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Paper short abstract:

The proposed paper examines the concept of experimentation in post-war Japanese avant-garde art, focusing on the poet Takiguchi Shūzō and the group of artists he supported, the Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop).

Paper long abstract:

The proposed paper examines the concept of experimentation in post-war Japanese avant-garde art, focusing on the poet Takiguchi Shūzō and the group of artists he supported, the Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop).

In post-war avant-garde art, under the concept of experimentation, new techniques, media and materials were often introduced and new genre-crossing expressions were attempted. For example, John Cage and Experiments in Art & Technology (E.A.T.), as well as Asger Jorn come to mind. In Japan in the 1950s, the Jikken Kōbō was in activity. The group brought together young artists from various genres under the direction of Takiguchi Shūzō, such as composer Takemitsu Tōru and multimedia artist Yamaguchi Katsuhiro. Thus, they formed an artistic space and network in post-war Japan that differed from academism, and anticipated later trends in 'intermedia'.

However, while experimenting with the use of new technologies and cross-disciplinary collaboration, Jikken Kōbō also criticised modern civilisation and its dedication to progress. Their experiments aimed to return to universal origins, not limited to particular traditions or peoples, by using brand new technologies that had not yet been incorporated into any cultural traditions. Their concept of experimentation in pursuit of regression rather than progress probably originated with Takiguchi, a poet who led the Surrealist movement in Japan in the 1930s and who, in the 1950s, alongside Hanada Kiyoteru [Seiki] and Okamoto Tarō, became one of the most influential avant-garde theorists of post-war Japan. For Takiguchi, art was nothing more than an experiment that radically transformed our perception of reality.

By comparing the concept of experimentation shared by Takiguchi and the Jikken Kōbō with international trends in experimental art of that time, this paper aims at shedding light on the link between technology and a return to the origins in post-war Japanese avant-garde art.