Though post-war Japanese movements such as Gutai and Mono-ha have gained international recognition, the innovative nature-based practices of experimental groups such as The Play and GUN (Group Ultra Niigata) are relatively under celebrated. A new exhibition at the Japan Society in New York, Radicalism in the Wilderness: Japanese Artists in the Global 1960s (until 9 June), hopes to change that, by presenting incredible footage that captures action-based works rooted in the Japanese landscape. For example, The Play’s voyage on a giant arrow-shaped paddle boat, and GUN’s colourful, site-specific Event to Change the Image of Snow, where colour pigment was sprayed on the snow-covered Shinano riverbed, with snowfall continually erasing the result.
