I’m pleased to announce our upcoming major event at UCLA. “Centering the Margins” is a conference event occasioned by the publication of three mutually-informing books that reshape our understandings of postwar art, culture and politics. Guided by expert commentary from multiple disciplines, our weekend of presentations and discussions will open up these works and their implications.
KuroDalaiJee (a.k.a. Kuroda Raiji)’s groundbreaking and monumental tome, Anarchy of the Body: Undercurrents of Performance in 1960s Japan, is now available in English translation thanks to the Art Platform Japan project; our event, featuring a keynote by the author, is co-sponsored by their current institutional support, the National Center for Art Research (NCAR). The availability of KuroDalaijee’s meticulous documentation and analysis of a wealth of ephemeral works will make this transformative work available to a broader community of art and performance scholars. After a keynote by KuroDalaiJee revisiting his conclusions, we will have a panel featuring Judith Rodenbeck (UC Riverside), Rosemary Candelario (U Texas Austin), and Markus Nornes (U Michigan).
Art and Street Politics in the Global 1960s: Yoshio Nakajima and the Global Avant-Garde brings together scholars from Japan, Belgium, Denmark and the US to address the work of this “Japanese artist from Sweden,” in the words of Professor Tania Ørum. In ways that challenge our imaginings of the role, place, and possibilities of art, Yoshio Nakajima’s storied career has traversed an astounding range of locations, scenes, and movements as well as media and performance modes. The paradox of Nakajima’s work is that, despite its apparent exemplification of art’s potential to move and to transform, it has largely fallen out of accounts in which its impact might have justifiably featured. Presentations by Bert Winther-Tamaki (UC Irvine) and Chris Nelson (UNC Chapel Hill) will open a panel with contributors Peter van der Meijden (U Copenhagen), Dr. Yoshiko Shimada (artist and researcher), and editor William Marotti.
Dr. Yoshiko Shimada’s Omae ga kimeru na!: Tōdai de ryūgakusei ga manabu “han-dōtoku” feminizumu kōgi is based on noted artist and researcher Shimada’s lectures at Tokyo University on postwar radical feminism and art. This work also informed her recent exhibition at Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, and her attention to suppressed legacies of feminist resistance. Dr. Shimada’s Sunday keynote will be followed by commentary by Anne McKnight (UC Riverside).
In honor of the mammoth achievement of the translation of KuroDalaiJee’s monumental work, we will also feature a panel discussing translation, moderated by Michael Emmerich, and featuring Claire Tanaka, Andrew Maerkle, Alice Ashiwa, Yoshiko Shimada and Ken Shima along with the author himself.
We thank the Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies, the Yanai Initiative, the National Center for Art Research (NCAR), the UCLA Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities Deans, and especially the JAG member institutions for their generous support!
Register HERE: https://tinyurl.com/JAG-Centering
Here is the schedule:
MAY 25
9:30-10:00 AM coffee and settling in
10:00 Centering the Margins welcome address (William Marotti)
10:15-12:30 KuroDalaiJee’s Anarchy of the Body: Undercurrents of Performance Art in 1960s Japan
Keynote Address by KuroDalaiJee (Kuroda Raiji)
Commentary:
Markus Nornes, University of Michigan
Judith Rodenbeck, University of California, Riverside
Rosemary Candelario, University of Texas, Austin
12:30-2:00 lunch (provided for panelists)
2:00-4:15 Art and Street Politics in the 1960s: Yoshio Nakajima and the Global Avant-Garde
Commentary:
Chris Nelson, University of North Carolina
Bert Winther-Tamaki, University of California, Irvine
Commentary and Roundtable with Contributors
William Marotti, University of California, Los Angeles (and editor)
Yoshiko Shimada, artist and independent scholar
Peter van der Meijden, University of Copenhagen
4:15-4:30 Break
4:30-5:20 Breakout groups
5:30-6:20 Discussion
6:30 Dinner for all attendees
MAY 26
9:30-10:00 AM coffee and settling in
10:00 -10:05 Welcome back (William Marotti)
10:10-12:20 Omae ga kimeru na! Tōdai de ryūgakusei ga manabu “han-dōtoku” feminizumu kōgi
(in English)
Keynote: Yoshiko Shimada
Commentary: Anne McKnight
12:20-1:50 lunch (provided for panelists)
2:00-4:00 Translating to Center the Margins: on the challenge and possibilities of translating Anarchy of the Body
Michael Emmerich, moderator
Andrew Maerkle, Claire Tanaka, Alice Ashiwa, Yoshiko Shimada, KuroDalaiJee, Ken Shima
4:00-5:30 Group Discussion
A registration form will be forthcoming shortly. We also hope to have a remote participation option and will send details soon.
ACCOMMODATIONS: we have a limited number of rooms at a discounted rate at the Hotel Angeleno, a ride or Uber away from UCLA, with $20 valet parking. https://tinyurl.com/UCLAJAG2024
PARKING: we have a limited number of parking passes for those driving to the event. Contact us for details.
Finally, we understand that recent events have entered an element of uncertainty into the campus location; we will continue to monitor the situation and will make adjustments as necessary.