Toshi-e
18/09/11 09:53
As part of the essay question, I’ve shifted my initial thoughts and taken a look at Takanashi Yutaka’s Toshi-e (Towards the City), and here’s some initial thoughts that I’ve put down - part of my initial draft of this section, if you like.
The cover is dominated by a metallic circle which could be taken to represent the rising sun of Japan, a thought that is reinforced by the first four images in the book that fade into view. Alternatively, it could be the lens of a camera, and we are being told that this is all about “looking” from the outset. The images that follow these four are a blur of predominantly “landscape” images, interspersed with seemingly random photographs of people and also some of his commercial work.
These landscape images are not “pretty” vistas, far from it. Rather they are gritty scenes of sometimes empty spaces photographed in the expected are, bure, boke style. The use of high contrast printing further accentuates a feeling of bleakness, the sky often light and featureless, the ground dark and brooding. The impression this gives is an uneasy one, you want to keep moving onwards, but do you move away from, or further towards this source of this feeling? Movement is a repeating theme, and many of the photographs look to be taken whilst on the move, driving along roads heading towards Tokyo, as hinted at in the title. Yes, there’s a real sense of urgency.
Moving through the book, the tension is sometimes broken by photographs of people; some of these are presumably fashion photographs. However, whilst the brooding tension may be lifted, there’s something surreal about these images appearing as they do. The viewer is still left a little off-balance. Later, there is a photograph of a person (a woman?) on the floor, the camera picking up what looks like other people gathered around, looking down on her. Due to the photographic style, it is not clear if this is a woman in distress, or it’s part of some act. We are looking on, but we have been left without important information necessary to fully understand the image, but as we are accustomed to making a narrative, we do so but with the knowledge that our supposition may be incorrect. Convention and aesthetics are cast aside as we, the viewer, are left feeling unsure and uneasy about what we are looking at, but we still look on, regardless.
In another photograph, a man eats in a typical Japanese restaurant, but there are photographs of faces covering the wall behind him, as if he is being watched even whilst performing the most mundane of tasks. The facing image is of a man looking to the camera, at his left there is an advertising cutout of a woman, also looking at the camera. Another theme emerges: looking through the book again, eyes become apparent. People, whether real or otherwise, are watching. You are never alone in the city, there is always someone in the shadows. Looking... observing... surveilling.
The journey continues and we move into the night. Now the photographs begin to look like they are showing a city in flames, the city’s glow against the black sky, or a factory billowing smoke, recalling the firebombing by the American’s during the Second World War perhaps? Or is Takanashi reflecting on the mass exodus towards the cities and highlighting that, actually, not all is well there. Commercialism and the population boom are taking their toll through pollution, a rejection of the incoming postmodern world. The final images are perhaps even more disturbing now, in the aftermath of the TÅhoku earthquake and tsunami. A series of four images show the crashing waves whilst in the background some industrial plant billows smoke. It’s unlikely this is Fukushima, but in the reverse of the opening section, the scene darkens until all that remains is the wave - all else is obliterated from sight.
Bibliography
Takanashi, Y (2010) Toshi-e (books on books) New York. Errata Editions
The cover is dominated by a metallic circle which could be taken to represent the rising sun of Japan, a thought that is reinforced by the first four images in the book that fade into view. Alternatively, it could be the lens of a camera, and we are being told that this is all about “looking” from the outset. The images that follow these four are a blur of predominantly “landscape” images, interspersed with seemingly random photographs of people and also some of his commercial work.
These landscape images are not “pretty” vistas, far from it. Rather they are gritty scenes of sometimes empty spaces photographed in the expected are, bure, boke style. The use of high contrast printing further accentuates a feeling of bleakness, the sky often light and featureless, the ground dark and brooding. The impression this gives is an uneasy one, you want to keep moving onwards, but do you move away from, or further towards this source of this feeling? Movement is a repeating theme, and many of the photographs look to be taken whilst on the move, driving along roads heading towards Tokyo, as hinted at in the title. Yes, there’s a real sense of urgency.
Moving through the book, the tension is sometimes broken by photographs of people; some of these are presumably fashion photographs. However, whilst the brooding tension may be lifted, there’s something surreal about these images appearing as they do. The viewer is still left a little off-balance. Later, there is a photograph of a person (a woman?) on the floor, the camera picking up what looks like other people gathered around, looking down on her. Due to the photographic style, it is not clear if this is a woman in distress, or it’s part of some act. We are looking on, but we have been left without important information necessary to fully understand the image, but as we are accustomed to making a narrative, we do so but with the knowledge that our supposition may be incorrect. Convention and aesthetics are cast aside as we, the viewer, are left feeling unsure and uneasy about what we are looking at, but we still look on, regardless.
In another photograph, a man eats in a typical Japanese restaurant, but there are photographs of faces covering the wall behind him, as if he is being watched even whilst performing the most mundane of tasks. The facing image is of a man looking to the camera, at his left there is an advertising cutout of a woman, also looking at the camera. Another theme emerges: looking through the book again, eyes become apparent. People, whether real or otherwise, are watching. You are never alone in the city, there is always someone in the shadows. Looking... observing... surveilling.
The journey continues and we move into the night. Now the photographs begin to look like they are showing a city in flames, the city’s glow against the black sky, or a factory billowing smoke, recalling the firebombing by the American’s during the Second World War perhaps? Or is Takanashi reflecting on the mass exodus towards the cities and highlighting that, actually, not all is well there. Commercialism and the population boom are taking their toll through pollution, a rejection of the incoming postmodern world. The final images are perhaps even more disturbing now, in the aftermath of the TÅhoku earthquake and tsunami. A series of four images show the crashing waves whilst in the background some industrial plant billows smoke. It’s unlikely this is Fukushima, but in the reverse of the opening section, the scene darkens until all that remains is the wave - all else is obliterated from sight.
Bibliography
Takanashi, Y (2010) Toshi-e (books on books) New York. Errata Editions
Comments
One step forward...
11/09/11 09:52
two steps back.
I thought I’d finally sorted out where I was going with assignment 2, certainly I have a good chunk of it written up and I’m happy (-ish) with 2 of the 3 elements. The final one isn’t quite there yet though, even if I did manage to get out and take some photographs the other night.
I’ve been wanting to continue with the theme of night lights for the colour accent, but I’m now finding the car lights to be generally too white - the effect just isn’t the same. The photograph I came away with is shown below:
I thought I’d finally sorted out where I was going with assignment 2, certainly I have a good chunk of it written up and I’m happy (-ish) with 2 of the 3 elements. The final one isn’t quite there yet though, even if I did manage to get out and take some photographs the other night.
I’ve been wanting to continue with the theme of night lights for the colour accent, but I’m now finding the car lights to be generally too white - the effect just isn’t the same. The photograph I came away with is shown below:
Now, maybe I’d just left it a little too late, or maybe the composition is just too different (the car too close) but it’s got a very different feel to the first one I’d taken some months ago - here again...
I’m thinking (hoping?) it is the time of night, the background has gone from cool bluish shadows to being black, and the lights are no longer a “problem” in terms of cool and warm tones. Whatever, it doesn’t work in the way I had intended, even though I do feel a certain apprehension from both: something is coming... Which is the intention I had.
I guess I’ll try it again soon, otherwise it’s back to the drawing board for the third exercise to complete.