Koki Tanaka’s recent exhibition at YBCA in San Francisco, “Nothing Related, but Something Could be Associated,” combines the artist’s video work and related drawings.  Japanese artist, Koki Tanaka has been working in the San Francisco Bay area for roughly one year curating and creating new works to include in the YBCA exhibition.  Tanaka’s work typically utilizes found objects in order to create alternative ways for the viewer to experience everyday life.  Tanaka plays with the viewer’s senses by repurposing everyday objects like toilet paper, beer bottles, curtains, and oranges in playful and humorous ways to appeal to the viewer through sight and sound. 

The artist’s statement about his recent work speaks to the notion of alternative possibilities for mundane objects in the world.  Tanaka explains that in our everyday lives, there is a general misconception that there exists only one end goal.  He hopes to challenge this notion by creating endless possibilities for the viewer through his video pieces.  For instance, “Rooftop Walking, Going Up and Step Down” (2009) shows the artist approaching strangers in Beijing to ask for their assistance in helping him climb on the roof of a home.  The artist uses the car itself as a makeshift ladder to climb onto the roof of the home.  Tanaka repeats this procedure several times with different cars and different homes throughout the video loop.  While the “Rooftop Walking” video relies very little on sound, its neighboring video in the “Nothing Related” exhibit features a video in which the musical sound of crashing beer bottles creates the rhythm of the piece.  In this video, Tanaka is seen raising several buckets of empty beer bottles on a pulley-like system in a small room.  At once, Tanaka releases his hold on the ropes and the buckets and bottles crash to the ground.  The noise is startling, but a delightfully musical surprise.  As the viewer, I get the feeling that a great deal of work has gone into the preparation and buildup of a single instant.  Suddenly, the moment and the anticipation is over.  Simultaneously, the viewer watches Tanaka laboring while climbing awkwardly on top of cars and rigging up a heavy pulley system inside a small room.  We get the sense that the joy for Tanaka is the manual labor.  The fun lies in the process, rather than the end result.  The exhibition features similar videos of Tanaka dumping out crates full of oranges and vigorously pulling down a window treatment of heavy curtains. 

It could be said that perhaps each of these works deal with the idea of temporality, but it seems as though Tanaka’s message is less somber and more playful, inviting the viewer to enjoy the aesthetic and auditory results of Tanaka’s play.   In fact, the architecture of the exhibit itself is more like a playground than a gallery.  Built out of wood, into the gallery space, the structure that houses the exhibit is full of ramps and cut-out windows that provide the viewer multiple vantage points from which to experience the works, individually or as a whole.  It seems as though there is no right or wrong way to experience the space.  And unlike a traditional gallery space in which the works are displayed primarily around the perimeter of the room, “Nothing Related” creates multiple points of entry from which the viewer can engage with the works. 

One work in particular combines all the aforementioned themes of play, everyday objects, work, and endless possibilities, “A Haircut by Nine Hairdressers at Once” (2010).  In this video work, (the artist’s second attempt at this project) nine hairdressers from different salons in San Francisco come together to cut one participant’s hair.  The video begins by showing the consultation process in which the hairdressers work collaboratively to design a single haircut for the female participant.  After several minutes of deliberation, the group of hairdressers begins taking turns, working on small portions of the haircut, one at a time.  All the hairdressers stand around the client, giving advice and commentary while the haircut is taking place.  It is interesting to notice the different skill levels and comfort levels of the hairdressers who have chosen to participate.  It is obvious that some stylists have had much more experience than others by the way they hold their tools, cut the hair, and speak about their process.  It is also interesting to watch the differing style preferences of the hairstylists.  Some prefer classic, traditional cuts while others push for a more avant-garde, modern look.  In the end, after several hours that have been edited to about an hour and a half of video, the client appears pleased with her new look and the hairdressers seem to have had fun with the collaboration.  Typical for Tanaka’s work, the creative process is the valuable artwork.  The focus is not the end result.  The video is shown on a loop to suggest the continuation of the creative process.  It is as if the end result will be unique each time the process takes place. 

“A Haircut by Nine Hairdressers at Once” is most successful in illustrating Tanaka’s message that our perceptions of everyday life ultimately change how we engage with the world.  Tanaka challenges the viewer to see mundane objects from a different angle, at a different pace, and for the first time.  To experience Tanaka’s exhibit at YBCA fully is to open oneself up to countless possibilities.

-Meredith Carty