The flyer for Space Cadet's "Actual Exhibition." See you there.

Generally speaking, it’s a good time for photography exhibits in Tokyo. Araki, ¹ Kawauchi, ² Yasuhiro Ishimoto ³ and Thomas Demand ⁴ all have museums shows up, while the first three of that group also have gallery exhibits. Still, I’m looking forward to a group show which will run from June 6 – 15, put on by the website Space Cadet ⁵ at Turner Gallery (map here ⁶). It’s called “Actual Exhibition,” and it will include the work of 18 of the photographers featured on the Space Cadet.

Expectations should be set higher than usual. For better or worse, Space Cadet has very consciously selected a group of photographers that represent something like “the scene” as it stands in 2012, and putting 18 people in one show is making quite a statement. So, there will be a lot of talent in the room, but is it going to add up to anything? The reason (or lack of it) for producing this show will be more important than the relative quality of the photographs themselves. I can always feel things happening in Tokyo, but it’s all a bit fragmented, and this exhibit could break through all that.

Update (6/10/12): you should see the show. ⁷

Hiroshi Takizawa's "A Rock of the Moon"

Starting today, the 5th International Photobook Festival will be held in Paris, and Hiroshi Takizawa’s self-published book “A Rock of the Moon” has been shortlisted for the 2012 Dummy Award. I featured this zine earlier on the blog, and copies are still available to purchase through parapera. Takizawa is the only Japanese photographer on the shortlist.

I nominated Kazuyoshi Usui’s “Showa88” for the 2012 Photobook Award. For some more information on Usui’s work, please see this article and interview for American Photo.

Photography magazines in Japan have been shuttering over the last few years, but a new one that’s just now launching fills a vital need for the Japanese photo world. IMA is a publication funded by amana group, a visual communications company based in Tokyo. The debut Issue #0 was being given away as a kind of trial before the official launch in August. I am very excited about the possibilities of this magazine for broadening the horizon of the Japanese photography scene. To put it simply, IMA takes information that’s been floating around the (Western, predominantly English-language) internet and turns it into a physical, Japanese-only form. This means that Ricardo Cases’ “Paloma al Aire” is on the cover, and Yukichi Watabe’s “A Criminal Investigation” also gets a big feature. (This book has only been received over here by photobook nerds—it hasn’t had any Japanese distribution.)

Yes, these will not be new discoveries for anyone who’s been following photography blogs, but the point of this magazine is to fill in the gaps left by the almost complete lack of photography blogs in Japan. Yes, August Sander and William Eggleston are not the new kids on the block, and their inclusion could be easily mocked, but this magazine is quite literally starting from zero and building up from there.

The photographers’ features are all printed on different stocks of paper, like Foam, and in the back there are a bunch of interesting lists of “Top 20 Photobooks” from notable photography people. We also get a look at John Gossage’s book collection and Alec Soth’s studio. None of the text at all is in Englsh, which might frustrate some potential readers, myself included. I’m often dismayed with how many things in Japan restrict themselves to a Japanese-only audience, but I think this is a case where it’s really not a problem: IMA is positioning itself as a conduit for information from outside of Japan to flow in, and not the other way around. (It is significant that all the work by Japanese photographers featured in IMA—Rinko Kawauchi, Kenji Hirasawa and Watabe Yukichi—was published abroad.) In that sense, there’s just no need to include English. The publisher has already spent quite enough money on the different paper stocks and beautiful printing of the magazine, and I’m happy enough with that.

Last week marked the end of an era, as Patrick Tsai’s project Talking Barnacles finished up after a year. It’s currently living on in its online state, though I am sure that it will take on some other form in the future. Patrick is about to launch a new phase in his career, though, as this week he’ll hold a major solo show in Shibuya’s LOGOS Gallery, in the PARCO building. (There’s an opening this Friday from 7pm.) Midway through the show’s run, his first book, Modern Times, will be released by Nanaroku-sha, of Mirai-chan fame.

The SLJ team is wishing Pat well.

Jessica Eaton’s photographs have been showing up online in a few places recently. I am very curious to see them in real life, because it seems like they are approximating painting, not in the pictorial or representational way that Hans Aarsman has already so comprehensively demolished, but in the physical or material way that makes it absurd to really try to look at a Barnett Newman painting on the internet.

Chris Schreck pointed to a review of one of Eaton’s recent shows. This review is noteworthy in that it spends a lot of effort picking apart the process she uses to make her photos, and offers very little in the way of writing about the images themselves. After spending paragraph after paragraph dissecting the way in which Eaton makes her photographs, this is the only discussion of the actual images:

“As did the rather dry methodologies of Albers and LeWitt, Eaton’s systematic approach yields surprisingly poetic results. […] Her cubes bloom and glow, their real-life austerity alchemically transformed into unexpected opulence.”

Leaving aside the incredibly awkward beginning to that first sentence—a construction that the author used twice, is there now something wrong with the word “like”?—nothing up to this point gives any clue as to why it should be surprising that the images are poetic, or why opulence would be unexepected. (On the one hand, I can dimly make out what the author is trying to say there. On the other, in the 21st century aren’t we always expecting opulence?) As an “article,” this piece really piqued my interest in Eaton’s work, but as a “review,” I’m hoping for more.

I’m too lazy to tag posts these days because my blog software makes it unnecessarily difficult (working on that), but otherwise I’d tag this with “pedantic.”

Me: Any impressions so far?

Her: It’s not much different.

Me: Yeah, it’s not the future. No spaceships…

Her: No robots everywhere.

Me: Sorry to disappoint.

(a pause)

Her: It is disappointing.

Once a year, Japan’s Ihee Kimura Photography Award is given out to an outstanding photobook. This year’s recipient is “Tohoku,” by Masaru Tatsuki, a friend of 35 Minutes. I’m not sure just how important the award is these days—in other words, whether it’s still able to launch a career—but it’s definitely far from irrelevant.

The book is the result of a number of years that Tatsuki spent photographing Japan’s Tohoku region. Of course, this is the area that was most badly affected by the 2011 tsunami, and when the book came out in July of this year I thought that it might have been too early. The book actually has very little to do with the earthquake, though, it doesn’t at all seem like the editing or publication was rushed. Tatsuki’s photos look at the unique relationship between humans and animals in this area; there’s a very readable English statement on his website.

Apart from the excellent photos, the nice thing about this book is its price: at ￥2300 ($28), it’s on the low end of the scale for photobooks with high production values. Definitely worth a look if you can get your hands on it.

Photos © Masaru Tatsuki

I’ve written a few things for other websites in the past couple of weeks. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Interview with Kazuyoshi Usui for American Photo: I really think Usui’s book “Showa88” was my favorite of last year, and we did a fun interview in which he not only explained the concept of his work, but also told me why he looks up to John Waters as a master of “good bad taste.” If you only have time to read one of these pieces, make it this one.
• Review of Naoyuki Hata’s exhibition “Pelletron new no.4” at Guardian Garden for Tokyo Art Beat: Hata’s work reminded me of a Jorge Luis Borges story, “La escritura del dios” or “The Writing of the God.”
• Interview with ERIC for American Photo: ERIC’s new book “LOOK AT THIS PEOPLE” is a look at the people living in China’s Yunnan region. There are more photos like this taken in the middle of a regional mud festival. Pretty entertaining.

Early this week, photographer Yasuhiro Ishimoto passed away at the age of 90. Caille’s warm response to hearing this news illustrates his unique connection to America.

I only encountered Ishimoto’s photos at PGI Gallery, where he had shows up until as recently as last December. Last time, I was really impressed by his book “Shibuya, Shibuya,” which only shows the backs of people waiting at the intersection later mythologized by Sofia Coppola. The photographs of an old man in the teen paradise that is Shibuya could easily be contrived, but his obvious dedication to the subject made the book work. Even spending such a brief time with his work, it was clear that he was a master. This is a story that was floating around Twitter earlier:

Just a few days ago I heard a story about Ishimoto. When he was shooting ‘Shibuya, Shibuya,’ a young girl dragged him to the police because he was shooting from a low angle. He showed them his card but no one knew or cared who he was. I wish him well in next life.

A post of mine went up recently on American Photo called “The Future of Photography Is Alive and Well in Tokyo.” It’s part overview of Tokyo’s independent gallery scene, part love letter to Totem Pole Photo Gallery. I got a comment expressing some doubt over the title, and I think this doubt might open up a conversation that’s interesting to people invested in Japanese photography.

My editor and I see the title as meaning: “Tokyo is an exciting and nurturing place for young photographers.” The reading that may have caused concern goes: “The young photographers of Tokyo have a bright future ahead of them.” The difference here is the subject: “Tokyo” versus “photographers,” and I would agree that things are not exactly rosy for individuals. In the article I took Emi Fukuyama as an example of someone who’s succeeded within the structure of an independent gallery. Her relative success is far from a guarantee, though.

It’s true that there are many independent galleries in Tokyo, but it’s also true that these galleries are not spurring on a “Golden Age” of Japanese photography. I think the reason for this is that the structure of these independent galleries is stronger than its individual members. In other words, there’s a danger of spinning your wheels creatively. When you join an independent gallery, you’re part of a system, and this can actually make it difficult to “break out,” not just out of the independent gallery scene in general but even outside the internal structure of your own gallery! This actually mimics the way that Japan functions in general. (Thinking about it now, the fact that this thought actually surprised me surprises me. How could I forget?)

For what it’s worth, I think Totem Pole is one of the least stratified independent galleries, but even so, I was glad to hear that Emi was leaving: it showed that she was taking some serious decisions about her own work and development. To be honest, someone with a slightly selfish approach would get the most out of an independent gallery, because they would always be conscious of how the gallery is working for them. I probably don’t need to tell you about selfishness and Japan, though. In the end, I’m still convinced that these galleries can serve as a good platform; the challenge for the photographers to use it in a way that actually benefits them.