Anthology Film Archives

Film Screenings / Programs / Series

SHIGEKO KUBOTA: TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION

May 17 – May 18

May 17-18, 2026

“Shigeko Kubota: Two-way Communication” presents a selection of films and videos made or programmed by Japanese-American artist-curator Shigeko Kubota (久保田 成子, 1937-2015) during her time as video curator at Anthology Film Archives from 1974 to 1983. Kubota is widely recognized as an early video and Fluxus artist, but equally important was her role as a community organizer and cultural mediator who advocated for women video artists and fostered international exchange between the United States, Japan, and beyond. Through initiatives such as Video Talk Shows, Curator’s Choice, and Open Screenings, she created forums where artists, curators, and scholars gathered to discuss timely topics related to video art.

The series encompasses three separate programs. The first – “Video is Vengeance of Vagina” – is drawn from the works that Kubota programmed at Anthology, and highlights women video artists whose practices examine sexuality from feminist perspectives, reflecting on the politics of women’s bodies and identity through personal testimonies and critiques of mass media. The second program – “Tokyo-New York Video Express” – traces a 1974 screening and performance event curated by Kubota in Tokyo in collaboration with the Japanese video collective Video Hiroba. The event featured works by Japanese and American artists, highlighting both shared and distinct cultural conditions across artistic and technological communities in the U.S. and Japan. The third program – “Video as Two-way Communication” – presents Kubota’s own video works, situating her curatorial work as an extension of her own bold and whimsical character, and reflecting her close collaboration with the New York avant-garde and experimental film and video community during the 1970s and 80s. Inspired by Kubota’s Video Talk Shows (1976-83), the series will also include a special panel discussion – featuring Barbara London, Bob Harris, and Lumi Tan – that will reflect on Kubota’s legacy and the ways she used video as a bridge for community building and as a platform to encourage creative experimentation, individual expression, and cross-cultural solidarity among artists.

Guest-programmed by Gladys Lou, “Shigeko Kubota: Two-way Communication” is part of the exhibition “‘Curator Diary’: The Curatorial Work of Shigeko Kubota”, on view at the Hessel Museum of Art, April 4-May 24, 2026. The exhibition is curated by Gladys Lou as part of the requirements for the master of arts degree at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. For more info visit: https://ccs.bard.edu/museum/exhibitions/1246-curator-diary-the-curatorial-work-of-shigeko-kubota 

The panel discussion with Barbara London, Bob Harris, and Lumi Tan will take place on Sun, May 17 from 5:45-6:45, and will be free of charge!

Note: The title of the exhibition draws from Shigeko’s article “Video – Open Circuits”, in which she describes video as the art of “two-way communication.” For Kubota, video was not a medium delivered from the top down but a horizontal form of global exchange that connected people across cultures through reciprocal exchange of information.

The exhibition and public program are supported by The Japan Foundation, New York.

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