Our Thursday series features must-read books from each branch of the art bookshop NADiff. This week's book is "Absolute Flat City" by Daido Moriyama and Hitoshi Suzuki. NADiff BAITEN, the museum shop inside the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum in Ebisu, Tokyo (2nd floor, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Ebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita, Meguro-ku, Tokyo), introduces the book.
■ "Absolute Flat City" by Daido Moriyama and Hitoshi Suzuki
"When I feel like I'm in a state of deep relaxation, I feel like I want to capture just the surface of the city as flat as possible, like a sardine."
Daido Moriyama has photographed a variety of cities and published numerous photo books. Why do we lose the sense of time in his photographs? Why do cities, which are supposed to be real, appear so graphically in Moriyama's photographs? How does Moriyama see cities through his camera? This book compiles interviews conducted by book designer Hitoshi Suzuki to unravel these questions. It includes three previously published interviews since 2005, plus five new ones. The conversation between the two begins with a discussion of Daido Moriyama's photography style, in which he describes his desire to "create a floor plan of the city" through photography. Moriyama is known for his high-contrast, grainy photographs. While his style has been described as "wild," his candid words reveal a surprising side to him: "I'm always intimidated" when taking photographs. The discussion then delves into Moriyama's photobooks from the enthusiastic perspective of a book designer, asking questions like, "Why are there so many cut-offs?", "Why aren't there folios?", and "Can the combination of two vertically positioned pages reveal the artist's editing skills?"
Through this story told from a nerdy perspective, Daido Moriyama's "view of photography" gradually emerges. When you discover the secret of the "flat city" in his photographs, you'll surely want to take a no-viewfinder camera like Daido Moriyama and flip through the familiar cityscape. A must-read for fans.
The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum is currently hosting the "Tokyo, TOKYO" exhibition, its first collection exhibition since its reopening. Photographs by Daido Moriyama are also on display. Taking "Tokyo," a city so familiar to us, as its theme, the exhibition attempts to delve into the city from various angles through photography. I believe this book will offer a new perspective on these photographs.
【Book Information】
"Absolute Flat City"
Authors: Daido Moriyama, Hitoshi Suzuki
Publisher: Getsuyosha
432 pages / 190 x 126 mm
Release date: November 2016
Price: 2,750 yen
