INTERSECTION
KOKI TANAKA
Turning the Lights On
Intersection is the new art installation at Centre A, the Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. The idea of lighting up the "Carrall Street Greenaway" is intriguing as it links historic Gastown with historic Hastings Street and historic Chinatown.
Exhibition: November 9- December 15, 2007
Opening: Friday, November 9, 8pm
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 -18:00
Sunday-Monday closed
Window Video Projection:
From sunset to midnight (Tuesday- Saturday)
Curator: Makiko Hara
Koki Tanaka was born in 1975 in Tochigi, lives and works in Tokyo , Japan . Tanaka is one of the most watched young Japanese artists to emerge on the international art scene today. Tanaka received his MFA from Tokyo National University of Art and Music in 2006, but has already attracted international attention since early 2000 when he was a student. Tanaka has been invited to many international exhibitions including the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (2003 and 2006), the Taipei Biennale (2006), The public Video screening at MOMA, New York (2003) and a recent public screening at Los Angels MOCA (2007). Tanaka was selected for the prestigious International Artist in Residency program at Palais des Tokyo in France in 2006 followed by a solo exhibition. Tanaka is featured on the new edition of “Ice Cream”: Contemporary Art in Culture, A selection of 100 of the most significant emerging artists today. (PHAIDON Press, 2007)
Tanaka has produced numerous site specific installations with video. His lyrical video works characterized by the use of everyday low-key materials, and the movement with a simple gesture by the artist that emotionally works to change our conventional perception to the world around us. In his art practice, Tanaka explores the “infinite possibilities of chances to change our perceptions of the world” by evoking our sense of wonder.
Koki Tanaka is invited for the artist in residency program at Centre A and will create a new video work and installation based on his research on the Down Town East Side area. Tanaka will shoot a video on the moments of people turning on the lights in the city life in many different situations. The final production will be presented in two parts; a video projection at gigantic scale to entirely fill the front window of Centre A facing to the Hastings street at night, together with a site specific installation uses the illuminator of various types inside the gallery. Centre A is honoured to present the first solo exhibition of Koki Tanaka in Canada and the North America .
Centre A gratefully acknowledges the generous support of its patrons, sponsors, members, partners, private foundations, and government funding agencies, including the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver through the Office of Cultural Affairs.
For more information
Makiko Hara, Curator: makiko.hara@centrea.org
Debra Zhou, Public Relation: debra.zhou@centrea.org
Tel: 604-683-8326
Intersection
Lighting up the Carrall Street Greenway
Exhibitions Opening: Friday November 9, 2007, 8pm
Media Launch: November 2, 2007 11:00- at Inter Urban Gallery ( 1 East Hastings Street )
Closing Event: Everybody Is Somebody by Paul Wong
Saturday December 8, 3:00 – 10:00 pm
Intersection is a temporary public art project that involves arts organizations resident at Carroll and Hastings streets in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver founded by the City of Vancouver . It is a part of “Carroll Street Greenway” project that the City of Vancouver has been organized toward the Olympic in 2010. The project is in collaborative production of large scale image projections in windows and on the exteriors of buildings at the intersection of Carroll and Hastings streets. Intersection will include workshops, artistic residencies and exhibitions at the Inter Urban Gallery, and Centre A as well as special public events, to take place in December 8, 2007.
For more information on “Intersection”
Please contact: Tim Ma, Public Relation: media@intersection.ca
