Koki Tanaka examines everyday experiences and creates idiosyncratic conditions for interaction with his works. He constructs deceptively simple situations that give rise to collective action, and documents the resulting social experiences through video, photography, and installation. Tanaka questions the very nature of participation in art, politics, and society. His work has been exhibited widely, including at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. He represented Japan at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.
Tanaka was born in Tochigi, Japan in 1975 and currently lives and works in Kyoto, where he recently relocated from Los Angeles. He was educated in Japan and Austria and has participated in artist residencies in New York, Bern, and Rome.
Presented in partnership with the Asian Art Museum. Koki Tanaka: Potters and Poets is on view November 4, 2016–February 14, 2017.
Press Coverage
“The Venice Questionnaire #14: Koki Tanaka,” Art Review
Sharon Mizota, “Art review: Koki Tanaka at the Box,” LA Times, February 24, 2011
Hou Hanru, “Koki Tanaka,” Art Review, April 2015
“Deutsche Bank honors Koki Tanaka as its ‘Artist of the Year’ 2015,” Art Mag by Deutsche Bank, 2015
Gabriel Ritter, “Out of the Ordinary: Koki Tanaka,” Art Asia Pacific Magazine, Julia/August, 2013
Koki Tanaka, A Pottery Produced by 5 Potters at Once (Silent Attempt), 2013.
Created with Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou, and The Pavilion, Beijing
Photo courtesy of the artist, Vitamin Creative Space, Guangzhou and Aoyama Meguro, Tokyo
