Video as World Mandala: Nakajima Ko’s Animaker, Aniputer, and Cosmic Video

Abstract Early video processing tools present a compelling perspective through which to reconsider the integrated practice of Tokyo-based early video artist Nakajima Ko. The author examines Nakajima's practice through his concepts of animation, the development of his Animaker (1979) and Aniputer (1982) the ways he sees video connected to Esoteric Buddhist thought. Returning then to his 1986 video Mt. Fuji, the author illustrates how it is representative of the hybrid analog-digital view of video that leads Nakajima to posit it as a cosmic medium circa 1986.