Engaged Critic, Radical Art: Yoshida Yoshie in Art and Performance.
UCLA symposium in honor of the opening of the Yoshida Yoshie Collection
In commemoration of the donation of the Yoshida Yoshie Collection to UCLA, this symposium addressed the life and work of critic, organizer, artist, and poet Yoshida Yoshie (1929-2016). The daylong symposium introduced the manifold activities of Yoshida while locating his activities within the broader art and performance world in which he worked.
Over some six decades of work, Yoshida was instrumental in engaging, participating, and promoting radical art and performance. Yoshida introduced Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi’s Hiroshima Panels in the early 1950s, traveling to over 300 locations throughout Japan. As a critic in the 1960s and beyond, Yoshida championed avant-gardes in art, dance, cinema, music and performance–including Hi Red Center, Neo-Dada, butoh practicioners, and the artists of the Yomiuri Indépendant exhibitions. Yoshida supported artists prosecuted for protest, including Akasegawa Genpei and anti-Expo performers.
Yoshida took the lead in supporting conceptual, environmental, and commune-oriented art endeavors, including organizing the first free festival in Japan in 1971. From 1973, he traveled to South America, to São Paolo and Buenos Aires organizing exhibitions. Returning to Japan, he participated in the Artist Union and its artist-led symposia and exhibitions, and from 1977, the Japan Asia Africa Latin America Artist Association, JAALA, with a focus on solidarity with “third world” artists and activists.
The event accompanied an exhibition of works and ephemera from the Yoshida Yoshie Collection, preserving significant portions of Yoshida’s library and archival materials.
The Yoshida Yoshie Collection and this event are thanks to the kind support of Kakuya and Atsushi Yoshida and the Yoshida family, the Charles E. Young Research Library and staff, the Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies, the Japanese Arts and Globalizations Research Group (directed by William Marotti, History), and artist and researcher Yoshiko Shimada.
10:00am Welcome and Introduction. William Marotti, UCLA Department of History.
10:15 The Library and the Collection. Sharon Farb, Associate University Librarian for Special Collections and International Collaborations.
10:30 Biographical and analytical sketch of Yoshida Yoshie. Yoshiko Shimada, Ph.D, artist and researcher.
11:15 Tour of exhibits
12:00 break
Afternoon: extensions/networks
1:00 A photographic introduction to art and performance of the 1960s. Hanaga Mitsutoshi photo presentation by Hanaga Taro.
1:45 The Kodomo no Kuni controversy. Kenji Kajiya, University of Tokyo.
2:30 Yoshida Yoshie and Art and Project. Peter van der Meijden, University of Copenhagen.
3:00 “Living Differently Now– the utopian exhibition in Sweden that Matsuzawa had to join.” Tania Ørum, University of Copenhagen.
3:45 Roundtable: art and performance in the 1960s/early 1970s: experiments, collectives, solidarities.
5:00 Reception