Yutaka Matsuzawa

Floor of Vanishing was a work Matsuzawa Yutaka presented in a cobblestoned square in Middelburg, the Netherlands square in August 1980, and this video documents the Human Extinction ceremony Matsuzawa performed along with the unfurling of a banner. In this film, Matsuzawa appears highly energetic as he unfolds the pink Banner of Extinction and inscribes on it with a brush: “Humans, Let’s Vanish, Let’s Go, Let’s Go.” The film was shot by Matsuzawa’s eldest daughter Kumiko, who accompanied him on many overseas trips.

This film documents a performance by Taku Furusawa, acting as the Aoyama Outpost of the Kingdom of Lilliput under the influence of Matsuzawa associate Shō Kazakura. Furusawa also acted in the underground theatre group Theater Yakōkan (Night Theater), which had ties with Matsuzawa as well, and in his later years was active under the name Kubikukuri Takuzō, but this film is a valuable document of his early convulsive performance.

Camera person unknown, 1971, B&W, silent, 18 min. Courtesy of Kumiko Matsuzawa. This film documents actions performed for World Uprising by Taii Ashizawa and Taku Furusawa, who worked together as Satsuma Workshop. According to the art magazine Bijutsu Techō, Ashizawa acting on behalf of the Interstellar Vibration Association and conducted an Earth Sound Transmission Ritual consisting of three parts. In Ritual One, four people respond to the four fundamental elements (fire, water, earth, air) and emanate earth sounds through psychokinesis. In Ritual Two, the sound of the earth is transmitted via radio waves. Ritual Three shows the sound of the earth extinguished in a fire on an altar, and reproduced and transmitted into outer space through the wisdom of a fire deity. The film documents Ritual One, as well as Taku Furusawa is performing Ritual One / EVENT at the same site and going into convulsions.

This film documents actions performed for World Uprising by Ikuo Shukusawa, Sanzō Tanaka, and Shigeru Hanagata, who collectively worked as Shikata Kōbō (Death Type Workshop). Camera person unknown, 1971, B&W, silent, 3 min. Courtesy of Kumiko Matsuzawa.