Part of Platform 2016: A Body in Places

This Wednesday night film series is co-presented by Danspace Project and Anthology Film Archives and curated by Eiko, who addresses “how humans contribute to and survive the characteristics of places.” Tickets are available at Anthology’s box office on the day of the show only. The box office opens 30 minutes before the first show of the day. There are no advance ticket sales.

PROGRAM 3: BODIES ON AN ISLAND
Nakedness is my life-long theme: artistically, physically, and metaphorically. THE NAKED ISLAND depicts the life of a family on a small island that barely provides them with the means for subsistence. Like THE NAKED ISLAND, Eiko & Koma’s “living installations” are place-based works. In a gallery, we create another place where we exist and move as inhabitants. –Eiko

Kaneto Shindo
THE NAKED ISLAND
1960, 96 min, 35mm, b&w. In Japanese with English subtitles.

The poetic, dialogue-free THE NAKED ISLAND is one of my favorite films. Shindo created the first Japanese independent film production company in 1950 and never returned to mainstream productions throughout his career, which lasted until his death in 2012 at the age of 100. THE NAKED ISLAND is a model of low budget filmmaking. The minimal cast and crew all camped out at the location, sharing all the necessary labor. This method, which Shindo adhered to for most of his career, deeply influenced generations of Japanese independent filmmakers. EIko & Koma ahs also taken the same path. Shot on Sukun-jima in the gentle Seto Inland Sea, NAKED ISLAND seems at first like a fable but its description of the surrounding society is in fact a realistic one. –Eiko

With:
Eiko & Koma HUSK 1987, 9 min, 16mm
HUSK is my solo; Koma was on camera. We wanted to create a dance poem of an unnamed body in an unnamed place. The choreography of both body and camera was created to make an unedited media work. –Eiko

More info:
anthologyfilmarchives.org
eikoandkoma.org