The series of Tour Sessions listed below for SKVAF Beacon Studio Lab will feature specific installed Kubota artworks, grouped together based on specific features pioneered by Shigeko.

This selective viewing opportunity will identify the following sessions for focused observation and discussion by Technical Category and Titles of Artworks Installed:

SKVAF Beacon Studio Lab

August 9 – August 30

Mirror – Plane 3-D Video
3 Mountains; Korean Grave; Video Rock Garden

This selection of Kubota artworks all incorporates concave, multi-faceted mirror polygons with a video screen embedded at the center focal point. This has the effect of multiplying the image, creating an aggregate, 3-D ‘cubist’ video array that would not be achieved digitally until nearly a decade later.

SKVAF SoHo Loft – 110 Mercer St.

September 6 – October 11

Video as Sculpture
Duchamp’s Grave; Meta Marcel: Window I, II, III; Green Installation

This installation will feature three examples of Shigeko’s sculptures with embedded video. She described this innovative technique as using the video image as a ‘structural object’—an element of the overall sculpture. The phrase ‘video sculpture’ is attributed to the renowned gallerist René Block in written promotion for an exhibition of Kubota’s Duchamp’s Grave at his SoHo gallery.

SKVAF Beacon Studio Lab

September 10 – September 30

Film to Video
Video Chess I & II; Monet’s Garden; Nude Descending a Staircase

These works are all examples of Video Art by Kubota whose content originated as 8mm, 16mm, or slide film images that were shown on a kinescope and captured to videotape to allow video editing and effects processing. Video Chess is the earliest example of Kubota’s work with this technique, ca. 1968–1970.

SKVAF Beacon Studio Lab

September 10 – October 11

Moving the Moving Image (motorized)
Skater; Bicycle 1, 2, 3; Auto; Tire; Wheel; Windflower

Time-based media normally implies the presence of motion images. In these works by Shigeko, the image sources themselves are set into motion by electromechanical (motorized) means. Following her residency in DAAD, Shigeko worked with Werner Block on a motorized pendulum for Video Haiku and embarked on a work phase creating more than a dozen motorized kinetic sculptures.

SKVAF Beacon Studio Lab

October 18 – November 1

Wall Text as a Multi-Media Component
Video Poem; Window I; Duchampiana: Door; Video Chess

The conceptual nature of these works by Shigeko is enhanced by the accompaniment of wall text as an element of the sculpture that encourages the reader to participate in the experience of the work. In some cases, the text provides context; in others, the thought it provokes extends beyond or expands the experience of the structural elements.