Shūji Terayama

London

In an era when Japan’s underground was reaching a fever pitch, Terayama was a crucial player in a complex network of creative expression, encompassing such countercultural legends as singer Akihiro Miwa, photographer Daido Moriyama and graphic artist Tadanori Yokoo. A tribute to this ‚many-headed‘ artist, this survey centres both on his astonishing film and video work and his trailblazing shifts through varied media and performance.

Questions were an important methodology for Shūji Terayama (1935 – 1983), whose striking creative work exists in a liminal space between fact and imagination. Terayama’s career recalls an eerie tale of Japanese folklore in which a face shifts to become a different face. An acclaimed filmmaker, poet, radio and stage dramatist, essayist, photographer and horseracing tipster Terayama was, in the words of theatre critic Akihiko Senda, ‚the eternal avant-garde‘.

Tate Modern

February 16th – March 25th, 2012
Bankside
London SE1 9TG
UK

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