METHOD NO. 21 WAR ISSUE (APRIL 1, 2003)
Email-Bulletin "METHOD" is a free monthly on "Method Painting, Method
Poem, Method Music (Methodicist Manifesto)." Publishers are three
Japanese artists, Hideki Nakazawa, a (visual) artist, Shigeru Matsui, a
poet, and Masahiro Miwa, a composer. You can read the three manifestos
of Methodicism at http://aloalo.co.jp/nakazawa/method/
We changed the former plan that had been announced in the last issue.
This issue, METHOD NO. 21, carries our new manifesto concerning war, and
word & info by the three Methodicists. (A text by Hideki Nakazawa and a
web piece by Shigeru Matsui will be appeared in the next issue.)
>>>NEW MANIFESTO:
Methodicist Manifesto of Participation in War
War at this time will work nothing but as confirmation. Just as we
pointed out in our former manifestos, the democratic system has been
degraded to mobocracy since the last century, and sensationalism has
been rampant all over the world. However, meaninglessness, which is
what tautology means, does not excuse mobocracy nor sensationalism. In
order to obey the mechanism of history, tautology rather requests to be
authorized, sometimes even being attended with force. In such cases,
tautological art, or art as art, can be seen, read, and heard as force.
Method painting is not a toy tank. It is a real weapon which
stains the earth with blood, because it is a colored plane which is
overlaid on method itself.
Method poem is not a toy missile. It is a real weapon which
transmits enmity, because it is a row of letters which comes to method
itself.
Method music is not a toy bomb. It is a real weapon which gives a
death cry, because it is a vibrating time which embodies method itself.
We, methodicists, are convinced that art is force. We,
methodicists, use these force tautologically against the belligerent
nations and their supporting nations. We, methodicists, declare war
tautologically on antiwar movements and artists around us, and also on
ourselves.
Supplement 1
War on Iraq is illegal. It will work as confirmation to the world that
the September 11 was justifiable.
Supplement 2
A methodicist obeys the mechanism of history; history of the world and
history of each nation he/she belongs to. However, those two kinds of
history sometimes conflict with each other. For instance, if his/her
nation is belligerent or supporting war, tautology is surely to glorify
war, at least in that case.
Supplement 3
Our former manifestos were "Method Painting, Method Poem, Method Music
(First Methodicist Manifesto)" in 2000, "Second Methodicist Manifesto"
in 2001, and "Method Painting, Method Poem, Method Music (Third
Methodicist Manifesto)" in 2002. "Methodicist Manifesto of
Participation in War" is a rephrased one of the former manifestos.
Supplement 4
Those in favor of this manifesto can forward it to acquaintances on your
own responsibility, adding "In favor, Name, Nationality and profession"
at the end. Those partially in favor and those not in favor can also do
in the similar way. Or, you can of course forward it without adding
your name.
April 1, 2003
Drafted by Group "Method":
Hideki Nakazawa, a Japanese artist
Shigeru Matsui, a Japanese poet
Masahiro Miwa, a Japanese composer
>>>METHODICISTS' WORD & INFO OF THIS MONTH:
Hideki Nakazawa, artist:
nakazawa@aloalo.co.jp http://aloalo.co.jp/nakazawa/
- Having written the manifesto with Matsui and Miwa, I do not want to
write anything more about it just now. However, I suppose I have to
write something here for the future readers; the facts around us. The
U. S. and the U. K. opened Iraq war on March 20. Spain, Japan et al.
are the supporting nations, while France et al. are not for the war.
There are a lot of antiwar movements all over the world and in NYC also
where I currently live. At the same time, France bashing actually
happens here around me, and there are held a lot of patriotic meetings
in the U. S. In the Japanese art scene, Kousai Hori and Keisuke Oki
started "Antiwar Art Network," and Noi Sawaragi, Yuko Yamamoto, Masanori
Oda and Kiki Kudo began "Do Not Kill," and Kenjiro Okazaki opened a
website arguing antiwar. These are only the tip of an iceberg.
- METHOD NIGHT VOL. 4 by Hideki Nakazawa:
Street Performance "Method Dance No. 1" (Performer: Tony Foggia).
Meet at 6 pm on Fri., April 18 at W. Houston & Broadway, SW Corner, NYC.
COME AND WITNESS TODAY'S TRUE RADICALISM. ...Dance piece "Method Dance
No. 1" was composed by Nakazawa in 2000-2001, written in the style of
Labanotation. Tony Foggia, an actor, will realize it by walking along
the west pavement of Broadway from W. Houston St. to Canal St.
- ISCP Open Studio Exhibition on Fri-Sat., May 2-3 at 323 W 39 St., NYC.
I am a current participant in ISCP, International Studio & Curatorial
Program, being supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japanese
Government. ISCP will hold the open studios. http://www.iscp-nyc.org/
Shigeru Matsui, poet:
shigeru@td5.so-net.ne.jp http://www008.upp.so-net.ne.jp/methodpoem/
- Provoked by the war opened on March 20, I wrote 15 war-glorification
tanka poems and mailed them to my acquaintances. Unfortunately, I
cannot publish them here as they are untranslatable. The reason why I
wrote the poems can be found in the above Manifesto.
- Many people came to my concert on March 29. I hope they enjoyed the
realm of method poem. Thanks to great performances by Reisu Sakai and
Akito Takimoto, "Quantum Poem for a Soprano Singer" and "Pure Poem for
a Dancer" expressed faithfully the idea of method poem itself. You can
see the pictures of the concert at:
http://photo.www.infoseek.co.jp/ImageView0.asp?key=840.192222&un=109969&m=0&cnt=117
- Performance "READING" on April 5, 2003, at Usagigoya, Tokyo.
http://www008.upp.so-net.ne.jp/methodpoem/Reading.html
Masahiro Miwa, composer:
mmiwa@iamas.ac.jp http://www.iamas.ac.jp/~mmiwa/
- March 2003 was a very busy month for me. Two premieres of a revised
version of the "Muramatsu-Gear" (titled "Suzu-Kake-Matari / Wave
elevator by Muramatsu-Gear engine") with 17 (13 in Hiroshima) female
voices were successfully performed by young people mainly from Hiroshima
University and Kyoto University. As two different groups played the
same piece in the separate places, the ways of performance were also
different in the details, which could be called the actual scene of the
birth of cultural sophistication such as "a la Hiroshima" and "a la
Kyoto." After these the "Matarisama" was performed in the concert in
Kobe by an ensemble of 7 volunteer people from participants in "DSP off
summer school 2003" and 16 imaginary players (existing in a computer)
using two pairs of robot arms and sensor pads! In the last week of
March I went to Lake Yamanaka at the foot of Mt. Fuji and tried to find
rules for a new "Reverse-simulation ensemble" with the participants in
"Forum der Freunde des DAAD." The workshop was very exciting and we
played four new prototypes of "Reverse-simulation music" in the final
session. All the time during those successful events, I could not help
thinking about the relationship between the situation of this world and
my own activities.
- April 5: Lecture / Workshop at National Museum of Emerging Science and
Innovation (MeSci) in Tokyo during the event "Imaginary Sound Scape."
http://www.ongakuschool.com/invisiblenoteHP/ (in Japanese)
Group "METHOD":
http://aloalo.co.jp/nakazawa/method/
- Preparing for the publication of a series "Off-Line Separate Volumes
of 'METHOD.'"
- Volunteer assistants invited to help our activities.
>>>POSTSCRIPT:
The next issue, NO. 22, will be published on May 1, carrying a text by
Hideki Nakazawa and a web piece by Shigeru Matsui. There are two
versions of this bulletin; one is only in English which you are reading
right now, the other is accompanied by Japanese translation which we can
send you at your request. To read the back numbers, visit the above URL
of "METHOD." To subscribe or unsubscribe to this bulletin, email any of
us at the above email addresses. You can send on this bulletin to
others freely, but corruption and appropriation are prohibited.
Monthly Email-Bulletin METHOD NO. 21 published on April 1, 2003
(C) Hideki Nakazawa, Shigeru Matsui, Masahiro Miwa, 2003