In the last Friday Round-up at the Allen Ginsberg Estate, I was alerted to a very interesting video by Dave Olson, which I had somehow missed prior to that. Posted several weeks ago, it features Olson and BSA president Matt Theado visiting the Jack Kerouac exhibit in Kobe, Japan.
I was so impressed by the video (not to mention the lengths Olson and others went to in order to arrange the exhibition – no mean feat in the midst of a pandemic) that I just had to share it here. I hope that it is as enjoyable for our readers as it was for me.
Here’s a synopsis taken from Olson’s website:
A lively conversation between storymaker Dave Olson and with Professor & President of Beat Studies Assoc., Matt Theado of Kobe City University Dept of Foreign Studies, at BB Plaza Art Museum in Kobe, Japan, summer of 2021 after the event was delayed for a year for *public health conundrums* and re-imagined to include a truly remarkable collection of ephemera, chapbooks, broadsides, posters, typewrtier, records, various editions of On the Road, related book, maps, Japanese language glossary and much more – most provided by Kazu-san of Flying Books of Tokyo.
You can read more about the video, along with sources, further reading, and credits here.
Header photo (c) Dave Olson.
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Thanks so much for sharing this video dispatch with your kind words.
Indeed, originally scheduled for 2020 and canceled/reimagined for 2021, unfortunately not a lot of people got to see the fantastic exhibit which was filled with unique artifacts, ephemera, chapbooks, journals as well as a stunning reproduction of the "On the Road" typescript (detailed down to the pencil marks and dog bites as Jim Canary and the original were not able to enter Japan at the time).
A lot of creativity and hard work went into the event so I'm glad more people can appreciate the nuance in retrospect.
Despite all the connections between Japan and the Beats (especially Zen and haiku for starters) this was the first exhibit of its type and featured some really unique items connecting the wider Beat/literature/counter-cultures within a unique context and fresh perspective.
Questions encouraged. Hope everyone enjoys.
{I love making stories but always a little bit shy about sharing my own work so I really appreciate the bump}