M. Downing Roberts | TABlog | Tokyo Art Beat

Born in California, he took a degree in art/art history at Berkeley, and then did graduate study of French literature and Japanese cinema. He was senior editor of the journal qui parle, has worked on translations and various other journals related to philosophy, literature, and visual art. His interest in France evolved into a seven-year sojourn in Paris, and a longstanding passion for Japanese culture led Mark to relocate to Tokyo in 2004. Since then, he's completed a doctorate on postwar Japanese cinema and continues researching the subject. When not absorbing the world of CinemaScope in a rep theater orbiting the Yamanote, Mark may be spotted in a Shinjuku bar or the odd ramen-ya. One of these days, he might pull away from the silver screen long enough to build himself a web site.

Articles

• Cinema As Negation
• Tokyo FILMeX at Ten
• Why Are Artists Poor?
• Sustainable Grandeur
• The Micropop Imagination
• Waiting to See
• Metropolitan Metamorphosis
• The Kings of Finite Space
• Aesthetics of Hallucination
• Yasuzo Masumura: Sex and Love
• Yokohama Triennale 2008: Pedro Reyes

About TABlog

TABlog's writers and video reporters deliver regular reviews, features and interviews to stimulate discussion about all sides of Tokyo's creative scene.