No matter how loudly we might insist that these impassive young architects acknowledge the reality of their lives more openly, our cries remain as pointless as admonishing a child who is eating a hamburger and watching TV to eat fish, turn off the TV and talk to his parents. Perhaps we must instead find a new type of dining table where we can enjoy eating hamburgers. Rather than clinging to the counters of our neighborhood bars and reviling the big tables of the cafes, perhaps we should seek out a new reality in those new tables. [...] I now sense that reality does not precede consumption, but rather lies beyond it, on the other side. Thus, we have no choice but to stand before the sea of consumption, immerse ourselves, and swim through it to discover what lies on the far shore. If we stand motionless at the shore, the water only continues to rise. So if we are to survive, we can neither refuse to swim not stand dumbfounded as the water envelops us.

In “A New Architecture Is Possible Only in the Sea of Consumption,” From Postwar to Postmodern, Art in Japan, 1945–1989: Primary Documents ¹ published by MOMA.

© Takuma Nakahira

Takuma Nakahira is holding a solo exhibition of “Circulation: Date, Place, Events” at Yossi Milo Gallery in New York through 7/12. I wrote an article about Nakahira’s work for American Photo ¹.

"Cutting," 1971 © Keiji Uematsu

Keiji Uematsu’s exhibit at Yumiko Chiba Associates ¹ in Shinjuku, up until 6/8, is excellent. YCA not a large space but Uematsu’s mix of photography and sculpture matches it well. I’ve already been twice, and I’ll try to go back again.

© Wataru Yamamoto

Wataru Yamamoto will hold an exhibition of “Drawing a Line” at photographers’ gallery ¹ in Shinjuku, from 6/4 – 6/16. The exhibit will serve as a (somewhat belated) celebration of the publication of his book with MCV MCV ².

Wataru and I will have a talk event on Saturday, June 8 starting from 4pm, and there will be an opening reception from 6pm.

Space Cadet ¹ is at it again; after last year’s “Actual Exhibition #1,” ² they’re following up with “Actual Exhibition #2.” Once again the exhibit will be held at Turner Gallery ³. Dates are 5/24 – 6/2.

© Chung Chu-Ha

Korean photographer Chu-Ha Chung has a show of his work “Does Spring Comes to Stolen Fields?” at Session House  in Kagurazaka, through May 16. The website ¹ is kind of a mess, so here’s a link to a map ² of the gallery.

Last year I wrote a long article for American Photo ³ explaining the background of this work, which draws its title from a Korean poem written under Japanese occupation. I don’t want to bill this exhibit as a Shiga-esque ⁴ tour de force, but I would recommend seeing it if you can.

I can’t embed it, but there are some good quotes in this talk ¹. I think I linked this somewhere before, but I’m posting it again in the interest of making this blog more functional as a research archive.

"Total Opposition to the Airport, 1970" © Kazuo Kitai

I wrote about Kazuo Kitai for the most recent issue of LPV Magazine ¹. Kitai is an extremely important photographer who is just starting to get some recognition in the past few years. I hope to eventually write about his work at greater length.

© Daisuke Yokota

I’m surprised I didn’t link to this interview I did with Daisuke Yokota ¹ before, or that I haven’t written anything about him on this blog yet, given that in the past year he’s become one of the most talked-about photographers in Japan. The interview is almost a year old now, but it’s still a good explanation of what he’s doing.

All the way from Los Angeles, Soft Focus ¹ is picking up Japanese photography blog torch!