Takagi Masakatsu and his Ensemble to perform in Kyoto, February 15th

by Chris MaGee

As much as I may wish and hope and click my heels together like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" I do not live in Kyoto. It's a city I love, with centuries of art and history and amazing food and sweets and now there's word that one of my favorite musicians/ artists/ filmmakers is going to be performing there on February 15th. Damn, I wish I lived in Kyoto!

For those of you who haven't yet heard of him Takagi Masakatsu is a one man cultural revolution. The 30-year-old Kyoto native has studied classical piano and composes his own music, he draws and paints, plus he is an internationally renowned video artist with both solo and group exhibitions in Tokyo, Hamburg, Taipei, Osaka and Verona under his belt. Now news comes from his official site that he will be performing a live concert along with his eight person ensemble as part of the Wakage-no-Itari Festival taking place at the Shunju-za in the Kyoto University of Art and Design on February 15th at 1:00 p.m.

Now, unless you're reading this in Kyoto or the Kansai area, you may be saying "So what?" but to those people I present one of my favorite short films by Masakatsu, "Light Park #2" from his 2006 collection "Journal for People". The quality of the YouTube file isn't fantastic, but it should wet your appetite. If it does click here to watch a profile video on Masakatsu at Apple.com.