Tomonari Nishikawa and the “Birth of Tragedy” – NRATI
July’s reading: An excerpt from Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy
Tomonari Nishikawa in attendance
In conjunction with the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of
Toronto’s summer residency, visiting artist Tomonari Nishikawa has been
invited to select a reading in relation to filmmaking practice.
Nishikawa’s 2003 film Apollo will be screened as part of the evening’s discussion.
July’s reading: An excerpt from Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy
Tomonari Nishikawa in attendance
In conjunction with the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of
Toronto’s summer residency, visiting artist Tomonari Nishikawa has been
invited to select a reading in relation to filmmaking practice.
Nishikawa’s 2003 film Apollo will be screened as part of the evening’s discussion.
One of Friedrich Nietzsche’s earlier works, The Birth of Tragedy mines
classical Greek theatre and the music of Richard Wagner for a life
affirming theory of being. Nietzsche was working in response to a
pervasive social nihilism that had risen up in the gap between
traditional religious ways of thinking and modern science as ways of
explaining the world. In art, Nietzsche believed, there was a possible
“key to renewed human flourishing for a humanity bereft both of the
consolations of religious faith and of confidence in reason and science
as substitutes for it” (Richard Schacht).
Apollo is a hand-crafted film made by various techniques to
obtain photographic images on celluloid, and it showcases Nishikawa’s
interests in medium, materiality and cinematic apparati, especially the
film projector and human visual perception. Nishikawa cites Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy
as an influence on this early film work, wherein he attempted to
conjure Dionysian characteristics in moving images without a narrative.
However, viewing the film as a failure, Nishikawa named the film Apollo.
A particular emphasis on the evening’s discussion will be placed on the
potential for non-narrative moving images to embody Dionysian
qualities.
Participation in No Reading After the Internet is free and open to
everyone, regardless of their familiarity with a text or its
author. Texts will be handed out at the salon. No pre-reading or
research is required. However, if you’d like to preview The Birth of Tragedy beforehand, you can do so here.
Tomonari Nishikawa is a filmmaker and installation
artist whose works have been presented internationally, notably at
Berlinale, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Hong Kong
International Film Festival, EXiS: Experimental Film and Video Festival,
MoMA P.S.1, Disjecta Art Space and San Francisco Arts Commission
Gallery. Nishikawa works as a guest adviser/curator of Yebisu
International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions in Tokyo, and
he is one of the co-founders of KLEX: Kuala Lumpur Experimental Film and
Video Festival in Malaysia, for which he works now as a festival
adviser. He currently teaches at Cinema Department, Binghamton
University.
The event is co-presented by the LIFT and No Reading After the Internet.
Wednesday 13 July 2011 –
Non-members: FREE
Members: FREE
Location:
LIFT
1137 Dupont Street
Toronto ON Canada