MICRO THEATRE PROJECT in Tokyo
Art installation and cinema space
(collaborative project with Thai artist)
This project explores ideas of participatory cinema through public involvement in the construction of a social space. In many parts of the world there is a trend towards guerrilla cinema, pop-up, temporary, hand-made spaces which seek to re-awaken a sense of film as collective experience rather than solitary viewing activity. Cinema is where we meet, as individuals, communities and cultures. Social cinema has the potential to provide a space where we meet and collaborate.
Cultural relationships and collaborations between Japan and Thailand have a long history. The first cinema in Thailand was the Japanese Cinematograph, which opened as a temporary structure in a public park (1905). The presence of Japanese film exhibitors and the desire of Thai audiences sparked the development of film making in Thailand. ‘Light Box Cinema’ looks back to this moment of cultural exchange by the creation of a temporary space and through its programming – hybrid Thai/Japanese films: Sunset at Chaopraya 1973; Hanuman vs 7 Ultraman 1974; My Dear Wife 1977; Behind the Painting 1985.
Situated in one of unused space in Chiyoda City, we aim to work with local people to construct a temporary cinema space by recycling found and donated material: cardboard, advertising posters, leaflets etc. The name ‘Light Box Cinema’ picks-up on the iconic street advertising style of Japan, where local commercial/cultural life is illuminated in the streets e.g. Akihabara. Illumination is part of the fabric of Tokyo and the fundamental basis of cinema.
This temporary cinema, built from scraps of material emphasises cinema as art of the ephemeral, a fleeting, moving image. Film is a time-based media. Together, we become still while the film unfolds. When it ends, we depart until the next time. Feature films from the 1970s and 1980s were part of our childhood. Film loses its sense of the contemporary and becomes out-dated faster than most mediums. It is the perfect medium to provoke thoughts about how quickly the world changes: technology, tastes, people, desires. For this reason we believe ‘Light Box Cinema’ fits well with themes of the social, local and constant change.