Video Hiroba

Video Hiroba was an experimental video collective founded in Japan in 1972. Its members used video technology, which was brand new at the time, as a means of communication to engage with social movements and strengthen public debate. Their activities aimed to offer an alternative to the mass media. To this end, the collective also lent out video cameras and other equipment at low prices.

Fujiko Nakaya found theoretical inspiration for her artistic work in Paul Ryan's book Cybernetic of the Sacred (1973) and Michael Shamberg's Guerilla Television (1972). In it, Shamberg criticizes television’s monopolistic power and the one-sided relationship it establishes between sender and receiver. In the inexpensive and readily available video technology, he recognized the potential to give people a means to create and distribute content themselves. Nakaya translated the book in 1974, which was celebrated by Japanese artists working with video as their "bible".