Release Date: August 30, 2017 This content is archived.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Rima Yamazaki, an independent documentary filmmaker specializing in contemporary art and architecture, will be in residence at the University at Buffalo Sept. 1 to Oct. 31 as part of the university’s Creative Arts Initiative (CAI), producing a new documentary on Buffalo architecture.
Yamazaki’s residency is part of the program’s ambitious and multidimensional schedule for 2017-18 that opened in April with New York City-based composer Laura Kaminsky and virtual artist Rebecca Allen and continued with Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista in July, which included the unveiling of “Beat Blossom,” Buffalo sculptor Shasti O’Leary Soudant’s public art installation in the Percussion Garden of Artpark, in Lewiston, New York.
In addition to Yamazaki, the 2017-18 schedule features digital artists, writers, theater performers, painters, instrumentalists and music producers.
Yamazaki is an internationally respected one-person film crew who directs, films and edits all of her work. Her practice explores cinematic expression in documenting, studying and reflecting on the arts.
Her Buffalo project will not be a journalistic presentation but will instead delve into Yamazaki’s personal observational style.
“I’d like to reveal something that cannot be expressed in words,” she says. “This is to be a cinematic study on the relationship between architecture, society and people.”
Yamazaki’s Buffalo film will juxtapose shots of architectural masterpieces and abandoned houses, preservation and demolition.
“Buffalo is a good example that embodies various aspects of architecture,” she says. “Architecture can be a treasure or a burden to a city. A building is a big expensive thing, not only to build, but also to maintain. It’s not just a place for people to live and work; it also reflects the society and people’s lives.”
Yamazaki’s residency will include a screening of her 2010 film “Nakagin Capsule Tower: Japanese Metabolist Landmark on the Edge of Destruction,” Wednesday, Sept. 13, from 6-7:30 p.m. in room 403 of Hayes Hall on the university’s South Campus. A discussion with Yamazaki and Nicholas Bruscia, clinical assistant professor of architecture, who leads UB's study abroad program in Tokyo, will follow the screening. This event is free and open to the public.
A screening of Yamazaki’s work-in-progress is also planned, with the time and date to be determined.
The remaining CAI artists in residence for 2017-18 include:
The CAI is a university-wide initiative dedicated to the creation and production of new work upholding the highest artistic standards of excellence and fostering a complementary atmosphere of creative investigation and engagement among students, faculty, visiting artists and the community.
Through its Artist-in-Residence program and its innovative, interdisciplinary offerings for students, CAI is raising the profile of UB and Buffalo in the world of artistic expression and revitalizing the initiative’s proud tradition as a leader in contemporary art.
Bert Gambini
News Content Manager
Humanities, Economics, Social Sciences, Social Work, Libraries
Tel: 716-645-5334
gambini@buffalo.edu
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