AAJ-ARTIST TALKS

# 10 UMINO Nagiko und HEBIZÔ / author and manga artist
of the manga-series Nihonjin no shiranai Nihongo

# 9 MATSUDA Gen / guitar player

For more information on his work visit the homepage http://www.matsuda-gen.com/

# 8 NUNOKAWA Yûji / anime producer

Nunokawa Yûji, producer and founder of the anime studio Studio Pierrot talked about his career, how he became an animator, later anime producer and president of one of the most successful anime studios in Japan. He gave insights into the workings of an anime studio, from the first plannings to the final products, and talked about the specifics of anime production in Japan. Studio Pierrot, founded in 1979, is one of the leading anime studios in Japan and has produced numberous hit series and films such as Nils Holgerson (1980), Urusei Yatsura (1981), Fushigi Yugi (1995), GTO (1999), Hikaru no Go (2001), Naruto (2002), Tokyo myumyu (2002), Bleach (2004) and Emma (2005). Mr. Nunokawa also presented clips of recents works of Studio Pierrot.

For more information on Studio Pierrot visit the homepage http://pierrot.jp/english/

# 7 ISHIKI Tokihiko / manga artist

Ishiki Tokihiko was born in Tokyo. After publishing some short stories about motorbike races in 1999 he began publishing the story manga "Derby Jockey" in the weekly manga magazine YOUNG SUNDAY (Shôgakukan Publishers). The popular series was continued until 2004. In 2002 the magazine YOUNG KINGDOM (Shônen gahôsha Publishers) started to publish his manga "Motive", which also revolves around motorbikes and motorbike races. His dynamic and detailed drawings of motorbike races and the depiction of the lifes of motorbike racers earned Ishiki a devoted following and high critical respect.

The manga of Ishiki Tokihiko are at the core of the exhibition "UAAAAA!!! MANGA - Zur Ästhetik einer Trashkultur" at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna that is shown until December 4, 2005.

Ishiki Tokihiko talked about the situation of manga artists in Japan, about their working environment, the production of manga and the relationship with the fan base. He gave a practical demonstration of the working process using a special software at his Mac computer.

For more information in the artist and his works visit his homepage www.toki-drive.jp/

# 6 Brigitte PRINZGAU-PODGORSCHEK / director

Film portrait "Sneaking In. Donald Richie's Life in Film"
Everyone with a more than average interest in Japan and Japanese culture knows the name of Donald Richie. For fifty years he has been the authority (for us westerners at least) in the field of Japanese film and culture. He wrote countless books, for instance about Ozu and Kurosawa, but also a travel novel (The Inland Sea) and a book about the eating habits and etiquette in the Land of the Rising Sun. In addition, he found time to make films himself. PRINZGAU/podgorschek (re)constructed Richie's life and, in a personal way, made a multi-faceted essay about an equally versatile man. Interviews with Richie are juxtaposed with images without narration from today's Japan. Of course there are many film clips: from Richie himself and japanese avant-garde films from the 1960s. Colleagues and friends are also interviewed: Sato Tadao, Hani Susumu, Matsumoto Toshio and Ian Buruma.

The Austrian artist duo Brigitte Prinzgau-Podgorschek and Wolfgang Podgorschek work together since 1984. Their context-specific approach to art making and their inter-textual use of film, architecture, sculpture and installation are reflected in their numerous works that got exhibited in Europe, Asia and North America.

# 5 YONESHO Maya / Animator

Yonesho Maya first learned animation techniques at the Saga Art College. After working for 6 years in the art department of the Osaka City Junior High School, she entered the art program of Kyoto City University of Arts to continue her studies of animation. During her time there she also studied in England.Yonesho Maya was born in Hyôgo, Japan. After working as an art teacher, she returned to college to study Japanese painting and conceptual & media art and also worked for a children's TV program as a clay animator. After receiving her M.A. of fine art (1998), she began making independent films and conducting various animation workshops. She has been a lecturer at several Art Universities since 2000.

Yonesho Maya on her works:
"When I create an animation, I first decide on a theme, then edit the sound, and finally I draw the images to match the sound. The theme always develops from something that has been on my mind, but rather than create a story and address the theme explicitly, I prefer to express abstractly, through sound and music, a mood or atmosphere that cannot be expressed in words. Naturally, it pleases me when a viewer can perceive and empathize with the idea I had in mind when I created the piece, but I like for each viewer to interpret it in her or his own way. One of the aspects of animation I love is simply the fact that it moves. In my work I emphasize this aspect of movement and also rhythm, so I try to keep the shapes as simple as possible, and have them move to the rhythm in pleasing ways. The reason I often make the sound before I make the image is because I see sound as an extremely important element, when I use a person's voice, I try to analyze it and make the image complement the mood of the voice. The impetus for my current approach to animation came while I was studying as an exchange student at the Royal College of Art in London in 1997. I was struggling with English when I encountered the technique of matching movement to dialogue known as "lip-synching." At first, I couldn't understand the English dialogue, so I could only interpret it not as words but as "sounds laden with feeling." At the same time, through interacting friends of many different nationalities, I was coming to the realization that understanding between persons was possible regardless of whether one knows the right words or not. When I spoke to a British friend of my frustration at not being able to communicate in English, he responded, "Try saying it in Japanese. I'm sure I'll be able to understand. Dogs and cats can't speak, yet they can understand us, can't they? It's the same thing." Those words left a lasting impression on me. In Introspection, I collected "words of encouragement" from my multinational friends, in their native languages, and tried to express my impressions in shape and movement. I tried to express, through the universal language of animation, the feeling that understanding – particularly of warm feelings – is possible even when the words are foreign. I use sketchbooks because I have a close attachment to sketchbooks and other forms of "bound paper." In such books, ideas are written down, re-read, re-configured, and reborn with new meanings. Animation includes elements of movement, color, shape and sound, and is therefore rich with expressive potential. I believe it can be used to express even that which cannot be expressed in words, or meanings that words might hide. I only hope that my own work will continue to embody, if only in small ways, that potential."

# 4 NISHIGATA AKIKO / Sangen

Akiko Nishigata studied Yamada-style koto from childhood, then entered the Tokyo National University of Fine Art and graduated from the traditional music department in 1967. After graduation, she studied contemporary Japanese music with Shamisen master and composer Kineya Seiho. Since 1975, she has continued to commission contemporary shamisen works for her recitals. At the 1979 Pan Music Festival Tokyo 79, Nishigata received the top soloist award, the German ambassador's prize and the judging committee's award. The following year she received the Minister of Education's award for up and coming performers.
Since 1978, she has held concerts throughout Asia and Europe. She has also participated in the ISCF (International Society of Contemporary Music Festival), Holland Festival, and the ACL (Asian Composer League). In 1984 she began to perform the genkan, an ancient stringed instrument restored by the National Theatre of Japan, and from 1988 the hitsu, another ancient stringed instrument in concerts, drama and court music settings.
Today she heads a group called the Bionkai, and is a member of the Gendai Sankyoku Ensemble. She also serves as director of the "Shinten ongaku kyôkai".

Nishigata Akiko has numerous recordings to her credit, including "Nishigata Akiko: Sangen"(ALM), "Nishigata Akiko: Hitori yumenishiaraba", and "Gendai no sangen Best 25" (Victor Musical Industries, Inc. Japan)

# 3 MORIMOTO Yuki / Composer

Morimoto Yuki studied at the Tôkyô National University of Music, the Tôhô School of Music in Tôkyô and the University of Southern California Los Angeles under Prof. Daniel Lewis.
His musical career began in 1977 in Tôkyô. Beside running EX-HOUSE, a Live-House for contemporary music, he conducting music for film and TV, including major symphony orchestras in Japan. Since 1985 Morimoto lives in Vienna as a composer and conductor. In 1987 he founded the ENSEMBLE 9 with which he premiered works by Takemitsu Tôru, Paul Dresher, Howard Skempton, Satô Sômei, Yuasa Jôji and Arvo Pärt.
Among his most recent compositions are the music for the BBC-commissioned dance piece »Limen«, broadcasted in UK and Japan, performed in 2002 at the Graphic Art Museum Kôriyama in Japan, the Northern Exposure Festival in London and Wien Modern in Vienna, and the world premiere of »Where being and being seen coincide« (Sangen by Nishigata Akiko, Female Chorus by »Refrain« conducted by Kuriyama Fumiaki) at the Geijutsu Gekijo Large Hall in Tôkyô.

# 2 FURUI Yoshikichi / Novelist

Furui Yoshikichi was born in 1937 and in 1970 resigned his post as assistant professor of German literature at Rikkyô University in Tôkyô to devote himself full-time to his career as a writer. In the following year his place in the literary world became assured with the publication of the novella Yôko, which was awarded the prestigious Akutagawa Prize.
Since then, Furui has had an almost cult following among his readers in Japan. He is an acknowledged master of the exploration of that "other" world which lies at the periphery of our "normal" reality as individuals, and his work inhabits the ambiguous borders of these two worlds. His writing likewise often stretches the conventional limits of language, investing words with an aura of added significance that at times lifts his work toward the domain of poetry. The intensity and power of his writing creates an extraordinary realm of experience that the reader comes to inhabit as completely as the bewildered protagonists. All of Furui's works in some way circle in toward this same point from new and shifting perspectives, and the cumulative effect of reading them is the experience of being drawn in to explore ever more deeply the strange world that shadows and defines our normal waking life.

# 1 NAGASAKI Shunichi / Film Maker

Filmmaker Shunichi Nagasaki's name is not nearly as well-known outside Japan as it deserves to be. Virtually unknown in the West, he has been delivering a steady stream of provocative and challenging films for many years. Most of his films deal with intense emotions, and characters pushed to psychological extremes by unforeseen circumstances.
Nagasaki was born in 1956 in Yokosuka, Japan. He began making Super-8 films in 1975, and in 1986 he was the first Japanese filmmaker invited to participate in workshops at the Sundance Film Institute. He has worked in every possible format: Super-8, 16mm, 35mm, video and digital video. He won a major award in 1989 for his film The Enchantment (Yûwakusha) at the Tokyo International Film Festival and has continued to work prolifically as an independent.

The talk with Nagasaki Shunichi was mentioned in an article published in the "Niigata Nippô" on November 15, 2002 together with a photo from the talk.