Few artists would consider cleaning the city streets, designing custom-built nuclear shelters or fighting charges of counterfeiting money as part of their activities. But then most artists don¡¯t share the concerns that the members of Hi-Red Center (HRC) had as one of the most radical art groups to have emerged from postwar Japan.
Aspects of the short-lived group¡¯s work have featured in exhibitions on Japanese postwar or avant-garde art; but until now there has been no in-depth exhibition dedicated to the group ¡ª a serious oversight considering their status in avant-garde art circles and their continuing influence, half a century later.
But now comes ¡°Hi-Red Center: the Documents of ¡®Direct Action¡¯ ¡± at the Shoto Museum of Art in Tokyo¡¯s Shibuya district. It¡¯s the first exhibition devoted to cataloging and presenting as much of the group¡¯s activities as possible ¡ª no easy task as the group issued no manifesto and largely eschewed leaving behind material artworks for posterity, in favor of articulating actions, gestures and events.
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