Toni (Antonio) Negri’s visit to Japan was cancelled. According to officials from the International House of Japan, who had invited Negri, and from the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Tokyo Geidai), where Negri was supposed to hold lectures, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Embassy of Japan in France suddenly revised their earlier promise that Negri wouldn't need a visa. The notice that came a few days before Negri’s planned journey to Japan was based on the worry that his "criminal past" including involvement in terrorist incidents by the "Red Brigades" could be an issue when trying to enter Japan.Later the Immigration Bureau (Ministry of Justice) reportedly told Negri that he might be allowed to enter Japan as an "exception" according to the Immigration Control Law, but for that exception they would first need official attestation that Negri was a political criminal. Even though "no stone was left unturned", it was "next to impossible to obtain that attestation," so the project was ultimately called off.
In a video that’s up on YouTube, Kobe University professor Ichida Yoshihiko, one of those who had initially invited Negri, commented angrily that, "The Japanese government must be either spiteful or ignorant, or even both." Given that there was no hidden catch, I can fully understand his anger, and assuming that there really was no catch, I suppose the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice are indeed ignorant, or perhaps suffer from some kind of brain freeze. Or, another possibility would be that the inquiry whether or not Negri needed a visa had a boomerang effect. How bureaucrats in Japan usually respond to questions like "Is it okay?" you can read in "Out of Tokyo 93-94". In the end, that’s where we might even find the answer to this time’s problem.
Personally I don't think that Negri’s visit would have brought any new insight."Multitude" as a term on everybody’s lips refers according to Negri to "a class concept: a whole of singularities." Even though it’s natural that, as a theoretical leader of the autonomous movement, he criticized the former Lefts' partisanship and totalitarian tendencies, based on this kind of definition it is understandable that critic Asada Akira translated the Japanese transcription "maruchichuudo" back into just "mass". (In "Symposium on criticism as persistent ambulation", published in "Bungakukai", November 2004 issue). At the same symposium, philosopher Karatani Kojin argued that "Empire and multitude is based on the same kind of analysis of what Karl Marx did with bourgeoisie and proletariat in the middle of the 19th century, and therefore much too vague."
That’s why I found the comments from Toyko Geidai professor Kobata Kazue, another one of the organizers, at what was supposed to be a "welcome reception" but was in fact a "meeting explaining the how and why of the cancellation", much more interesting. "The Geidai students have been preparing for Negri’s events for half a year, even those who'd never read his writings. This means that not all of them necessarily admire Negri the thinker and his writings, but abandoned themselves to preparations for the events the name Negri was likely to kick off." (UTCP Blog) In other words, Negri and his invitation were initially planned as some sort of a catalyst.
Concurrently with the planned lecture by Negri at Tokyo Geidai, an exhibition titled "Vivid Material" opened (through 4/9). It is a small-scale exhibition featuring between two and four works each by five young artists: Nawa Kohei, Ikeda Kosuke, Ohba Daisuke, Shiobara Reggie and Tabata Koichi. Curator Awada Daisuke explains that he was inspired by a text about living matter and how passion reveals itself through material metamorphose that Negri wrote immediately after seeing a performance by Pina Bausch and Eimuntas Nekrosius. The text appeared in "Arte e multitudo", and can of course be applied also to visual and figurative arts. Even though it was a small event, I did feel a new kind of sensitivity related to material, or at least something like a sprout of that.
On the day I went to see the exhibition (3/29), I also dropped by at a totally unrelated event at the artist-run space "KANDADA", titled "Alternative Tokyo: Dada-things-up a bit!/01". Shinjuku Ganka Garo (gallery), Survivart (art planning organization), and DIG & BURY (artist unit) introduced their respective activities in presentations, while Fukuzumi Ren explained his position as an art critic, and poet Matsui Shigeru presented his works in the form of an experimental recital by four narrators. In between the performances, artist Fuji Hiroshi, and curators Roger McDonald and Ozawa Keisuke gave some comments. The event was similar to Klein Dytham Architecture’s "Pecha Kucha Night" (one of KDA’s designers was actually taking part), but, as the venue would suggest, with a rather artsy touch. KANDADA leader Nakamura Masato explains:
"When thinking about how we could integrate visuals and performances in order to bring the discussion on a level that was accessible to the audience, I heard about the "Pecha-Kucha Night". Even though I hadn't actually seen that event before, I felt that it was based on the same, very contemporary "zapping" kind of idea. I thought I'd like to try and scan trends in the alternative scene, and connect such activities in an organic way. I'm planning to do some research into alternative activities in Asia, while placing increased importance on the "live" notion that didn't come across well in my previous event, "Pow Wow". The next event is probably about "flattery" or "comments from above"… (laughs)
In a text titled "Who is Toni Negri?" that was included in "Arte e multitudo", "Empire" co-author Michael Hardt wrote the following. "One of the distinctive features of Negri’s engagement, beginning from these early years, is that for him intellectual projects always involve collective and collaborative activity. Even the formation of concepts is a group activity." As mentioned above, there is (probably) no direct connection between Negri and the likes of KDA and KANDADA, but what they do I would definitely call "Negri-esque" or "multitudian".
Ozaki Tetsuya / Editor in chief / REALTOKYO