Born in Tokyo in 1937, died in 2022. After graduating from the law department at Keio University in 1959, he began making experimental films. With the help of figures such as performance artist Ono Yoko, the painter Akasegawa Genpei, the composer Kosugi Takehisa, and the Butoh dancer Hijikata Tatsumi, Iimura produced his own 8mm and 16mm avant-garde films. Forming the “Film Independents”, an experimental film group, in 1964, he organized the first independent, experimental film festival in Japanese history. His 1965 film AI (Love) was highly acclaimed by Jonas Mekas, a leading light in New York’s experimental film scene. In 1969, Iimura shifted to video art, holding solo shows and performances at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1974 and the Whitney Museum in 1979, and gaining an international reputation as a video artist. Among his most notable works are Observer/ Observed (1975), AIUEONN SIX FEATURES (1993), and Seeing/Hearing/Speaking (2001). He has also published many books, including Geijutsu to hi-geijutsu no aida [Between Art and Non-Art] (San-ichi Publishing, 1970), and Eizō jikken no tame ni [For Visual Experimentation] (Seidosha, 1986).