Shinjuku 1973, 25pm (2006)

Overview

This 1973 work by photographer Daido Moriyama features footage captured with a portable 8mm film camera mounted on a motorcycle, documenting the nocturnal streetscapes of Shinjuku. The resulting imagery—blurred, shaky, out of focus, high-contrast, and lacking deliberate composition—unfolds as a stream of flickering lights that emerge and vanish amidst the flow of the city at night. Accompanied by the drone of the motorcycle engine and the honking of taxis, the piece lays bare the tedium, darkness, and disorder of the urban environment, while also evoking a deeply nostalgic sentiment for life in Shinjuku.