Inevitable Expansion

N EVOLVING AND unfixed conception of cinema is at the heart of “expanded cinema,” and at heart of the Museum of Modern Art’s current exhibition “Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver’s Cinematic Illumination” (through February 2021). The single, large-scale work that makes up the show was originally conceived as a one-time event staged at Tokyo’s Killer Joe discotheque in 1969. Using 18 slide projectors with colored gels, Gulliver projected single frames—taken from 16mm images of mass media and everyday life—on the walls of the dance club. Composed of 1,500 images, Cinematic Illumination had as its goal to meld the huge, single-frame projections with the music, dancing, and atmosphere of Killer Joe. While creating an intoxicating nightlife experience, Gulliver