How Iconic an Iconoclast Photographer Can Be: William Klein
I’m pleased to share my inspiring visit at an exhibition by WILLIAM KLEIN in Tokyo with you.
CHAPTER 1
Entering 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, on a sunny Tokyo afternoon.
WRITER M and PHOTOGRAPHER Y enter the holy halls of what must be one of the world’s most beautifully designed art space.
M is hungry, Y isn’t.
PHOTOGRAPHER Y
This will be the ultimate exhibition.
WRITER M
Let’s see.
PHOTOGRAPHER Y
Sees an ISSEY MIYAKE store rep standing at the entrance.
He knows he runs risk of losing WRITER M on the way and tries to make eye contact.
WRITER M
I didn’t know they had ISSEY MIYAKE stuff here. Which collection is it?
PHOTOGRAPHER Y
Let’s go inside. HOMME PLISSÉ.
WRITER M and PHOTOGRAPHER Y go down the stairs. Both forget about HOMME PLISSÉ and ISSEY MIYAKE in an instant. Sorry, ISSEY MIYAKE. I guess you’d understand. WILLIAM KLEIN has our full attention.
It’s with a lot of alleged PANTONE Red 032 C,「William Klein 2018」is staring at us. Some of his works present themselves in an installation reminding us of a blueish cityscraperscape, and a winners’ rostrom alike. No better choice than to impress the viewer with these art pieces against the captivating view on ‘Atom Bomb Sky. New York 1955’.
Turning around, a glass case displays some of Klein’s photo books - one peek into a legend’s lifework that will last forever, and ever, and ever. While studying those meticulously, an at times black-and-white and color film showing crowds dancing, celebrating, smiling, alive. What an energy!
If you can stop watching, a few steps ahead take you to space number two, my personal highlight not only of that day, but of all photo exhibitions and installations I’ve ever visited. Once you enter the world of 「William Klein + TAKCOM, 2018」, chances are your mind is blown. I now wish, every day had a「William Klein + TAKCOM, 2018」in it. That would be a hell of a life.
Those folks who get bored by classic photo exhibitions, will find themselves gobsmackingly entertained. All the details pull you like a magnet - entertainment that won’t let you go away easily. There’s music, there’s voices and sounds. And before all screens go black for seconds of hearing your heartbeat (360 degrees around you are screens), the click-click-click of a beamer casts William Klein photos on the wall, in motion merging to a perfect fusion with TAKCOM’s city typography and visuals.
But this is not just shallow entertainment on a perfect stage. You’ll find yourself captivated by a mix of urban life and fashion photographs from the 1950s to the present day. The installation demonstrates an affinity between anti-war demonstrations, gay pride marches, globalization as well as urban deprivation in an blurred and grainy style of photography. This urgent visual way of conveying street life and political protest in times of a society drawn by consumerism is the right combination of filmmaking, photography, typography and visual arts.
With many photographers refusing to acknowledge William Klein’s work, it’s hard to ignore his unique sense for bringing the elements of satirical films, avant-garde fashion photography, photo-books featuring graphic design together.
CHAPTER 2
The “Photographers Living in the 22nd Century” of gallery 2 perfectly rounded off the experience of this visit.
Sachigusa Yasuda "Aerial", "Michi"
explores “voids” with photographs taken from high-altitudes looking down and then combined radially as if to include the sky from the perspective of a “void”. In her series “Michi” (a word means 'an unknown land' in Japanese) she processes her sense of loss and nostalgia when she had to watch the Great East Japan Earthquake from New York.
Yuki Tawada "White-Out", "I am in You", "Shadow Dance"
Her series is considered a thin line between photography, painting and sculpturing as she scrapes and burns the surface of photos to create a distinctive spiritual vision of cities and crowds.
Shen Chao-Liang "STAGE"
A leading Taiwanese photographer showing us lively scenes and Asian chaos of a cabaret using a large truck stage in a time-lapse mode of the 24 hours from assembly to removal of the trucks.
Sohei Nishino "Diorama Map"
He exhibits detailed, powerful collages of 11 large and small size collages of metropolises.
Kunihiko Katsumata "Panning of Days", "Unknown Fire", "Hotel Windows", "Skyline"
Kunihiko Katsumatas works symbolize time and space as well as internal world and external world in cities.
Ayano Sudo "Gespenster", "Autoscopy"
Ayano Sudo is known for new self-portraits while taking on the personality of real girls who went missing. She digitally synthesizes the faces of people and creates a mix of painting and photography.
Naoki Ishikawa + Yasuhiro Morinaga "POLAR CITY"
This is a collaboration of photographer Naoki Ishikawa and sound artist Yasuhiro Morinaga about Nordic "lights and voices of the planet".
Takahiro Mizushima "Long hug town"
Takahiro Mizushima displays 134 color photos expressing the love to and energy on the streets of Tokyo at night.
Park Mina "Shape of Blue"
Emerging photographer Park Mina depicts groups wriggling around enormous aquariums in cities all in blue.
Satoshi Fujiwara "Scanning #1"
Satoshi Fujiwara explores the hidden potential of photographic images as outdoor installation.
Content by Martina Hollweck
Takahiro Mizushima "Long hug town"
Takahiro Mizushima displays 134 color photos expressing the love to and energy on the streets of Tokyo at night.
Emerging photographer Park Mina depicts groups wriggling around enormous aquariums in cities all in blue.
Satoshi Fujiwara "Scanning #1"
Satoshi Fujiwara explores the hidden potential of photographic images as outdoor installation.
Content by Martina Hollweck
