Circle & Square

Circle & Square

1981 · 12 min

The 1981 performance Circle & Square by Takahiko Iimura, New York-based Japanese film and video pioneer, evolved from the artist's interest in exposing the apparatus of projection and the materiality of image and light, which began in the mid-60s. The work commences with the projection of a long loop of black 16mm film leader suspended from the ceiling. The artist punches a hole on the film's surface and as it loops through the projector's gate, a single white circle of light pierces the darkness. With each subsequent punch the film builds before the viewer’s eyes into a cascade of white circles before reaching its abrupt and revelatory conclusion.

Directed by Takahiko Iimura

Your Rating

More from Takahiko IimuraSee all →

Onan

“ONAN is a work about desire (masturbation) which has no object but itself. The appearance of the large egg objectifies the man's desires. After colliding with the other (a girl), the hero falls down while still holding the egg, thus caricaturing the desire of the hero.” —Takahiko Iimura (takaiimura.com)

Love

"10 minutes of the act of creation itself run through close up and magnifying lenses. " -T.I.

Observer / Observed

Observer / Observed · 1975

Observer / Observed

Cameras observing each other.

A Dance Party in the Kingdom of Lilliput

A Dance Party in the Kingdom of Lilliput · 1964

A Dance Party in the Kingdom of Lilliput

A super-real comedy with Sho Kazakura. The film is divided in to a number of very short scenes or chapters, each with a title "A,B,C" at random. we see him lame in a crowd, see him running up stairs, see him absolutely naked, watch him urinate, etc. An anthology of discontinuous happenings and events.

On Eye Rape

On Eye Rape · 1962

"The original film was rescued from a Tokyo trash bin. It is an American sexual education film in which plant and animal sex are explained. I, together with an artist friend, Natsuyuki Nakanishi, punched big holes in almost all of the frames. It was a protest against Japanese censorship of explicit images of sex, particularly pubic hair which the censors would cover with black marks. I inserted a few subliminal frames of pornographic imagery from magazines several times throughout the film. At the end, I even punched holes in these subliminal pictures, thereby 'censoring' the censored image." — Takahiko Iimura

Dead Movie

Dead Movie · 1964

Film installation by Japanese experimental filmmaker Takahiko Iimura.

Desade

From the collector of Marquis de Sade in the early 1960s, still a 'dark age ' of erotic picture, even his novels were forbidden to publish in Tokyo, I burrowed the copies of the engraving taken from the 18th century edition of "The story of Juliette" and of "The story of Justine." and rearranged along a story made from of the pictures not from the novels. An exercise out of the curiosity. It was the same year I made Ai (Love) in 1962 which consists of mostly extreme close-ups of love making. I have kept DeSade for many years in my closet without looking at it myself and have forgotten about it. By a chance I re-found the film 50 years later that there is something worth to see. (T.I, 2012)

A I U E O NN Six Features

A I U E O NN Six Features · 1993

A I U E O NN Six Features

Experimental film involving letters.

The Making of MA in Ryoan-ji

The Making of MA in Ryoan-ji · 1989

The Making of MA in Ryoan-ji

"The Making..." showed not only the process of film-making, but also the creation of "MA" as a work.

Home Movies 1971-81

Home Movies 1971-81 · 1985

Home Movies 1971-81

MovieDocumentary

Home movies shot on Super 8mm by W+B Hein over 10 years.

Dada 62

Dada 62 · 1962

Yomiuri Independent was an annual show between 1949-1963 that exhibited all art that was submitted. Artists in the early 60s began to take advantage of the challenge by provoking the organisers with their submissions that cast a question on the framework of art within the gallery space. The objet d'art and performances we see in Dada 62 are fragments of what was shown in its 1962 version with pieces by Genpei Akasegawa, Jiro Takamatsu and Shinmei Kojima making an appearance. (Julian Ross)

Blinking

Blinking · 1970

One of the earliest minimalist video with flicker effects was produced in Tokyo in early 1970s. A flickering video with eyes, which super-impose the positive over the negative, open and close rapidly. At the same time the "blind" effects of video fast-forwarding accelerates/decelerates the picture synchronized with the sound.

Honey Moon

Honey Moon · 1966

A touching portrait of his partner Akiko and the days following their wedding, Iimura's conceptual rigour loosens in favour of intimacy in Honey Moon. (Julian Ross)

Shutter

Shutter · 1971

'What I am concerned with in this film is not only the flicker effect, but also the coming and going of an eye-like shape on screen which was created by a fade-in-out device while shooting the light/the bulb of the projector. The viewer literally looks into the light which acts like an eye.'(T.I.)

Buddha Again

Buddha Again · 1970

Originally filmed in 8mm a little stone-made Buddha in a temple of Katmandu, the film strip in ten seconds was projected as a loop, and then the screen w as refilmed many times in 16mm at different speeds (frames per second). The original 8mm footage has been greatly expanded through refilming in 16mm. The rhythmic manipulation of "flying Buddha" in the air is realized.

Double Portrait

Double Portrait · 1987

Double Portrait

"Double Portrait" and "I Love You" are a paired piece with Akiko Iimura. Both Iimuras play individually as well as a unit. In "Double Portrait" they are never together, but one by one in three points of view, front, side, and back, assigned to the words "I", "You" and "He/She" respectively. The pronouns rotate with every repetition, for instance, in front view with "You", then "He/She" and back to "I". Often the words are destroyed acoustically making them unintelligible. "I Love You" is not a style of confession, but the words, and a linguistic practice using a sentence and shifting the pronouns.

More Like This

Couldn't load this row right now.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter