Koki Tanaka "A Poem Written by 5 Poets at Once (First Attempt) 2013"

The video artwork which will be shown in this exhibition, “A Poem Written by 5 Poets at Once (First Attempt),” was produced in 2013 and has the length of 1 hour. Even though it has exhibited in a group exhibition, etc., I wonder how many viewers could appreciate the artwork.

The video may not have been appealing to everyone due to its length; also, its complex theme and the content itself could be other reasons. To be earnest, I am the one who had felt daunted at first look, and that feeling continued until recently. With the confidence that it was a good piece of work every time I watched the video, I also felt a sense of tension due to the seriousness and solemnity of the artist and the participants.

The artwork showed the difficulty in creating relationship among individuals; the participants tried to do their best for showing respect, listening carefully while being adamant, and giving some space, to the others. Nonetheless, these attempts did not always turn out to be successful. It was likely that such atmosphere of sincerity and thoroughness of the recorded details gave me unusual awkwardness and prevented me from sufficiently accepting the content. Also, I felt a pressure by watching their careful behavior which seemed to reject any careless comments. (My misconception, maybe.)

Nonetheless, Tanaka continues to pursue this kind of approach even further.

It seems that, during this period, Tanaka’s basic idea regarding success and failure made a notable transition by focusing on “strong possibility of failure (e.g. ‘Precarious Tasks’ series)” which primarily had been “non-existence of failure and ending” and subsequently was “importance of the mixture of coincidence and inevitability (with 50% chance of success, nonetheless).”

Tanaka’s attitude reminds me of the fact that readability of a book and smoothness of an alcohol are not always their priorities.

Also, I have always had a desire to exhibit his video in our gallery. Despite of the repeated planning, the idea did not realize while having felt that there were elements which did not work very well.

Aichi Triennale 2019 was held during this summer.

Tanaka’s new work “Abstracted / Family” was a project which was meticulously designed and prepared for the international art festival. Its outcome was apparent not only in the content of the video, but also in the arrangement of the entire installation in which several exhibits were incorporated such as the abstract paintings produced in the video. Actually, his concept was evident even in the unusual words and gestures expressed by the participant of assembly which was held several times during the festival.