In Camera Austria 1/1980, Tsuno Enari published a series on New York families; as early as 1980 the Forum Stadtpark photo gallery, headed by Manfred Willmann, presented, not least through the agency of Seiichi Furuya, an exhibition of Daido Moriyama (cf. Camera Austria 2/1980); in 1978 and 1984 of Shomei Tomatsu and in 1993 of Miyako Ishiuchi; in 1992, finally, the first individual exhibition of Nobuyoshi Araki outside Japan that was later presented all over Europe; in 1994 the group exhibition of European photographers “Another Continent” was on show at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography the exchange between Camera Austria and Japanese institutions and artists has a long tradition. “Keep in Touch. The Social Use of Images”, a project made possible thanks to our co-operation with Graz 2003 – Cultural Capital of Europe and the support of EU Japan Fest, is a reason for us to rekindle this exchange in view of current events. In this issue we document the exhibition “Positions in Japanese Photography” together with the Symposium of the same title and objective: What are the themes of today’s young generation of Japanese artists? What are the cultural premonitions guiding current art production in the face of a highly developed and hence again vulnerable capitalist system? Do Japanese artists take up themes specific to Japanese or Asian culture? If so, how are they influenced by Western developments, considering their strong presence at exhibitions in Europe? And vice versa, given this recent “Japan boom” in Europe, what is their influence on art production in the West?

The exhibition and symposium set out to place Japan’s visual culture in a context of analysis of political and social developments which, in turn, are constantly revising and scrutinising – from the inside, as it were – the idea of what “Japan” could be and mean: Kazue Kobata, for example, with her description of the conflicts and contradictions in the social development of post-war Japan, or Michiko Kasahara with her description of the changed underlying conditions of photography in Japan, particularly the role of women between tradition and postmodern pluralism.

From different angles, Masafumi Fukagawa, Shino Kuraishi, Minoru Shimizu and Toshiya Ueno propose new interpretations of contemporary Japanese photography: against the backdrop of actionist strategies of the nineteen-seventies, with regard to the relationship of image and photographer, by analysing colour as a specific aspect of producing meaning, or by introducing the concept “Site Graphics” based on an analysis of landscape photography of the nineties. Mao Ishikawa, whose work revolves exclusively around the political and cultural situation of Okinawa, describes her role as a photographer between documentation and involvement, between reporting and political activism. The contribution from Toshiharu Ito, finally, summarises the positions of the exhibition under the concept of “edge”, setting out to track down their common background.

The exhibition “Positions in Japanese Photography” also marked the very successful opening of Camera Austria’s new premises at Kunsthaus Graz: more than 28,000 visitors evidence the extraordinary interest in photography and encourage us in our objective to maintain a discussion of contemporary culture beyond the realm of art in our projects – the magazine, exhibitions and symposiums – and to continue our critical observation of cultural developments.

Christine Frisinghelli, Seiichi Furuya, Manfred Willmann