From Space to Environment: The Origins of Kanky and the Emergence of Intermedia Art in Japan Author(s): Midori Yoshimoto

Source: Art Journal, Vol. 67, No. 3 (FALL 2008), pp. 24-45 Published by: College Art Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40598909 . Accessed: 10/02/2014 10:14
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

College Art Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Art Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

/';-=09

)(8*=-0/']

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

The exhibition Kkan kam kankye (From installation view, Space to Environment), Store Gallery, Matsuya Department Tokyo,1966, Interior reproducedinInteria (Japan Design)46, 1967 (photograph January bySakumotoKuniharu, Editor-in former Kazuhiko, provided by Moriyama Chief, JapanInterior Design,Inc.)

From Space to Environment: The Origins of Kankyo and the Emergence of Intermedia Art in Japan

Thisessaywas initially presentedat the conferinJapanese Art ence Rajikaru! Experimentations 1950-1975, coorganizedbythe GettyResearch Institute and heldat (GRI) and PoNJA-GenKon GRI inApril2007. Specialthanks to Nishiyama the rarephotographic docuTeruo,who provided mentation of the exhibition and helpedme locate also extends otherrelatedmaterials. Mygratitude versionof to ReikoTomiiforreading an earlier and thispaper and offering insightful suggestions, to Ming the manuscript of her Tiampoforsharing book on Gutai.Japanesepersonal forthcoming namesare giveninthe traditional Japaneseorder, surname unlessthe individual isJapanese first, American or born inJapanbutresidesprimarily the Westernorder.Alltranslaabroad or prefers tionsfrom Japanesetextsare bythe authorunless otherwise noted. I . HaryuIchiro, wo" "Hihynoyoritakaikin ArtCriticism to Have a More Functional [Wishing Shinch 19,no. I (January Role], Geijutsu 1968): in ReikoTomii, 15; quoted and translated inthe 1960s: "'International Contemporaneity' on ArtinJapan and Beyond," Japan Discoursing in2009). I am grateful to Review (forthcoming the essay. ReikoTomiiforsharing 2. Forexample,the conference ExperiRajikaru! inJapanese Art1950-1975, coorgamentations nizedbythe GettyResearchInstitute (GRI) and and heldat GRI inApril2007 PoNJA-GenKon and stylistic between addressedaesthetic parallels Gutaiand AllanKaprow,and betweenZero Dimension and Carolee Schneemann, through paperspresentedbyJapaneseand American specialists.

inTokyo In November of 1966, artists thirty-eight multidisciplinary gathered under thegroup nameofEnvironment no Kai) to hold Society (Enbairamento From toEnvironment kara exhibition andevent (KOkan Space kanky e), a two-part proin that would have considerable the areas of architecture, repercussions gram visual andmusicinJapan. WhileFrom toEnvironment is commonly art, design, Space in thehistory mentioned as a benchmark ofpostitsactual art, 194^Japanese contents andimpact haverarely beenexamined. MidoriYoshimoto Because oftheoverlap ofparticipants between this exhibition andthe 1970 in World Japan Exposition Osaka(hereafter has t0Environment Expo'7) From Spce linoften beenreduced to themerestarting of a point eardevelopment toward thetechnological spectacles whichdominated thenotion ofkankyo Expo'70. In fact, (environment) putforth bytheEnvironment Society was later conflated withtechnology andkankyo geijutsu and took on (environment art) curiously technological connotations inJapan. In theprocess, intermedia art withtechnological becamesynonymous to the confusion art, adding existing in itscontents ofterms. thecloseexamination ofFrom toEnvironment Through Space this illuminates theemergence ofintermedia andorigins, artinJapan essay that whilesorting outtheconfusion hasobscured itsreception. this casestudy willdemonstrate world that theJapanese art Furthermore, had already becomean integral of the international world of art part bythelate Whenthecontemporary artcritic "interIchiro coinedthephrase 1960s. Hary in national the it soon 1960s, contemporaneity" (kokusai-teki popudjisei) gained arts theconfluence oftheglobal Japanese professionals, larity among denoting tendencies rather than theone-way influence ofWestern modandlocalartistic in poston nonWestern art.1 Recent artreveals ernism 194^Japanese scholarship between movements numerous and Euro-American art stylistic parallels Japanese in thelate i9osandearly1960s, buttheir cannot be reduced to simdynamics in revising causalrelationships.2 suchongoing efforts contempoplistic, Joining in a more this the art demonstrates manner, history global essay multiplicity rary artpractice a casestudy ofa remarkable artistic confluofcontemporary through to Environment. enceas seenin From Space in In fact, occurred thesameyear that From toEnvironment Space Experiments a series of innovative and theater Art andTechnology music, dance, presented Theatre & Engineering, atthe69th entitled 9 Evenings: Armory Regiment performances in NewYork themaincompoWhilethe9 Evenings wereonlyperformances, City.3 was theexhibition. nent ofFrom toEnvironment From toEnvironment preceded Space Space at the intermedia art exhibitions two Cybernetic Serendipity by years groundbreaking in London Art andSome More theInstitute ofContemporary Beginnings organized in NewYork inArt andTechnology.4 Museum attheBrooklyn byExperiments in the from thehighly contents ofthese Distinct counterparts technological collabowas conceived and realized as a From to Environment West, Space cross-genre did thenof arts and not ration within various readily incorporate disciplines ofthe suchas robotics. Yettheartists werewellaware technologies cutting-edge andplaceditssystem within ofcybernetics thinking conceptual implications the communication ofenvironment thelarger framework theory partly through
25 artjournal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

ofMarshall hadjustbeenintroduced toJapan.5 whosewritings McLuhan, By in andcontrasting theexhibition withitsconcurrent artmovements comparing the this will intermedia art on the international the West, essay place Japanese map. What Is Kankyl itis necessary to examine thenotion ofenvironment/kanky First, proposed by theEnvironment From to Environment was heldattheMatsuya Society. Space Departin theGinzabusiness ment Store district ofTokyo for sixdays from Gallery n , 1966, November whiletheevent took at the Art Center portion place Sgetsu inTokyo In on theevening ofNovember its manifestolike statecollective 14. ment in theexhibition thegroup advocated theEnglish term enviprinted flyer, ronment translation as a , as wellas itsJapanese (pronounced enbairamento) kanky, in thearts, relevant visual socially concept separate connecting genres namely, and architecture.6 Distinct from its vernacular ecoart, music, common, design, I argue that environment orkanky functioned as a precursor to logical usagetoday, thelater term which referred to the indefinable intermedia, popularized originally areathat exists media.7 amongdifferent Theexhibition title From toEnvironment kara Space (Kkan kanky e) reflected theshared awareness oftheinternationally in art term environment popularized andurban the The third of the statedesign among participants. paragraph group ment reads: We areconscious oftheconcept environment,whichhasbecomeadapted andusedin thenewfield ofurban andrecent environmenart; design tal design, whichconsiders thecity as a subject calledenvironment where is organically anddynamically related rather than as an everything of fixed such as and architecture, function, entity composed parts space, form. Theenvironmental nature oflarge and sculptures byNevelson which and surround the Pollock, large paintings by physically corporeally viewer. Or environment as a sitefor which seek unknowable Happenings, results human actions or chance. Whentransbycollapsing against objects latedintoJapanese, itbecomes or igy, butkanky tends to shii, shi, kanky, refer to a fixed as to which the Oxford environment, relationship opposed defines as "theaction ofsurrounding or thesituation in which dictionary one is surrounded," andwhich refers to an actually reladynamic occurring between a human andhisorhersurroundings. Whenwe use the tionship term we areusing itwith sucha nuance.8 kanky, pleasekeepin mindthat wordenvironment in capital letters a paragraph ByusingtheEnglish throughout whichwas otherwise in Environment completely Japanese, Society emphasized thefact that theterm was a foreign anddifferentiated itfrom itsJapanese import thenuance ofa dynamic counterpart, kanky, byhighlighting relationship between a human andhisorhersurroundings in theformer, in contrast to therelative of the latter. the use of the for the Nevertheless, fixity Japanese kanky exhibition title andtheEnglish as thegroup environment namesuggests that for the most itusedthese terms Moresignificant than thedifferpart interchangeably.9 encebetween andenvironment was thecontrast between kkan andkanky. The kanky earlier section ofthesamestatement that an environment allowed a proclaims
26 FALL 2008

3. E.A.T.and Artpix have released DVDs of historical since footagesof these performances 2003. 1thank Martin forgenerously Julie providing me withthe DVDs. 4. On thesetwo exhibitions, see Cybernetic
The Computer and the Arts,ed. Jasia Serendipity: Art,and Ideas, ed. Jasia Reichardt Cybernetics,

Reichardt (New York:Praeger,1969); and

York:Experiments inArtsand Technology, April 14, 1969). 5. Goto Kazuhiko, "Erekutoronikusu jidaino Msharumakkuruhan no komyunikshon kanky: ron"[Environment inthe Age of Electronics: The Communication Theoryof Marshall McLuhan], Tech 275, specialissue,"Kkankara Bijutsu e" (November 1966): 106-7. This special kanky issuewillhereafter be abbreviated as "T special issue." 6. The statement was simultaneously distributed inthe exhibition as well as inthe T special flyer issue. Enbairamento no kai(Environment Society), "Kkan karakanky e ten shushi" [The Concept of the Exhibition From BT Space to Environment], specialissue, I 18. 7. The term"intermedia" was revivedin 1965 by the Fluxus artist Dick Higgins, who discovered itinthewritings of the early-nineteenth-century SamuelColeridge.Bythe term, philosopher referred to the "field betweenthegeneral Higgins area of artmediaand those of life media,"in otherwords,otherwise indefinable mediathatfall betweenpreexisting categoriesof media.Dick inSomething Else Newsletter "Intermedia," Higgins, I , no. I (1966): i; repr.in Dick Higgins, Horizons: ndale:Southern Illinois Press, 1984), University 18-2 1. The termwas popularized internationally inthe late 1960s and became conflated with "mixedmedia,""multimedia," or "technology art."InJapan, the termacquiredan especially character when itwas introduced in technological 1969 through two majorevents:Intermedia Arts definition of the term,however, Higgins's original I am applying itretroactively to discussworksin before1969. Japan 8. Enbairamento no kai, I 18. 9. Ibid.
Festival and Cross Talk Intermedia. Maintaining The Poetics and Theoryof the Intermedia (Carbo-

197 1); and Experimentsin Arts and Technology, Techne: A Projectsand Process Paper I , no. I (New

CT: New YorkGraphicSociety, (Greenwich,

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Cover of BijutsuTech 275, November 1966, Kkankarakanky specialissue on the exhibition e (From withlogo designed Space to Environment), FukudaShigeo; byFukudaShigeo(artwork photograph providedby Bijutsu Shuppan-sha)

10. Ibid. I I . Ichiyanagi withthe Toshi,telephoneinterview author, April1, 2007. 12. Whilethe references to Louise Nevelson's andJackson Pollock's worksas well as Happenings can be foundinTono's statement, the definition of the termsenvironment and kanky, such using words as shii, or igy, shi, antiquated belongs to Takiguchi's statement. See respectively, Tono Yoshiaki and IsozakiArata,"Kanky nitsuite" BT specialissue,93; Takiguchi [AboutKanky], - arujykykara nitsuite no hatShuz,"Kanky - an Opinionfrom a sugen"[About Environment CertainSituation], 67 specialissue, I.

moredynamic andevenchaotic between theviewer andtheart, relationship IO whilea space(kkan) a fixed harmonious Asa counpresented yet relationship. to space, environment heresuggested theinseparable relationterpoint /kanky andrepresented in which circumstances shipto one'ssurroundings physical humans withtheexternal In itsessence, world. environthen, actively engaged in ment as the exhibition was interactive and the /kanky presented decidedly viewer was an active in it. participant Environment consisted ofthirtyartindividSociety eight multidisciplinary as theexecutive committee for the uals,a dozenofwhomserved responsible them the visual artist Katsuhiro, group's representation among Yamaguchi thearchitect Isozaki thedesigners Awazu andIzumiShin'ya, andthe Arata, Kiyoshi artcritics met and NakaharaYsuke who Shuz.TnoYoshiaki, Takiguchi regu" Theinvolvement attheSgetsu Art Center. oftwoartcritics, and larly Takiguchi in can be identified in the Tono, particular, through wordings previously quoted section ofthegroup these arefurther in individual statestatement; developed in thespecial ments included issueoftheart supplementary magazine Bijutsu Tech with which func(hereafter BT)published simultaneously theexhibition, I2 tioned as thecatalogue or concept was bookfor theexhibition. Thisconcept visualized Fukuda eloquently bythelogo,created bythegraphic designer Shigeo, ofa manin a vortex, issue. which was featured on thecover ofthespecial
27 art journal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Tanaka Shintar, Heart Mobile, 1966, (no tincolored withfluorescent paint, longerextant), widthapprox. 10 ft.(305 cm), reproducedin67 TanakaShintar; specialissue,4 1 (artwork providedby photograph bySakaiYoshiyuki, Bijutsu Shuppan-sha)

The Key Concepts and Components of the Exhibition in thegroup one ofthemaingoalsoftheexhibition Asproclaimed statement, Themost between theviewer andtheart. was to promote a dynamic relationship in elements this was to incorporate kinetic or interactive direct wayofrealizing could for visitors In thecorner ofthemaingallery theworks. space, example, Hiroshi Tomura locate mobilespiral sculptures bytheindustrial designer easily were rotated of thin the mobiles from the Made bythe plastic, hanging ceiling. in thespace. ofthe Tomura work werethedesigner To theleft airflow slight whichmadenoisewhen madeofstriped twin ItoTakamichi's cylinders rings, and Tomura 's andIto'ssculptures On thefloor between turned byviewers. water basin bottles Izumi a stainless behind stacked bythe by Shin'ya, glass thereflecreflected viewers and surrounding Awazu sculptures; Kiyoshi designer wererandomly laid withtheblurred Chinese characters that tions interplayed Tanaka these was ofthebasin.13 behind outin thebottom sculptures Hung a dollwithlong, Heart whichwas inspired Shintaro's Mobile, bytheyajirobe, I4 balanced on a post. extended arms which works were interactive than these Moredecisively Boxes, Ay-O's Finger in to feel what was into a hole the center invited viewers to puttheir fingers
28 FALL 2OO8

Members], Interia /JapanInterior Design 46 (January 1967): n.p. 14. Tanaka Shintar, Tanaka Shintar: jzetsu to chinmokuno canon /ShintarTanaka: Canons of FertileExpression and Silence Meditation, exh. cat.

13. Awazu Kiyoshi, "Enbairamento no kai:Jyunbi iinkarano hatsugen" [Environment Society: Commentsfrom the Preparation Committee

(Osaka: NationalMuseumof Art,2001). Tanaka's abstracted from a forms, sculpture recognizable radicaldeparture from hisNeo Dada junkassemblagesof the early 1960s.

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Ay-O, FingerBox, 1963-66, wood and mixed media(artwork Ay-O; photograph Nishiyama Teruo) Toshi Ichiyanagi, untitled sound sculpture, 1966, mixedmedia,approx. I x 3 ft.(30.5 9 1.4 Interior cm), reproducedinInterio (Japan Design) 1967 (artwork ToshiIchiyanagi; 46, January photograph providedby bySakumotoKuniharu, former Editor-in Kazuhiko, Chief, Moriyama Japan Interior Design,Inc.) The viewerinthe photograph is the artist MiekoShiomi. Kuniharu Akiyama, Environmental Mechanical Orchestra, No. I, 1966, diagram, reproducedinInteria {japan interior Design)46, 1967 (artwork Kuniharu January Akiyama; photograph bySakumotoKuniharu, providedby former Editor-in Kazuhiko, Chief, Japan Moriyama Interior Design,Inc.)

15. Ichiyanagi interview.

insideeachofthem. Hiddenobjects included a soft rubber and item, nails, sharp evennothing, in for an unexpected of the void. Also the front room recognition was a dark theceiling, whichproduced eeriesounds box,hungfrom rectangular as a viewer or moved a handaround it.Thecomposer approached Ichiyanagi in collaboration withthesoundengineer created Toshi, Okuyama Jynosuke, this interactive sound on an the mechanism based electric instrument, complex l theremin. Another interactive was contributed the sculpture by composer Kuniharu His Environmental Mechanical Orchestra No. produced electric Akiyama. sounds altered either that a transistor camera bylight eyepicked up from signals thesurface ofthewater or bythesounds ofviewers' voicesandsteps. The basin, Katsuhiro also exhibited a two small sculptor Yamaguchi complex sculpture; light cubesinterlocked withlarge, three-dimensional in reverse plexiglass J-shapes andreflected in a redblinking the corner of the room. positions light
29 art journal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Yamaguchi Katsuhiro, The Port, 1966, and light, approx.4 ft.( 12 1.9 cm), plastic height reproducedin67 specialissue,47 (artwork Yamaguchi Katsuhiro; provided photograph Shuppan-sha) byBijutsu

- Kkan hokaino shinwa 16. Haryu Ichiro, "Jiko karakanky e ten hihy" of Self[The Myth A Critiqueof the Exhibition Destruction: From
Dezain Hihy [Design Space to Environment],

2 (March 1967): 14. Criticism]

with Besides these kinetic or interactive theexhibition was filled works, toinduce illusions for theviewer. reflective materials sculptures employing optical ofmirrored concave Installed on thesidewallofthecentral was a series gallery in to the a who had turned Minami, early byTada painter sculpture glasses thereflections oftheviewers andtheir surHercurved mirrors distorted 1960s. and nearthebackwallofthesamegallery spacewas Chairs roundings. Displayed inPerspective, distorted setbyTakamatsu a forthe Table a perspectivally Jir, dining Hi RedCenter. mermember oftheAnti-Art collective Takamatsu's manipulation andchalofWestern linear created an illusion for theviewer optical perspective In thecaption for the thestraightforward ofenvironment. representation lenged in BTmagazine, illustration work theartcritic Tono Yoshiaki ofthis suggested ofsingle-point that Takamatsu's work assaulted thenormative human perception look that should as well as the objects always perspective assumption everyday thesame. Another was equally critic, Hary, intrigued bythis sculpture, praising in hisexhibition review and thedisruptive ofitsoptical illusionism physicality which transcends threethat Takamatsu an kanky "designed awe-inspiring noting dimensional theirony andvisual impact through spaceandstereotyped images l6 ofmaterializing it." to viewers' werelarge eyes sculptures byMikiTomio, Similarly deceptive who known for metal of his and Aiko, ears, previously sculptures Miyawaki large
30 FALL 2008

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Tada Minami, Compose, 1966, silver-gilt plexiand wooden boxes,ea. 39% 39% glass,motors, 167A in.( 100 100 43 cm), reproduced
in Interia(Japan interior Design) 46, January

1967 (artwork Tada Minami; photograph by SakumotoKuniharu, providedby Moriyama former Editor-in Kazuhiko, Chief, JapanInterior Design,Inc.) Takamatsu Jir,Enkinhou no isu to tburu (Chairs and the Table in Perspective), 1966, lacqueron wood, 37% 48 82% in.(95 122 210 cm). Collectionof the NationalMuseumof ModernArt,Tokyo(artwork Takamatsu Nishiyama Yasuko;photograph Teruo)

3 I artjournal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

The exhibition KQkan kara kankye (From Space to Environment), installation views, Interior 1966, reproducedinInteria (Japan Design) 1967. Fromleft to right. Miki Tomio, 46, January metallic Work, painton wood, 8 ft.2 in. 9 ft.10 in.(250 300 cm), behindKobashiYasuhide's Jhara Michio's Screen above sculpture;. floating EnomotoTakemi's Menasukasu; Aiko, Miyawaki aluminum and melamine 70% 39% resin, Work, in.(180 100 cm); and ImaiNorio, White Event, and slide motor, wood, plexiglass, 1966,rubber, ea. element39% 39% 9% in.( 100 projectors, 100 50 cm) (artworks Miki Tomio,Kobashi lharaMichio, EnomotoTakemi, Yasuhide, Aiko,and ImaiNorio; photographs by Miyawaki SakumotoKuniharu, providedbyMoriyama former Editor-in Chief, Kazuhiko, JapanInterior Design,Inc.) with Katsui Mitsuo, Work,1966, plexiglass I I in.(28 28 28 cm), screenprint, (JapanInterior Design)46, reproducedinInteria 1967 (artworkKatsuiMitsuo;photoJanuary providedby graphbySakumotoKuniharu, former Editor-in Kazuhiko, Chief, Japan Moriyama Interior Design,Inc.)

32

FALL 2OO8

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

17. Ibid. 18. KatsuiMitsuo, interview withthe author, June no work,see Shikai 5, 2007. For more on Katsui's Mitsuo dezain Zone: Katsui Katsui /Visionary rykai: Mitsuo exh. cat (Toyama:ToyamaPrefecDesign, turalMuseumof ModernArt,2004). inJon 19. The term"Op art"was first introduced October 23, 1964, "Op Art,"Time, Borgzinner, the exhibition The and subsequently through Seitzat the Responsive Eye,curatedbyWilliam Museumof ModernArtin 1965.The industrial who was partof TomuraHiroshi, designer Environment statesthatVasarely was first Society, introduced byOoka Makoto inhisbook, Me, and Europe]. Kotoba, Yroppa [Eye,Language, inBijutsu Tech329 Tomura,"Vazaruri" [Vasarely], 1970): 89. (July "Enbairamento no kai: 20. Yamaguchi Katsuhiro, iinkarano hatsugen" [Environment Society: Jyunbi the Preparation Committee Commentsfrom Interior 46 Members], Interia/Japan Design, (January 1967): n.p.Contacted byBrunoMunari, of the exhibition helpedorganize Takiguchi inTokyoin Gruppo at the Minami Gallery on itappeared in December 196 1; an article TechlOO(January 1962). Bijutsu 2 1. Haryu, hkaino shinwa..." 14-15. "Jiko 22. Takahashi "Kkan karakanky e ten o Mutsuro, From mite"[After Space to Seeingthe Exhibition Dezain [Design],January 1967,as Environment], "Gendaidezain no quoted inKimishima Masayuki, - 1960 nendai(3)- Gurafikku dezainten henkanki i KCikan karakankyeten" [Transition Perusona, Contemporary Designinthe 1960s, no. 3kara Persona and Kkan Graphic DesignExhibition kankye Exhibition], Tokyo Junshin Joshi University

k//5 (200l):58.

in theearly canvases hadpainted monochrome 1960s. Employing simple geometal an illusion forms areconcentrically both metric that repeated, objects gave in particular, led Hary to note their wereinfinite. that work, Miyawaki's depths The that derides theperspective." that "ithascongealed a kind ofmetaphysic with Mitsuo created cubessilkscreened Katsui psychegraphic designer plexiglass them under delicpatterns andilluminated them byhanging strong light, creating In their effect ofa kaleidoscope.18 assaults on viewers' thedizzying perceptions with these works are similar to work associated andconventional Op perspective, art suchasVictor andBridget Furthermore, Riley.19 byartists Vasarely paintings Euro-American relate to thecontemporaneous themetal andplastic sculptures in light of trends artandkinetic as art, represented Gruppo byGruppo Milan, ofPadua, ofParis, andGroup Zero de recherche d'art visuel (GRAV) Groupe to somemembers ofEnvironment ofDsseldorf, whichwereknown Society, with theeffects and Nakahara. These experimented including Yamaguchi groups installation art.20 ofcolor, and movement and anticipated today's light, in this that theexhibition Even selected itbecomes overview, preapparent andwas ofandapproaches tokanky/ environment sented varied interpretations in hisexhibition far from a unified review, Indeed, Hary perspective. asserting a single different ideasofkanky within criticized thejuxtaposition ofso many thetimeliness oftheconcept exhibition. kanky Hary acknowledged Although in visualizing an underlying andsomeartists' efforts it,he questioned assumpartists that distinctions tionshared amongartistic genres bytheparticipating in thefaceofrapid He concluded hisreview woulddissolve socialchanges. by for adults" andchallenging theexhibition as an "amusement park denouncing theobjectandthehuman artists to "restore therelationship between through A similarly viewwas expressed morerigorous critical bythepoet self-critique."21 ofa for a musician to remove thelimit Takahashi Mutsur: "Itis notenough ... Itis meaningto jumpoutofthemoldofa designer. musician or a designer was itandescapetheir true selves."22 Takahashi movebeyond lessunless they
33 artjournal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

provided Yoshiyuki, bySgetsuFoundation)

Toshi Ichiyanagi, Environmental Music, 1966, performed byFukudaShigeo,Ichiyanagi (pushing Tono Yoshiaki, and Ay-O, piano),Awazu Kiyoshi, SgetsuArtCenter, Tokyo,November 14, 1966 ToshiIchiyanagi; photograph bySakai (artwork

23. Unidentified no naitenrankai" author, "Janru 18 without Shinch [Exhibition Genres],Geijutsu reportedthatthere (January 1967): 128. Hary condition betweenartists was a gap infinancial inthe exhibition. and designers who participated While designers could afford to payfifty thousand expenses, yeneach forthe sharedexhibition artists could onlypaytenthousandyeneach. See hkaino shinwa. . ." 14. "Jiko Hary, 24. YamazakiMasakazu,"Geijutsu Gendaijin jihy: niwananiga mieruka" Art [Contemporary Men Witness], Criticism: What Contemporary ChuKron 82, no. 2 (January 1967): 360. 25. Tono Yoshiaki, Kkankarakankyoe [From Interia Interior Space to Environment], /Japan 46 (January Design 1967): n.p. 26. Although Shiomi's piece was not listedinthe work. itwas performed as thefourth program, to the note byNishiyama Teruo,who According was inthe audience,the program unfolded inthisorder:Ichiyanagi's Environmental Music,

andNagai to thefact that Yokoo Tadanori many responding designers, including did the not from the conventional Kazumasa, format, poster although depart couldbe slidfreely on a railing seton thewall.Another reviewer poster panels butstill thefact that shared to an amusement Haryus analogy park, appreciated their own the "new artists, funds, Japanese explored spatial concept young using suchas ofkanky" which hadbeenonly addressed artists recently byEuropean to critically andNicolasSchffer.23 from Vasarely positive Ranging outright theunusually number ofreviews theexhibition's proved provocanegative, large tive impact. One element that was putforth theexhibition, consistently throughout site. was theinterpretation ofenvironment as an interactive however, /kanky exciteAlmost all reviewers commented on thechaosor thefun-fair unfailingly ment the audience. Even the most Yamazaki critical, Masakazu, perceived by to action, theviewer cannot establish a static relaadmitted, "Constantly urged to appreciate In itsprimary a "dynamic tionship objects."24 goalofcatalyzing between a human anditssurroundings," theexhibition was sucrelationship it was so that Tono the destruction ofmany cessful, reported although engaging works viewers the end of the exhibition.25 by by Theamusement-park, andfunqualities ofkanky werefurther interactive, and actedon primarily ofFluxus Akiyama, bytheJapanese Ay-O, contingent - in theevening MiekoShiomi entitled From to Environment program Space 26 attheSgetsu Art Center on November Thechoice 14,1966. Happening pi the
34 FALL 2008

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Mieko Shiomi, Compound View /,1966, per formed MiekoShiomi, Katsuhiro, byYamaguchi and Ay-O,SgetsuArtCenter, Kuniharu Akiyama, November 14, 1966 (artwork Mieko Tokyo, Shiomi; photographs bySakaiYoshiyuki, provided bySgetsuFoundation)

Ay-O's Rainbow Event,Yamaguchi's Signal, Shiomi's Compound View I, Akiyama's Water Ring Event, and Takemitsu 's Event forSeven Hills.

Printed forKkan karakanky eprogram November 14, 1966,collection of Happening, Teruo,Tokyo. Nishiyama 27. Forthe history and documentation of intermediaeventsat the SgetsuArtCenter,see and Art,Sgetsu Ashiya CityMuseumof History tosonojidai[Sgetsuand ItsEra],exh. cat. and Art, (Ashiya: Ashiya CityMuseumof History 1998). 28. Ay-O,who had livedinNew Yorksince 1958, in 196 1 through Yoko Ono's introjoined Fluxus duction to George Maciunas. and Shiomi Akiyama learnedof Fluxus around 1962-63 through who had just Ono, and Nam June Paik, Ichiyanagi, returned to Japan and presented their worksat the SgetsuArtCenter.Akiyama was a close friend of GroupOngaku,of whichShiomi was a Formoreon theJapaneseartists' member. particinFluxus and Yoko Ono's activities in ipation between 1962 and 1964, see mybook Into Japan
in New York Performance-JapaneseWomen Artists

Press, NJ:Rutgers (New Brunswick, University 2005).

Art Center as a venue was logicalsincethis was Sgetsu performance program hadbeenpresituated within thelineage oftheintermedia collaborations that atthecenter sented sincethelate 1950s.27 WhileFluxus artists differentiated their in theJapanese Events from thelatter term hadbeenpopularized Happenings, 28 in circle after Yoko Ono's at the avant-garde presentation Sgetsu 1962. Ay-O in 1961 in hadjoinedFluxus andShiomi involved in Fluxus became ; Akiyama and and the two had also an Flux event series, 1963 1964respectively, presented inTokyo in 1965. atGallery The 1966Sgetsu was conWeek, Crystal program ceived on theoccasion ofAy-O 's return toJapan after ofliving partly years eight in NewYork. Whileperformers weremostly members ofEnvironment Society, alsoincluded who was visiting on a Johns, special participants Jasper Japan in the Rockefeller andthecomposer Takemitsu Tor u.Thefirst event fellowship, Environmental was Music, himself, program, performed byIchiyanagi Ichiyanagi's
35 artjournal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

installation FromSpace to Environment, view from a darkened room, 1966, postersbyYokoo Tadanorithatcould showing on the display be shifted railing, photograph inInteria Design) reproduced (JapanInterior 1967 (photograph 46, January bySakumoto forKazuhiko, Kuniharu, providedbyMoriyama merEditor-in Chief, JapanInterior Design,Inc.)

andAwazu andAy-O. The thegraphic Fukuda Kiyoshi,Tno, designers Shigeo to an was to "incline as" as possible instruction your bodyon a chair slowly Tonocrawled deviated from itindividually; unbearable butperformers position," fell from the chair.29 under thechair andlifted itabovehisheadwhile Ay-O demonIn hisRainbow as thesecondpiecein theprogram, Event, Ay-O presented as brushing teeth andshaving whileother strated suchdaily actions participants A former andAkiyama didsimple exercises on stage. Shiomi physical including or is Neo Dada member, Yoshimura Masunobu, commented, "Happening Event a useful to thelaughter-inducing, method to playenvironmentally," alluding ofthese element playful performances.30 View thesameevening, Shiomi hernewpiece,Compound I, performed During three a series of actions with acts, Akiyama, Ay-O, andYamaguchi. Comprising ofthestage. The unfolded around a water tank on topofa table on thecenter ofthewater, andwrote a word tookthetemperature satandstood, performers ofdison a cigarette andsmoked ituntil itturned to ashes. Thecombination created a dreamlike which stimulated audielements and world, parate gestures The to rethink their livesandtheir usualenvironments.31 encemembers daily was moreopen-ended, lastpiecein theprogram, Takemitsu's Event for Seven Hills, to whomthis to chooseactions. piecewas dedicated, performers Ay-O, allowing in "seven hills" between the audience seats andon several ladders of place placed withstrings. andother thestage, andconnected them Then, Yamaguchi, Ay-O, In themeantime, climbed Johns kept typup anddowntheladders. performers none of the six "word" on a While piecespresented typewriter onstage.32 ing oftheaudience, theevening involved direct performances participation during ofeveryday actions as artand themselves andtheir bytheartists proclamation nature ofkanky. music theinclusive, expressed dynamic MultipleOrigins of Kanky in the Themultiplicity ofinterpretations ofkanky/ environment manifested was informed the ofthe exhibition andtheperformance by diversity program from their came disparate participants' backgrounds; accordingly, inspirations how ofkanky willbring to light sources. Theexploration ofthemultiple origins this as a socially relevant theseparate genconcept connecting concept emerged resofarchitecture, visual andmusic. art, design, witharchitecture, becauseenvironment Itis logical to beginthis exploration In this Noi ofthediscipline. theartcritic is an integral concern respect, Sawaragi theorigin ofkanky to a nationalist hasmadea controversial argument tracing World WarII in hisrecent tobanarchitectural book,Senso competition during and Fairs. the Greater East Asia Construction World Wars World by paku/ Proposed involved 'archiCouncil(Daitakensetsu this wartime iinkai), project prominent 's Holy Terrain for the tects suchas Maekawa KunioandTange Kenz. Citing Tange Plan Asia kensetsu chrei shiniki Dedicated Souls Greater East Construction (Daita by that thecouncil theinheras an example, emphasized keikaku) Sawaragi argues am "the ofconcharacter ofkanky nochitsujo zoei or seishin, spirit ently Japanese order." toWestern architecture struction that hasenvironmental Compared the council focused on individual architecture, insisted, buildings, Japanese in To be on the vast relation to its environment. built plainat always developed
36 FALL 2OO8

29. Ichiyanagi confirmed thatthese were deviainterview. tionsfrom hisinstruction. Ichiyanagi 30. Yoshimura Masunobu,"Benrina hapuningu" Tech 278 (January [UsefulHappening], Bijutsu 1967): 90-9 1. 3 1. For more on thispiece, see Yoshimoto, 160-61. 32. Ay-O,telephoneinterview withthe author, 7, 2008. June

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

37 artjournal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

2005), 262-65. The Greater East Asia Construction Council (Daita kensetsu iinkai) was formed in April 1942, in order to investigate the architectural style appropriate for the Greater East Asia Co - Prosperity Sphere includingJapan's new

33. Sawaragi Noi, Senso to banpaku/World Wars and World Fairs (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppan-sha,

tectural plan, see Sawaragi, 263. 34. According to the exhibition diagram and documentary photographs, these architects' models were not so prominently displayed in the exhibition. Sawaragi's emphasis on the architectural origin of kankymay be explained by the fact that he mainly consulted with publications such as the BT special issue, which gave them far more space than in the exhibition. 35. In 1963 and 1964, Isozaki made trips to Europe to study major architectural works, and he admitted that his physical encounters with European architecture impacted his work. Isozaki Arata, Han Kais I [Against Recollection] (Tokyo: ADA Edita, 200 1), 72. 36. Ibid., 73. 37. This fact was emphasized by Katsui Mitsuo in his interview with the author.

colonies in Southeast Asia. Tange 's plan won the firstprize in the competition for the Greater East Asia Construction Plan and was published in KenchikuZasshi [Architecture Magazine], in December 1942. For a reproduction of this archi-

thefoot ofMount was to houseshrinelike structures Terrain Fuji,Tange's Holy within wallswhichwouldmerge withtheenvironment.33 longhorizontal this deduces that nationalistic ofkanky was passedon to Sawaragi implication with andlater, in Isozaki who had the Arata, apprenticed Tange during 1950s, in addition to becoming a world-renowned was a From architect, key Space figure toEnvironment as wellas Expo'70. However hypothesis maybe,itis hardto find any intriguing Sawaragi's in In of the nationalist of toEnvironment. inkling implication kankyFrom Space order to assert histheory, overtherapid internationalization Sawaragi glosses in the 1960s, ofJapanese andthus theclosesynergy between society neglects and Euro-American art Of Japanese avant-garde developments. thirty-eight par- arearchitects, - HaraHiroshi andIsozaki andtheir ticipants, onlytwo concepin thespecial issuein juxtaposition tualarchitectural modelsarereproduced in Europe, withtheir to impress on thereader their counterparts seemingly In a view of "international a contemporaneity."34 two-page spread, close-up Hara'sarchitectural is side side with a model, Square,placed by photograph oftheBritish architect constructed atthe James Stirling's Engineering Building, in 1963. ofLeicester Hara's University Originally inspired bythesea anemone, architectural numerous echoes surface, holes, by square punctuated Stirling's withglass-covered, In another clustered spread, ceiling sculptural protrusions. in redlinesin Isozaki thelight visualized 's modelfor theFukuoka prominently withthegigantic at synchronizes pipesusedin an installation Sgobankvisually the Max theMilano Triennale Swiss-born Huber. Isozaki 's by designer emphasis on thepassage oflight stemmed from hisstudy ofcontemporary archipartly as Kahn and Le whose works also included in such Louis were tects, Corbusier, zs BTissue. Furthermore, thespecial Isozaki 's exhibition for From to Space design Environment attheMatsuya store boreno resemblance toJapanese department nationalist architecture. Thechaotic ambience oftheexhibition was far from thewartime of an environmental order and closer to the concept establishing characteristics ofpostmodern architecture. Isozaki to inducechaotic consought in theaudience's mazelike fusion small, perception bycreating compartments, andmixing andmatching various ofwork andthecolors ofthewalls. mediums Thecentral dark roomevenincluded levels connected a multiple by staircase in individual In fact, to enhance theviewer's thrill bothHaraand exploration. in thelate 1960s.36 Isozaki weretransitioning toward postmodern styles oftheEnvironment included Nonarchitect members seventeen Society visual ten four and industrial artists, mostly sculptors, graphic designers, photwocomposers, andtwocritics, ofwhomwereacquainted many tographers, withone another artprograms attheSgetsu through attending interdisciplinary Art inAoyama, in visual Center numbers artists, by Tokyo.37 Although eclipsed thedesigner members oftheEnvironment were central to Society particularly theinitial oftheexhibition. Fourofthedesigners Katsui, Fukuda, planning - hadorganized andNagaiKazumasa atthesame thePersona exhibition Awazu, in design. venue theprevious to revitalize Thesuccess ofthe1964 year creativity had led to of the of which Tokyo Olympics public recognition impact design, motivated to renovate Thefifteenth their artistic directions. Japanese designers in 196^,on the annual Nissenbi Artists' (Japan Advertising Club) exhibition on many that had other madean impression viewers hand, Japanese design
38 FALL 2008

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Spread from BT 275, special issue, November 1966, pages 28-29 (photograph Shuppan-sha). provided byBijutsu forMilanoTriennale, Left. Max Huber,interior 1964. IsozakiArata,maquetteforFukuoka Sgo Right: IsozakiArata) Bank,1966 (artwork

"Perusonaten to I I ninno 38. Awazu Kiyoshi, and dezaintachi"[PersonaExhibition gurafikku ElevenGraphicDesigners]Dezain [Design]80 1966), quoted in Kimishima, 49. (January himself narrated the process. 39. Takiguchi briefly I . Formore details, also see See Takiguchi, 54-57. Kimishima,

in design. ofskills cometo an impasse becauseoftheovervaluing Subsequently, madeits the Dezain were launched. One of newdesign Hih, earliest, magazines Environment in the same month From to November first 1966, Space appearance oftheeditorial Awazu who was thechair Thedesigner was presented. Kiyoshi, wrote a provocative oftheEnvironment boardas wellas a key member Society, that in another to thepublication introduction Asserting "postwar magazine. creative activities" liberated Awazu calledfor was aboutto end, "truly design" In this transformative ofa newera.38 andthe"critical spirit" amongthepioneers and went to consult in Katsui, Fukuda, Awazu, Nagai period Japanese design, Instead of an exhibition their next exhibition. withtheartcritic about Takiguchi with collaborations on design, focused interdisciplinary Takiguchi suggested artcritics, in other to other artists fields andmadeintroductions architects, the of and visual artists.39 This was beginning composers, photographers, Environment Society. in theformation of rolethat Theprominent played catalyst Takiguchi crossbecause he hadbegunpromoting Environment is notsurprising Society creators found the in the collaborations 195OS byhelping young early genre
39 artjournal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

40. Statement Kbo,citedinYamaguchi byjikken no datsu-ryiki" Kb to bijustu Katsuhiro, "Jikken Workshopand the Deterritorial[Experimental references to Jikken Gallery, 1991),25. For English Kb (ExperiKb,see MiwakoTezuka,"Jikken in mental Experiments Workshop):Avant-Garde Artof the 1950s" (PhD diss.,Columbia Japanese and Japan 1950-1970, ed. CharlesMerewether RikaIzamiHiro (Los Angeles:GettyResearch Institute, 2007), 3-4, 64-66. 41 . The mostcomprehensive literature on
Non-Art: University,2005); and Art,Anti-Art, Experimentationsin the Public Sphere in Postwar ization of Art], inJikkenKb to Takiguchi Shz/ExperimentalWorkshop (Tokyo: Satani

Yamaguchi to date is Media to no senkusha, Yamaguchi Katsuhiroten JikkenKb kara teatonnu made /Pioneersof Media Art,Yamaguchi KatsuhirofromExperimental Workshop to Teatrine

Museumof ModernArtand Japan (Kamakura: Association of ArtMuseums, 2006). learnedof Kiesler's work 42. In 1948,Yamaguchi a photograph of the forthefirst timethrough ina book he foundat Jones stageset forEmperor inTokyo.Whilevisiting New Yorkin CIE Library 196 1, Yamaguchi met Kiesler and hiswifeinperwithMrs.Lilian Kieslerled son. His laterreunion himto publish a Japanesemonograph on Kiesler.
KJsur/ Yamaguchi Katsuhiro, Kankygeijutsu-ka Artist(Tokyo: FrederickKiesler,Environmental

Shuppan-sha, Bijutsu 1978). 4. 43. Kiesler, quoted inTakiguchi, 44. Enbairamento no kai, I 18. 45. Ibid. 46. Takiguchi, 3.

's idealof collective Kb)inTokyo. Takiguchi Experimental Workshop (Jikken andtheBauhaus, an intermedia collective, partly inspired bytheSurrealists whosemembers' ofExperimental hadan impact on theformation Workshop, and to from and music, specializations ranged painting sculpture photography, various and forms to "combine the The collective types sought lighting design. in order combination that couldnotbe realized ofart, to attain an organic ofart andto create a newstyle within theconventions ofa gallery exhibition, related to life."40 The activities withsocialrelevance, everyday group's closely Oskar for involved thestage setsandcostumes ballets, partly reflecting designing than as a dramatic as a synthesis ofartforms rather Schlemmer 's idea oftheater out that Kbo's art. Itis alsoworth Jikken paralleled experiments partly pointing in which had introduced Mountain North those attheBlack Carolina, College of to theUnited States. Thelegacy theartandphilosophy oftheBauhaus was carried intoEnvironment Society equally through Experimental Workshop had member and who the who had been a 1950s early by principal Yamaguchi, Bauhaus and the the modernism of Constructivists, already digested European in the 1950s from series he created as canbe readily seenin theVitrine layered illusions.41 whichprefigures itsoptical Op artfor glasspanes a series in BT,both In their individual statements included andYamaguchi Takiguchi Kiesler the Rumanian theater mentioned Frederick John designer (1890-1965), withtheSurrealists as a predecessor. who hadcollaborated andarchitect, Kiesler, in Europe diedin 1965, buthisart in their andUnited exhibition States, designs international "cor were made available andtheories, realism," including through in Environment involved andfound resonance Society42 amongartists magazines manifesto "Correalism section translated from Kiesler's Takiguchi quotesa large a sculp"Thetraditional artobject, be ita painting, thefollowing: II,"including butmust be a pieceofarchitecture, is no longer seenas an isolated ture, entity Kiesler's asserwithin thecontext ofthis environment."43 considered expanding on From intotheconcept statement tionseemsto havebeendirectly incorporated in thefollowing sentence: "Webelieve that ourworks arenot toEnvironment Space the external themselves but become to autonomous andcomplete they open by in their andYamaguchi viewers environment."44 world Takiguchi byinvolving avidreading ofEuro-American artpublications. werenotalonein their By 1966, to contempomembers ofEnvironment werefrequently exposed Society many a relatively obscure like Western mediums. Itis notsurprising to find figure rary reinvention of the term Kiesler the kanky. inspiring Japanese to Environment theshift from statement, Society's "space"to According in various was necessitated self-destructions" "environment" bythe"intense in thesociin response to "dramatic andradical transformations artistic realms and the of human activities."45 human consciousness and system ety, perception, to call for a newsystem, Whilesuch"self-destructions" ofartistic seemed genres ofkanky into Environment was skeptical turning Society, especially Takiguchi, I feel He stated, true that another andfixed kanky, yet style system. "Considering in architectural after all. But the itsvision wouldbe bestsummarized concepts, willinevitably in itsprocess realization ofsucha vision be confined bya narrow I andfixed definition ofkanky. Whenitstarts to reveal a sort ofvicious cycle, ifthetrue thetrend ofstylizawonder environmental design mayalso follow 's skepticism, Environment tion."46 Society proposed Perhaps reflecting Takiguchi
40 FALL 2008

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

47. For moreon Gutai,see Ashiya CityMuseum of Artand History, Gutaishirysh/Document Gutai1954-1972 (Ashiya: Ashiya CityCultural Foundation, 1993). 48. While Matsudawas not partof Gutaiuntil in 1966. 1967,Imaijoined itin 1964 and Kikunami Imaimentioned thatYamaguchi often came to see the annualGutaiArtExhibition. ImaiNorio, interview withthe author, 4, 2008. Ming August thefirst Tiampo is publishing in-depth English on Gutai,whichincludes a discussion monograph of Gutai'sparticipation inFrom Space to Environand Expo 70. Tiampo,Gutai:Decentering ment of Chicago Press, Modernism (Chicago: University forthcoming). 49. Fordocumentation of these works,see
RydsuruBijutsuIII: Neo-dada no shashin

ArtIII:Photographs of Neo-Dada], [Changing (Fukuoka:Fukuoka CityArtMuseum,1993). 50. Although Tanaka'sroom-sizekinetic installationis no longerextant, itis documentedin film AruWakamonotachi Nagano Chiaki's [Some YoungPeople],whichwas broadcastas partof theweeklyprogram Theater on Nippon Nonfiction Television inOctober 1964. See my"Some Young - FromNonfiction Theater" translaPeople (English tionof a film Review ofJapanese transcription), Culture and Society 17 (2005): 98-105.

a "chaotic sitewhere whichnotonly has various intersect andcollide," genres out of the intermedia nature of but also curiEnvironment itself, grown Society resonated withtheconcepts ofEnvironments andHappenings articulated ously byitsAmerican peerAllan Kaprow. Itis significant to noteherethat there were to Kaprow 's Japanese precedents Environments. in Osakasetup twooutdoor TheGutai Art Association exhibitions in 199^and 1956; on thebankoftheAshiya River works there usedthe many natural ofpinetrees andencouraged viewer interaction.47 Theseearlier setting of some which were re-created and well received atthe1965 projects byGutai, inAmsterdam, Nul exhibition in interactive interest works mayhavestimulated for members ofEnvironment thesecondgeneration ofGutai Society. Among ImaiNorio, Kikunami andMatsuda Yutaka wereinvited to exhibit in artists, Jji, From to Environment who had seen recent Gutai art exhibitions. Space by Yamaguchi, Thecontribution oftheyoungest member ofGutai, four Imai,was ambitious: one-meter boxes a a motor inside each box caused wall; square occupied points on thebox'swhite rubber cover to bulgeoutandinteract withphotographic In theearly1960s, several artists images projected bytwoslideprojectors.48 associated withtheAnti-Art trend their to take overthegiven expanded objects exhibition exhibition ofthegroup Neo Dadaism space.Forthefirst Organizer in i960,UshioShinohara atGinzaGallery dozens ofballoons from suspended sheets theceiling andwires andcalleditHappy ThefolDimension. 4th usingplastic another member of Neo showed Mr. Dada,Yoshimura Masunobu, year, lowing a screen SADADA's with a table and chairs covered Room, Reception multiple-panel attheYomiuri withempty heldatthe Exhibition bottles, whisky Independent Tokyo Museum.49 after in New from a five-year Just Metropolitan returning sojourn in From Yoshimura toEnvironment witha light a York, participated Space sculpture, doubleplexiglass box encasing a doublecylinder madeofforty-six fluorescent member ofNeo Dada,Tanaka Another former who exhibited Shintar, lights. in From in Heart Mobile to had a with built roomfilled Environment, 1964 Space already found While Tanaka these artists kinetic, objects.50 noise-making only among in From toEnvironment, Isozaki andMiki, who wereclosefriends participated Space withNeo Dada artists, mayhavebeeninspired bythese precursors. Rather than the domestic of however, acknowledging lineage environments, theorganizing committee ofFrom to Environment to the Space preferred equate in order withthat ofEuro-American artists endeavor to stress itsinternational in theBTspecial In hisdialogue withIsozaki relevance. Tono Yoshiaki issue, learned ofenvironment in thevisual mentioned that he recently as a concept histrip to theUnited States. Ofseveral Tonomadeto NewYork arts trips during in the 1960s, himto obtain a 1966trip allowed a copyofKaprow 's justlikely & In Environments the statements of fact, Happenings. published .Assemblage, following issueseemto havederived from 's book: "The Tono'sin theBTspecial Kaprow in large was first found consciousness ofenvironment paintings byAmerican occurs action anda "Happening onlyonce,induced painters," bysurrounding oftime, andaccidental sounds. Theterm environment is usedin objects, passage of 's thecontext ofHappenings." Moreover, documentary photographs Kaprow in BT,mostlikely the comwerereproduced obtained Yard andHousehold through who brought backmany musiccritic, andFluxus Akiyama, participant poser, in In Tonoalso his New York. the same after statement, photographs sojourn
4 1 artjournal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

5 1. Tono and Isozaki, 93. Although Tono's sentences are not direct quotes fromKaprow'sbook, theyseem to have been collagedfrom partsin thefollowing: Kaprow'sessay,including "Happenonce only." Allan ingshouldbe performed (New York:Abrams,1966), 146-208. 52. Tono quoted inNakaiYasuyuki,Futari no TanakaShintar" Two [TanakaShintaras inTanaka,36. Persons],
& Happenings Kaprow, Assemblage, Environments

54. NakaharaYCJsuke, "Environmentalization of Artand Environment intoArt,"Bijutsu Turning Tech 284 (July 1967): 131-41. 55. Akiyama had also contributed a reporton Fluxus eventsand Happenings withmanyphoinan earlierissueof 67"in 1964. The tographs introduced inthe earlierissuewere performances not repeatedinthe laterissueof BT. Kuniharu "Lofutono geijutsuka tachi"[Artists in Akiyama, the Lofts], 244 (November 1964): Tech Bijutsu 39-51. 56. Kuniharu "Taiken"[Experience], BT Akiyama, two pages of specialissue,59-89. While the first the statement containhisname as the author, whether wrote all captionsaccompanyAkiyama is uncertain. ingthe photographs

53. Ibid.

enviwho calledherassemblages theprecedent ofLouiseNevelson, emphasized 's Dawn s a photograph ofNevelson on. Notsurprisingly, ronments from early BT as well/1 in the issue was included special (1959) Wedding inAmerican art was further withcontemporary trends Tono'sfamiliarity - instalthat he tookofMinimalist revealed thephotographs sculptures through in the Morris andRobert lation shots ofthesculptures byDonaldJudd displayed in at the Museum while New York Structures exhibition Jewish visiting Primary in BT These the issue. summer alsoreproduced 1966, special objects' aggressive Tonoto curate theColor and toward theaudience Space likely inspired physicality in Tono after his return exhibition atMinami 1966. September Gallery right in vivid works colors from industrial advocated that artists "today's produce andhe included several artists materials suchas plastic andaluminum," - Isozaki, in From and who wouldparticipate toEnvironment Tanaka, Miki, Space with the American artists Sam Francis and Anne Truitt.52 Yamaguchi along thetwoexhibitions seemsto suggest that the American Thecontinuity between was adapted as one ofthe trend ofPrimary Structures or Minimalism contemporary via Tono. the artists who directions for From to Environment Space Among stylistic in bothexhibitions, Tanaka admitted that a newspaper article on wereincluded witha photograph ofEllsworth work American Kelly's hard-edge paintings histurn toward Minimalist around19 65.S3 style encouraged for these artists to learn aboutcontemporaTonowas notthesolewindow in the neoustrends West. Another critic member ofFrom toEnvironment was Space ofArt" the Nakahara "Environmentalization situated Ysuke, who,in hisessay exhibition within thelineage ofartbasedon a newconsciousness oftheenvithework ofUmberto LucioFontana, of Boccioni, ronment, citing GruppoT S4Akiyama andGroup ZeroofDsseldorf, alsohada direct Milan, amongothers in Fluxus in 1963. tieto NewYork becauseofhisparticipation FortheBTspecial he contributed a statement ofkankp" abouttheexperiential issue, aspect along withmany of Fluxus and other miscellaneous events, photographs Happenings, S5Theseincluded ofAy-O inside hisOrange Box filled withindussubjects photos Niki trial de Saint-Phalle's Elle on Christo 's show wrapped sponges, display, in a sequence Wolf Vostell's TVDcollage ofactions, ClaesOldenburg's window, attheJudson Memorial Robert 's danceevent Church, Happenings Rauschenberg atthe andAlison Knowles's ofBenPatterson's Stadium, Washington performance in the Flux Fest all of which must have been collected 1964, pieceduring by his in New York. Under the Akiyama during sojourn "Experience," heading stated: artists draw andchaotic Akiyama "Contemporary youintothedynamic . . . Placedin thenewintense as catalysts. field with kankp" usingobjects magnetic theobjects, are into and forced to encounter you already turning participants newcommunications withtheobjects. . . . Happenings andEvents illuminate s6 sucha problem ofactions withobjects. Akiyama 's Fluxus hadcome peerAy-O to hisrealization oftheimportance ofenvironment earlier. hada studio himperhaps visit from around1961 one , making Ay-O Kaprow ofthefirst artists to become with the who called American, Japanese acquainted Tea House an environment. While theterm art" Ay-O's Ay-O applied "atmosphere to suchprojects, he adopted theterm that itwas more "environment," realizing inclusive ofvarious elements. Evenso,Ay-O's to incorporate thetactile attempts sensein hisenvironments weredistinctly artists associated with uniqueamong
42 FALL 2008

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Ay-O, Tea House, 1959-1 96 1, wood, tentfabinstallation ric,burlap, view,Museumof paint, 2005 (artwork Art,Tokyo, Contemporary byUeno Norihiro, provided Ay-O; photograph Art,Tokyo) byMuseumof Contemporary

Environment to Orange Happeningsand Fluxus.In 1964Ay-Ogave the subtitleTactile A room-size environment at Smolin Gallery. coveredwith bent, Box, presented of the soft-rubber elementswas captionedin the BT special issue as "suggestive distancedmemoryof thewomb."i7Laterthe same year,also at SmolinGallery, the first of his Rainbow Environment series,Rainbow Room, Ay-Opresented proclaiming the rainbowhis signature motif. While thisinstallation consistedof threelarge canvasespaintedin rainbow-color waves and with three-dimensional objects in the series,Rainbow such as a glass attachedto them,the thirdenvironment Tactile which represented Room, Japanat theVeniceBiennalein the summerof installation of wavywalls paintedin 1966,grewinto a gallery-scale consisting When Ay-O rainbowcolors with Finger Boxes attachedto themat varying heights.58 returned to Japanthatfallafter Venice,he was warmlywelcomed by the future membersof Environment Tono, and his knowledgeof and Society, including with environments became one of the major inspirations for experiments in theAmericanartscene and Environment 's directinvolvement Society. Ay-O of his own environment thusaugmentedthe conceptualdimension development of From to Environment. Space

57. 67 specialissue,62. 58. Ay-O's comprehensive chronology (translated can be foundin bythe author)withillustrations
Niji no kanatani Ay-O Kaiko 1950-2006 /Over the Rainbow Ay-O Retrospective 1950-2006 (Fukui:

Fukui Prefectural Museumof Art,2006), 18-39.

In the close examinationof the originsof kanky, it becomes apparentthatFrom in of the postwarexperiments toEnvironment was builton the foundation Space intermedia artin Japanand international confluences of cutting-edge ideas in and music.Not only did theJapanese resonate art,design,architecture, kanky withpostmodernconceptssuch as Kaprow'sEnvironments and Happeningsand Fluxus events, but it also had art-historical rootsin EuroAmericanmodernism,

43 artjournal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Cover of Interia {japan InteriorDesign) 46, interactive January 1967, showing Tsunehisa(photograph drawersbyKimura by SakumotoKuniharu, providedby Moriyama former Editor-in Kazuhiko, Chief, JapanInterior Design,Inc.)

59. Kamekura no shten"[The Yusaku,"Kongetsu Focus of This Month], Tech Bijutsu (January 55. 1969), quoted in Kimishima, 60. NakaiYasuyuki, "NinonBankoku Hakurankai - BanpakuGeijutsuSaik"[The Japan World - Reconsidering the Expo Art],in Exposition to SengoBijutsu and Bijutsu Hihy [ArtCriticism Postwar ArtinJapan], ed. AICA (Association internationale des critiques d'art)Japan (Tokyo: Brcke, 2007), 220-2 1.

arts oftheBauhaus. works theinterdisciplinary Asa result, especially many in of the exhibition shared the industrial and aesthetics presented hard-edge in the concurrent trends West suchas Minimalism, and kinetic art, Op art, light art. Whileitis important to keepin perspective architectural domestic, kankyo's as Sawaragi this casestudy reveals that theJapanese artworld had origin, argued, become of the international art scene the late the 1960s. already by part Although in exhibition was not known the it would have a West, Tokyo impact significant on Japanese andmusic notions ofartand art, design, byquestioning existing for intermedia collaborations andinteractive potentials displays. demonstrating Theestablished of an older who chose KamekuraYsaku, designer generation, in theexhibition, notto participate the appreciated festival-like, entertaining oftheexhibition as represented Tsunehisa 's interactive drawer aspect byKimura that "itwouldbe perfect for theExpo'70 ifone realizes this pieceandthought in a muchlarger scaleandbetter Kamekura and the main playarrangement."59 ersoftheEnvironment Isozaki, Izumi, Katsui, Society, including Ichiyanagi, in designing andAkiyama, became involved multimedia heavily Yamaguchi, atExpo'70. pavilions Epilogue Asthecurator theconcept ofkanky as an NakaiYasuyuki recently suggested, in interactive siteadvocated Environment was realized its ideal form by Society by in Arts and at the Pavilion '7o.60 Experiments (E.A.T) Pepsi Technology at^Expo
44 FALL 2008

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Led by BillyKlver, E.A.T.collaboratedwith NakayaFujiko in Osaka to realizeits in the formof the perpetually The environment" "living changingFog Sculpture. not onlywith its surroundings but its exterior, pavilionwas interactive through also withviewersthroughits mirror-covered dome interior, which respondedto viewers'movements in sounds and projectedimages.61 Althoughtherewas no directconnectionbetweenFrom toEnvironment and thisworkby E.A.T.,the Space Environment spiritof playful interactivity soughtby Societywas carriedon in Expo '70. run Though Expo '70 receivedover 64 millionvisitors duringits six-month and was commercially it severely divided theJapaneseartcommunity successful, into thosewho supportedit and those who opposed it. For the manyavantwho strove to disruptit,Expo '70 signaledthe end of art,which garde artists had sold its soul fornationalistic and commercialpurposes.After threedecades, such a negativeview of Expo '70 has been passed on to a youngergeneration of artists and critics, Murakami Takashi and who have including recently Sawaragi, the Expo criticism in theirexhibitions and publications.62 From perpetuated Space toEnvironment has been positionedas the beginningof technologicalintermedia devolvedinto the technological art,which, in thiscriticaldiscourse,eventually of the directions thatFrom spectacles Expo '70. Considering multipleartistic Space toEnvironment it is extremely to regardit merelyas however, presented, limiting technological. As theanalysis of From toEnvironment thismanifold reveals, Space project in directions one of which was thetechnologart,only manypossible suggested ical direction which evolvedin Expo.UnlikeWestern such as the counterparts and Some More exhibitions in 1968,From toEnvironCybernetic Serendipity Beginnings Space did not engage cybernetics, ment or engineersexceptforone sound scientists, Realized mainlyby artists and architects, the exhibitionwas filledwith engineer. rather worksin termsof technology, but was richin suggestions for preliminary and kinetic an of which the art, art, art, Op light amalgam occupied contempoartscene fromthe late 1960s to the early 1970s.In the late 1980s, rary Japanese when the artcriticChiba Shigeo repudiatedtheJapanesecriticalcommunity's to reduce kanky to technologicalart,he offered an alternative tendency geijutsu to its definition to include artforms, possibility expand audience-participation such as Happeningsand Events.63 As I have elucidated, or kanky environment an interactive siteto realizea "dynamicrelationship originally represented betweena human and his or her surroundings" and themeans to realizeit could have takenmanyforms, It is important to recover this includingperformances. of if because has since become almost open-endedmeaning kanky, kanky geijutsu conflated withintermedia conart,both termshave been reducedin theJapanese textto mean technological art.By reexamining thisgrounding it terminology, becomes possible forarthistorians to reinvestigate the transnational and transin art and understand how have genreexchanges 1960s they shaped today's Japaneseart.
Midori an associate professor of arthistory and gallery director at New Jersey Yoshimoto, CityUniversity, ofJapaneseand American artof the 1960s. Her publications include Into specializesinthe conjunction inNew York Artists Performance: JapaneseWomen (2005), an essay inZen'ei nojosei 1950-1975 (2005), and entriesin Yes YokoOno (2000). She is currently "Women and Fluxus," an issueof Women and editing and coediting a volumeon collectivism intwentieth-century She Performance, JapaneseartforPositions. servesas the chairof CAA's Committeeof Women inthe Arts.

6 1. Billy "Atarashii Taikenno baKlver, Pepusikanno ikita kanky" [A SiteforNew - the "Living Environment" of the Experience trans.Nakaya Fujiko, Tech PepsiPavilion], Bijutsu 329 (July 1970): 94-108. 62. Murakami Little Takashi, of Boy:TheArts Subculture Japan'sExploding (New York:Japan Press,2005). Societyand Yale University 63. Chiba Shigeo,GendaiBijutsu Itsudatsu-shi, of DeviationsinContem1945-1985 [History Art](Tokyo:Shbunsha,1986), 105. porary

45 artjournal

This content downloaded from 150.164.180.195 on Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:14:53 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions