Observing the Unconscious

In this essay, filmmaker Idemitsu Mako (1940–) discusses her video installation work, Women, that was in production in 1981. With her interest in Jungian psychology as a basis, Idemitsu made the human unconscious her subject in Women. This text meticulously describes the artist’s thought processes and workflow from conception to production to installation of the piece. Idemitsu develops the motif of “observing the unconscious” into the theme of video recording and playing back the unconsciousness that is embodied in the actions of others. Within Idemitsu there is a dichotomy between determining the structure and logic of a work beforehand and the actual act of putting your hands to the task, and she deems the latter superior. Artistic choices—such as the distinguishing characteristics of the medium suitable to Women, distinguishing characteristics of the video subjects and the collaborators necessary to the production of the video, who records what and how, and how the work is physically installed in the gallery space—are described in parallel with the production timeline. Clearly threaded throughout the text is the constant conflict within Idemitsu’s own consciousness between the two parts of her life—the cooking, cleaning, washing, and child-rearing of her so-called housekeeping duties and her work as an artist. The impact of Idemitsu’s direct contact with the women’s liberation movement in the United States in the early ’70s can also be surmised from her later works.

Title

Observing the Unconscious

Author

Idemitsu Mako

First published

1981

Translation

Nina Horisaki-Christens

Editing

Andrew Maerkle, Nakajima Izumi

Design

Ian Lynam

Theme

Photography and Media

First Posted Online

2021-07-30

Last modified

2021-07-30

© 2021 Idemitsu Mako + Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan

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Citation

Footnote/endnote: Idemitsu Mako, "Observing the Unconscious," trans. Nina Horisaki-Christens, Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan, posted July 30, 2021, artplatform.go.jp/readings/R202103.

Bibliography: Idemitsu Mako. "Observing the Unconscious." Translated by Nina Horisaki-Christens. Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan. Posted July 30, 2021. artplatform.go.jp/readings/R202103.

Original Japanese Edition

Idemitsu Mako, “Muishiki wo kansatsu suru,” Image Forum No. 3 (January 1981): 58–65.

出光真子「無意識を観察する」、『イメージフォーラム』3号（1981年1月）、58–65頁。

National Diet Library(NDL)

ISBN