Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2011

Jio Shimizu, Claisen Flask, 2007

Hollywood couldn’t quite accommodate the wayward genius of Oskar Fischinger. The German animator was constantly frustrated by studio demands after moving to America in the ’30s, collaborating briefly with Walt Disney on Fantasia while having to produce some of his best work in secret. His pioneering abstract animations are the starting point for “Vibrations of Entities,” a show inspired by Fischinger’s observation that “everything in the world has its own spirit, and this spirit becomes audible by setting it into vibration.” The exhibition includes creations like Exonemo’s Supernatural, which utilizes the web to reunite two pieces of a spoon, and the Formant Brothers’ Haunted House, which portrays “ghosts residing in media.”

NTT Intercommunication Center
Vibrations of Entities. Various media. Until Feb 27, free (HS and under)/¥500 (general). 4F Tokyo Opera City Tower, 3-20-2 Nishi-Shinjuku. Tel: 0120-144199. Open Tue-Sun 11am-6pm, closed Mon. Nearest stn: Hatsudai. www.ntticc.or.jp