Kantaro Tanaka
Solid Constriction Landscape
I read The Trolley by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, inspired by the light railway that once connected Atami and Odawara. Like the protagonist, I too dreamed of digging up soil and riding the trolley. Although I didn’t get to ride an actual trolley, I transported the soil by handcart and by car. Covered in dirt and dressed in work-worn clothes, I enjoyed delicious meals, oden, and drinks in an area that used to be one of the old pleasure quarters. I collected plants that bloomed at night in that area, intending to make pressed flowers using the weight of the soil I had dug up. I carefully arranged and secured the delicate plants so as not to break them. During the exhibition, I plan to dry them, later framing and displaying them. As I wondered if new plants might sprout from the mounds of soil, I returned to Tokyo through the tunnel.
Born in Tokyo in 1989. Tanaka completed his MA in Intermedia Art at Tokyo University of the Arts. He conducted fieldwork based on various games and films he grew up with. He develops the motifs collected there into various media such as video, sound, objects and drawings, and he mainly creates installations using these media. Tanaka established and operates the artist-run space ‘JUNGLE GYM’ in Kita-ku, Tokyo.
Major exhibitions include “Death Destroyer D❚straction” (former cinema, 2023), “ghost below overwrite” (Decameron, 2023), “Gonen wo toru ikada, trailer” (JUNGLE GYM, 2022) and “Planet SAMSA”(Ushigome Kagurazaka, 2022).
