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Update 29 June 2024

CROSS TALK INTERMEDIA FESTIVAL

Three silk-screen posters I created for CROSS TALK INTERMEDIA in 1969. Wanting to explore the unfamiliar medium of silk-screen printing, I purchased the necessary items and began work on my own terms

The third poster features a close-up of the actor at the center of Martirano’s L’s G.A., wearing an ominous gas mask that had an internal microphone which allowed his voice to rise above the montage of electroacoustic organ music from Saint-Saën’s opera, Samson and Delilah, particularly the aria, “My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice” that Martirano had recorded.

In addition to the Hijikata poster shown elsewhere I made two others, one for each of CROSS TALK INTERMEDIA’s three nights. Below is one based on a domestic image of composer Gordon Muma playing his horn with a young admirer watching. The geometry of this portrait is sharply contrasted with that of the Hijikata image that seems to float in a void.

The legendary dancer Tatsumi Hijikata
Hijikata played a foundational role in the emergence of the powerfully original Japanese Butoh dance movement ("ancient dance step of utter darkness”) during the 1960s. We invited his participation in the 1969 CROSS TALK INTERMEDIA Festival, and he proposed a work to involve a live giraffe, and an equal number of crows and of elderly women. We secured the participation of the giraffe, but, for unknown reasons, Hijikata withdrew, using the traditional Japanese go-between practice. His personal “master” made the apologies to us formally at a gathering at the apartment of ACC Director Donald Albright.

FESTIVAL IMAGES

Preparations for the CROSS TALK INTERMEDIA festival involved extensive negotiation with such diverse sponsors as Pepsi-Cola, Trio Electronics, SONY corporation, Playboy magazine (Japanese edition) , the Cultural Attaché from the American Embassy, and the American Cultural Center in Tokyo. Many articles appeared in the Japanese press and art magazines there, also in such American publications as the New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, as well as Japan based English language publications including The Japan Times and The Yomiuri Newspaper. Below are some of the images that were widely disseminated in the media;

In addition to the Hijikata poster shown elsewhere I made two others, one for each of CROSS TALK INTERMEDIA’s three nights. Below is one based on a domestic image of composer Gordon Muma playing his horn with a young admirer watching. The geometry of this portrait is sharply contrasted with that of the Hijikata image that seems to float in a void.

Inflatable projection surfaces for Projections for "ICON" (1969) by Joji Yuasa
by filmmaker Toshio Matsumoto, presented at CROSS TALK INTERMEDIA
6 - 16mm projectors,visuals, lighting, pneumatic projection surfaces
5 February 1969

To our astonished relief, as we came up a ramp into the arena, we could hear the excited murmuring of a huge crowd. Across the three evenings of the festival more than 10,000 observers grappled with the unexpected content that this unprecedented, bi-national event included.

Toshi Ichiyanagi, Tōru Takemitsu, Roger Reynolds in Tōkyō. World premiere of "Tokyo 1969" by Ichiyanagi
at CROSS TALK INTERMEDIA. With Takemitsu and Reynolds on analog electronic devices built by Jūnosuki Okuyama. 5 February 1969.

Robert Ashley and Karen Reynolds in meeting for CROSS TALK INTERMEDIA
Kyoto 1969