PARASOPHIA 京都国際現代芸術祭2015

* This event has already taken place. Read report


The very first moving image projected by a cinematograph in Japan was on a screen located here on the grounds of the former Rissei Elementary School, where William Kentridge’s installation is currently being shown.
A hundred and seventeen years later, moving images are so omnipresent in our daily lives that we have come so far as to consume them unconsciously. The use of moving images as a means of expression is now going beyond the genres of entertainment, documentary, and art, and is quickly expanding far and wide.
After the cinematograph, in the 1930s, Kyoto was known as “the Japanese Hollywood” and became the capital of films made for entertainment. At the same time, there were moves to interpret film as a medium for artistic expression and for documentation. Where do the origins of these currents unique to Kyoto lie?
William Kentridge’s work is currently being shown in the very place where Japanese filmmaking began. I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the history of filmmaking in Kyoto, with a particular focus on the pure, unadulterated current leading up to the 1930s.

Kiyotaka Moriwaki (森脇清隆)
Senior Curator, Kyoto Film Archive, The Museum of Kyoto; Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 Professional Advisory Board member. Born 1962. Moriwaki has been involved in collecting, preserving, and facilitating access to the films and related materials in Kyoto Prefecture’s collection since the Museum of Kyoto opened in 1988. Organizes screenings at the museum for more than 100 works every year, as well as other events and projects that are based in the long and rich history of cinema in Kyoto.
Twitter: @mk_pai

About the Professional Advisory Board
The Professional Advisory Board consists of professionals who provide advice and support to the Artistic Director.