March 11 ? Sept. 12, 2010 - Fondation Cartier pour l'art ...

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INTERVIEW REAlIZED BY MICHEl TEMMAN (EXCERPTS FROM THE CATAlOG) INTERVIEW WITH BEAT TAKESHI KITANO — miChel temmAn Your exhibition at the Fondation Cartier is a new chapter in your already prolific career. Is it like a dream come true? beAt tAkeShi kitAno I feel like a mountain climber who has been asked to climb Mt. Everest without a supply of oxygen. When the Fondation Cartier asked me to do this exhibition, it might have been the lack of oxygen that led me to say: “Okay, I’ll do it.” Anyway, I think I was somewhat dehydrated. After things had gotten off the ground, when it became hard to say, “In fact, I’m not really sure of myself anymore,” I got worried. We had gone past the point of no return, and I wanted to say to the Fondation Cartier: “Wait a second! Are we actually going to do this exhibition?” […] miChel temmAn When you were working on the exhibition, what were your priorities and what was your greatest desire? What was going on in your head? beAt tAkeShi kitAno I like the painting and the work of Renaissance painters like leonardo da Vinci. What I admire about them is that, throughout their lives, they didn’t confine themselves to one path or define themselves by a single interest. Da Vinci was a painter, but he was also a scientist. I like the idea that he was able to combine elements from different fields and that this combination made up his artistic oeuvre. He was constantly doing new things with his hands. I like that approach, that characteristic of the Renaissance artists: their versatility. Nowadays, however, it has become terribly common to segregate all of these different fields. We think we have to separate each discipline and clearly distinguish artists from scientists. Specialization is something that is becoming more and more apparent in our times. However, for the education of our children—and this is, in fact, true not only for children, but for everyone—it is much more stimulating and exciting to jam everything together in one pot. And, of course, being a comedian, I can’t help but incorporate silliness and mockery into the installations and paintings in this exhibition. But who knows what will happen? Someone, a child perhaps, will be astonished by a certain installation and want to become a scientist. Another kid might want to become an artist, and another, a comedian. […] miChel temmAn The Director of the Fondation Cartier Hervé Chandès chose the title Gosse de peintre (“the painter’s kid”) for the exhibition. This was the nickname you were given in school by other children who made fun of your father’s job… beAt tAkeShi kitAno Yes, it’s true, and in fact the title conveys the message I wanted to express. Other kids often mocked me because I was the son of a house painter. That happened a lot when I was in primary school, junior high and even high school. They would say: “Oh, you’re the house painter’s kid!” I heard it all the time. That’s partly why I drew away from the 5 other kids when I was in school. I don’t know how things are in Europe, but in Japan house painters are ridiculed because you see them wearing their used coveralls stained with paint, and as a result, their dirty clothes make them a target of derision. So in school, I kept my distance from the bullying and the teasing of my classmates, and in fact I liked being on the outside looking in. I was like a spectator observing them objectively, it seemed to me, from the outside. And I think this helped me later on, especially when I was starting out as a stand-up comic. Watching people, knowing how to observe them, is the most valuable skill a comedian can have. I had learned how to observe the kids who made fun of me, their behavior and ways of thinking, and that habit later became very useful, it became an asset for me.[…] miChel temmAn It [the exhibition] reveals you, for the first time, as a visual artist. And it includes so many different forms of artistic expression: it could have been called Takeshi’s Vertigo. After Beat Takeshi, the TV star, and Kitano, the filmmaker, is this the birth of a new Takeshi? beAt tAkeShi kitAno Well, when I work on a television program or on a feature film, there are always certain limits. For example, with TV shows there are restrictions in terms of content. The producers and directors, of course, tell me I can do anything I want. But in reality, when you’re working with a commercial network, you have to take the sponsors into consideration, which means that you can’t criticize them on the show. This is also applicable to movies, and the film industry has its own constraints. For this exhibition, on the other hand, I was given free rein. There were no restrictions—outside of the physical limitations, of course—and that was quite new for me. It was probably the most “anything goes” situation I’ve ever experienced, and I took it as far as I wanted to go. — PubliCAtion Beat Takeshi Kitano, Gosse de peintre Opening the door to Kitano’s world, this catalogue offers a behind-the-scenes look at the exhibition. Drawings of objects, blueprints of the installations and paintings by the artist wind back to the genesis of an extraordinary project. Through a rich iconography drawn from his films and top TV shows, the reader retraces in images Kitano’s exceptional career. limited edition of 150 box sets, containing a book signed by the artist and a litograph. Price available on demand. Exclusively sold at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain Bookshop and on fondation.cartier.com Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris / Actes Sud, Arles Softback, 24 × 30 cm, 264 pages, 200 color illustrations, 43 €
BIOGRAPHY — the beginningS Born in Tokyo in 1947, Beat Takeshi Kitano entered show business in 1974 as Beat Takeshi, a stage name he continues to use as a performer. Half of the comic duo Two Beat, Beat Takeshi was one of the leading figures in the manzaï, or stand-up comedy boom of the late 1970s. Beat Takeshi’s distinctive speaking style and idiosyncratic perspective made him one of Japan’s most popular entertainers of the 1980s. tv Celebrity Beat Takeshi’s television career saw its true beginnings in 1981 with his appearances on Oretachi Hyokinzoku (literal translation: we are jokers), a comedy show that introduced many comedians. Of the numerous shows presented by Beat Takeshi, the most internationally renowned is Takeshi’s Castle in which contestants participated in a series of trials, some quite physical. Broadcast from 1986 to 1989, it achieved record audiences. Currently, Beat Takeshi Kitano presents eight programs a week, with topics ranging from politics to mathematics. ACtor As an actor, Beat Takeshi has appeared in his own films as well as numerous others. He garnered international acclaim for his role in Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence in 1982. In 1999, he again collaborated with Oshima on the samurai epic Taboo. In 2000, he appeared in Kinji Fukasaku’s controversial Japanese blockbuster Battle Royale. His acting career also includes international films such as Robert longo’s Johnny Mnemonic (uS, 1995) and Jean-Pierre limosin’s Tokyo Eyes (France, 1997). direCtor Kitano made his directorial debut with Violent Cop, in which he also starred. He has since made Boiling Point, A Scene at the Sea, Sonatine, Getting Any? and Kids Return, among others. In 1997, Kitano’s directorial achievement was truly acknowledged when Hana-bi was awarded the Golden lion Award at the Venice International Film Festival. This success was followed by Kikujiro, the Japan-uS co-production Brother and Dolls. Kitano’s first period drama, Zatoichi, won the Best Director Award at the Venice International Film Festival. Following the release of Takeshis’, Kitano was presented with the Special Culture Award at the 10th Galileo 2000 Awards in Italy. In 2006, Kitano directed the short film, One Fine Day, for the Cannes Film Festival’s 60th anniversary project, Chacun son Cinéma. That year, Kitano became the inaugural recipient of the Venice International Film Festival’s Glory to the Filmmaker! Award, which was established in honor of his thirteenth film, taking on his title. In 2008, Achilles and the Tortoise premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. That same year, Kitano received in June the lifetime Achievement Award at the Moscow International Film Festival, and in November the Honorary Golden Alexander Award at the International Thessaloniki Film Festival. 6 Disorder In a film–just like in the universe–order reigns, with its equations, subtractions, divisions. A scenario, however, can be the result of disorder. I would love to edit a film by selecting the scenes at random. The final version would be fantastical, nonsensical, astonishing, completely wild. Playing I make movies, above all, for fun. Maybe it’s because I’m obsessed with putting things together… I see each of my films as a sort of toy, an object. I don’t think there is anything more enjoyable than making a movie. It reminds me of when I was a boy, playing with a top. Television Television offers me a lot of freedom, especially as a filmmaker. Thanks to television I can switch between genres and take the time to work on a filmmaking adventure that is really important to me. Television is a drug that keeps me from getting stressed out. Time If I could, I would like to be able to live outside of time. like when you’re at the movies. When you watch a film, it’s like you’re living outside of reality. I wish I could get away from that constraint, that fatality from which no one can escape. Vocation If I couldn’t get a job in a Honda factory, then I thought I’d be just as happy being an explorer, a marine biologist, for example, in order to satisfy my yearning to see the world… The quotations by Takeshi Kitano are originally from the book Kitano par Kitano, written by the artist in collaboration with Michel Temman and published by Grasset in February 2010.
Page 1 and 2: March 11 › Sept. 12, 2010
Page 3 and 4: INSTAllATIONS / PAINTINGS / VIDEOS
Page 5: At a stand in the garden, visitors
Page 9 and 10: CuRRENT EVENTS — In cinemas tAkeS

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