Takashi Makino
Installation view, Cinéma Concret, 2016
Image courtesy of the artist and Empty Gallery
Installation view, Documenta 14, 2017
Image courtesy of the artist and Greek Film Archive
“cosmos”, 2016
Image courtesy of the artist and London Gallery West
Performance, Cēsis Art Festival, 2018
Image courtesy of the artist
Performance, URANO, 2018
Image courtesy of the artist and URANO
Takashi Makino (b. 1978 ) is a Tokyo-based experimental filmmaker widely considered to be one of the most influential Japanese moving-image artists of his generation. After graduating from the the cinema department at Nihon University College of Art, he spent time honing his skills in the London-based studio of the Quay Brothers before moving back to Japan. His unique working process usually involves capturing representational footage of humans, nature, and urban life in various formats and then transforming these images radically during the editing stage. Through a process of layering, superimposition and other formal manipulations, these concrete images blend together into pulsating visual fields of organic abstraction in his finished works.
Makino regularly presents installations, screenings, and audio-visual performances of his work internationally, having appeared in over 120 cities to date. Recent engagements include: documenta 14, Athens, Greece (2017); Austrian Film Museum, Vienna, Austria (2017); New York Film Festival, New York, USA (2014, 2017); Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2016); The Korean Film Archive, Seoul, Korea (2016); BFI IMAX Theatre, London, UK (2016); MoMAPS1, New York, USA (2013); San Francisco MoMA, USA (2009); New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA (2008). In 2012, he was awarded the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.