Teruo Koike

Part 29 of Koike Teruo’s Ecosystem series. Digital

A brief documentary focused on the history of experimental Super 8mm filmmaking. Prominent figures of the "s8" boom of the 1970s discuss their work and their first encounters with the medium.

The global coronavirus infection has deprived filmmakers of the opportunity to screen and present their films. Filmmakers can't help but be stuck in the midst of not knowing when this situation will converge. This is a project in which filmmakers who are presenting their works using 8 mm or 16 mm film alone will randomly connect the works submitted to the project "Movie Film Project to Overcome Covid-19"

Part 30 of Koike Teruo’s Ecosystem series.

Part 27 of Koike Teruo's Ecosystem series.

Inside a stone, I found an architecture with light and time, this is my work. - TK

Part 17 of Koike Teruo’s Ecosystem series.

Part 16 of Koike Teruo’s Ecosystem series. 8mm

Part 15 of Koike Teruo’s Ecosystem series.

Part 14 of Koike Teruo’s Ecosystem series. Video

Part 9 of Koike Teruo’s Ecosystem series. 8mm

Part 7 of Koike Teruo’s Ecosystem series. 8mm

Ecosystem-6: A Sort of Mycelium is a mesmerizing compound of patterns found in the organic world. Static elements – ropes, a forest – come to life, while living sea creatures like an octopus or a starfish resemble ornamental patterns in motion. Inspired by the elaborate chaos systems present in nature, Koike creates an exuberant and splendid new dimension to explore.

The ecosystem series which started in 1981 counts 15 and is still growing, becoming Koike's lifework. Through the series, Koike has shot a huge amount – thousands – of still photos of objective motifs, from ocean creatures, microbes, and granite to artificial material such as fishing nets. Those photos are developed with a specialized method then reshot with movie film. The style has been thoroughly continued. The images that are created as a result tower before our eyes as an overwhelming visual experience. Each motif has been repeatedly decomposed and reconstructed of its "attribution" and "meaning", causing a shocking Gestalt breakdown for the audience.

8mm film directed by Teruo Koike

"Tried to make a movie incorporating video noise which was generated by pointing a camcoder directly to a TV monitor." VTR/sound

"I pointed the camera at the trees and bushes in my lodgings' garden. I just wanted to keep watching them." VTR/sound

"I thought of disassembling one second by sticking opaque scotch tape on 8mm films to shut existing images. How much information can we put in 1/24 second? How much can we perceive? As a result, I felt that one single second was a surprisingly long time! An image on a frame caused an afterimage in the total darkness. Is an afterimage formed somewhere between our perception and memory?"

8mm film directed by Teruo Koike

"My strong interest in and longing for movies were beginning to take shape, but I still was not clear about what I should create. Therefore, those days it wouldn't be right to say I was using a camera but it was as if a camera was controlling me."

The first entry in the Ecosystem series. - "In Alvileo, Fomalhaut, Eusthenopteron and this Ecosystem-1, I tried to create a collage-box of universe by collecting and rearranging a great quantity of ordinary and electronic microscopic photographs of creatures, minerals, outer space, marine lives etc. posted in scientific journals. The attempt for these video works became the driving force to produce Ecosystem-5- A Tremulous Stone which was the starting point of later Ecosystem series."

Short film by Teruo Koike. 18fps/8mmfilm/silent

Short film by Teruo Koike. 18fps/8mmfilm/silent

"I was crazy about collecting photographs I got interested in scientific journals."

"The first film in which I was a scriptor, actor and director. Many thanks for my schoolmates who kindly cooperated to appear in this movie." -Teruo Koike

First short film by Teruo Koike. - "Lost work. Trees standing up vertically. I rolled the camera following what my shaken heart said."