Koji Taki, Takuma Nakahira, Yutaka Takanashi, Takahiko Okada, Daido Moriyama, Gozo Yoshimasu
PROVOKE: Provocative Materials for Thought
Published by Nitesha, 2018
3 PROVOKE magazines
Pages 68 / 109 / 110 pages
Binding Softcover
Dimensions H210×W210mm, H242×W180mm, H240×185mm
Japanese/English/Chinese
2018 marked the 50th year since Provoke had first been published.
Provoke was first published in November 1968 as a dojin-shi , or self-published magazine. It was originally conceived by art critic Koji Taki (1928-2011) and photographer Takuma Nakahira (1938-2015), with poet Takahiko Okada (1939-1997) and photographer Yutaka Takanashi as dojin members. The subtitle for the magazine was “Provocative Materials for Thought”, and each issue was composed of photographs, essays and poems. After releasing the second and third issue with Daido Moriyama as a subsequent member, the group broke up with their last publication First, Abandon the World of Pseudo-Certainty - an overview edition of the three issues. Provoke ’s grainy, blurry, and out-of-focus photographs were initially ridiculous and stirred a great deal of controversy, yet it had created a strong impact inside and outside of the photography world during that time. However, today, Provoke has become an extremely rare book and very few people have seen the original.
Provoke has challenged existing photographic conventions and posed fundamental questions of visual perception, in the midst of the social and political upheaval during the late sixties. Now the world is gradually recognizing and re-examining its significance in a multitude of contexts.
Published as part of The Japanese Box: Facsimile Reprint of Six Rare Photographic Publications of the Provoke Era *, Provoke 's facsimile reprint has its photographic images cropped approximately 3 mm from the edges for bookbinding purposes. The reprint also does not include texts by Takahiko Okada due to copyright reasons. Provoke Complete Reprint by NITESHA maintains the original size of the images and includes all original texts, along with the ones by Takahiko Okada. In addition, the volumes are accompanied by complete English and Chinese translations of the original Japanese texts as a booklet.
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2018 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Provoke.
Provoke was first published in November 1968 as a dojin-shi, or self-published magazine. It was originally conceived by art critic Koji Taki (1928–2011) and photographer Takuma Nakahira (1938–2015), with poet Takahiko Okada (1939–1997) and photographer Yutaka Takanashi as dojin members. The journal's subtitle was "Provocative Materials for Thought," and each issue consisted of photographs, essays, and poems. After publishing the second and third issues with Daido Moriyama as a guest member, the group broke up with their final publication First, Abandon the World of Pseudo-Certainty — a general edition of all three issues. Provoke's grainy, blurry, and out-of-focus photographs were initially ridiculed and caused much controversy, but they created a strong impact within and outside the photography world during that time. However, today, Provoke has become an extremely rare book and very few people have seen the original.
Provoke challenged existing photographic conventions and posed fundamental questions of visual perception, amidst the social and political upheavals of the late sixties. Today, the world is gradually recognizing and reexamining its importance in a multitude of contexts.
Published as part of The Japanese Box: Facsimile Reprints of Six Rare Photographic Publications from the Provoke Era*, the Provoke facsimile reprint has its photographic images cropped approximately 3 mm from the edges for binding purposes. The reprint also does not include Takahiko Okada's texts for copyright reasons. Provoke Complete Reprint by NITESHA retains the original size of the images and includes all of the original texts, as well as those by Takahiko Okada. Additionally, the volumes are accompanied by complete English and Chinese translations of the original Japanese texts in pamphlet form.