Koki Tanaka

The Japanese artist Koki Tanaka references the history of “art activism” And views his work as a gentle sustainable approach to this movement. His “Artist of the Year” exhibition, “A Vulnerable Narrator,” at the Deutsche Bank KunstHalle in Berlin is a laboratory of sorts, one that ties together a decade's worth of projects, ideas, and documents. It traces Tanaka's path from early experiments with mass-produced goods and materials, to his collaborative actions and performances. Tanaka’s videos “Everything Is Everything” (2006) and “Walking Through” (2009), are reminders of tests he conducted with objects bought in supermarkets and building supply stores. The objects in the videos, for which he developed new uses or combinations, became like improvised minimalist sculptures. But above all, Tanaka is interested in the question of how sensitive and open we are to the everyday objects that surround us, and how we might develop new relationships to them. He expanded this line of questioning to include interpersonal relationships and activities in 2010, with the performance “A Haircut by 9 Hairdressers at Once.” In the work, nine hairdressers were given the task of executing a group haircut to meet the wishes of one customer, an almost hopeless challenge and one that simultaneously brings Joseph Beuys’ term “social sculpture” to mind.