Wnanced the group’s subsequent activities in Tokyo
and other cities.
Zero Dimension’s body of work is diverse, numbering over three
hundred performances (Kato’s estimate) 47 with some thirty participants or so
for each. (The number was a factor in creating a presence in Zero Dimension’s
collectivism.) Mainly “naked demonstrations,” its projects ranged from
simple acts (e.g., crawling on the streets) that sometimes deployed large or
small props to carefully planned stage productions, all imbued with a sense
of absurdity and silliness. In addition to the urban streets of Tokyo, it also
used various outdoor spaces, including commuter trains, graveyards, and barricaded
university campuses; the indoor spaces they performed in were often
vaudeville and underground theaters and clubs. Its frequent nudity and
occasional pornographic male-female acts, together with Kato’s provocative
words (“We rape the city” 48 was but one), produced abundant mass-media
publicity, and they were invited to TV programs and starred in a few Wlms
(see Figure I.2 in the Introduction).
Kato’s description of Buck-Naked and Masked Parade in Tokyo on
December 9, 1967, gives a sense of what to expect: “On the streets of Shinjuku
bustling with a Saturday-night crowd, totally naked men made a procession,
raising their right arms, trailing the long pipes of the gasmasks they
wore, and deliberately taking one slow step at a time on the freezing concrete
of shopping streets, as though no man had ever walked on it.” 49 In
1965–68, the group’s activities intersected with the burgeoning underground
culture in Tokyo, whereas in 1969–71, it drew inspiration and energy from
radical politics that transformed Japan’s urban streets into battleWelds, as the
nation geared up to the Anpo ’70 struggle. Like many ritualists, Zero Dimension
joined the cultural left’s opposition to Expo ’70, another international
showcasing of afXuent Japan. 50 While working with radical student groups
nationwide, it formed Joint-Struggle Group for the Destruction of Expo (Banpaku
Hakai Kyoto-ha) with Kokuin and others. However, the joint group
collapsed after Kato and a few central members were arrested by security
police in 1969, and after 1971 Zero Dimension practically stopped its activity.
Bikyoto and the Institutional Critique
Among activist collectives organized by artists and art students in the midst
of the nationwide campus conXict in the late 1960s, Bikyoto outlived its
political life and went on to contribute its own modernity critique in the
form of “institutional critique.”
Bikyoto (Bijutsuka Kyoto Kaigi, or Artists Joint-Struggle Council)