The destruction, and military failure in WWII created space for young Japanese artists to critic the status quo.
We visit the vaults of a museum in Tokyo where a key work in the new style hangs. Instead of just painting the canvas, artists began to explore ways of incorporating their gesture and movement into the work. The gesture became more important than the artwork itself. It became the artwork, leading to a rise of performance art. Examples include Ono's Cut Piece and Tanaka's Electric Dress.
The boundaries between visual arts and performance blurred, culminating in the work of Hijikata and his creation of Butoh.
Alison Carroll talks with Yumi Umiumare, a Butoh practitioner about the ideas behind this form of dance.
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