Shuji Terayama
‘Who can say that we should not live like dogs?’

Friday 16 March – Sunday 25 March 2012
Shuji Terayama, Tomato Kechappu Kōtei / Emperor Tomato Ketchup, 1971
Shuji Terayama
Tomato Kechappu Kōtei / Emperor Tomato Ketchup 1971
© courtesy of Kujō Kyōko and Terayama World

Questions were an important part of the work of Shūji Terayama (1935–1983) who once remarked that he wanted to become ‘questions’ himself. An acclaimed filmmaker, poet, radio and stage dramatist, essayist, photographer and horse-racing tipster (with no less than eight volumes of commentary to his name), Terayama was, in the words of theatre critic Akihiko Senda, ‘the eternal avant-garde’.

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 counter-cultural 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 and his trail-blazing shifts into other media; Terayama always made work that was interrelated, often producing visionary and unexpected outcomes in whatever his chosen form.

Curated by Thomas Dylan Eaton.

A season ticket is available for £20 (£15 concessions) (symposium not included). Please call 020 7887 8888 to book.

  Film