Vivo (photography)

Vivo

Company type	Photographic cooperative
Industry	Photography
Founded	July 1957 (1957-07)
Founder	Eikoh Hosoe, Kikuji Kawada, Ikkō Narahara, Akira Satō, Akira Tanno, Shōmei Tōmatsu
Defunct	June 1961 (1961-06)
Headquarters	Tokyo , Japan
Area served	Japan
Products	Photographic works

Vivo was a Japanese photographic cooperative with a brief existence, established in July 1957 by six photographers: Eikoh Hosoe, Kikuji Kawada, Ikkō Narahara, Akira Satō, Akira Tanno, and Shōmei Tōmatsu. These individuals had all taken part in the influential 1957 exhibition Jūnin no me (Eyes of Ten). The group’s name, derived from the Esperanto term meaning "life," operated out of a combined office and darkroom located in Higashi Ginza, Tokyo, where they managed the promotion and distribution of their photographic works. Kōtarō Iizawa referred to their workspace as "the epicenter of the 'image generation's' photographic expression," emphasizing their significance in reflecting Japan’s postwar social changes.

Vivo’s photographic approach marked a departure from conventional photojournalism, focusing instead on portraying reality in a manner that transcended verbal communication, often described by the term "are-bure-boke" (grainy, blurry, and out-of-focus). The cooperative ceased operations in June 1961.

Their impact has been commemorated through exhibitions such as a prominent retrospective held at the Shadai Gallery in 2007.

References

• Nihon shashinka jiten (, 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers). Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000. . P. 348.
• Tucker, Anne Wilkes, et al. The History of Japanese Photography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. . Pp. 217–20, 376.