Turning the Lights On

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INTERSECTION

KOKI TANAKA
Turning the Lights On

Exhibition: November 9- December 15, 2007
Opening: Friday, November 9, 8pm

Curator: Makiko Hara, Centre A
Sponsors: Infinity Features, CHUM, Salient Group, GMC Projects, Macdonald Development Cooperation
Funders: City of Vancouver, ArtsNow, Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council
Lead Sponsor: Salient Group
Community Sponsor: GMC Project, Carnegie Community Centre
Cooperation: Radix Theatre

Centre A will present a new site specific installation by Koki Tanaka for the Intersectionproject entitled Turning the Lights On.

Koki Tanaka was born in 1975 in Tochigi, lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. Tanaka is one of the most watched young Japanese artist 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 the 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 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 will stay for four weeks (October-November. 2007) 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.

Media Coverage
Festival of lights – Asian Pacific Post – Nov. 21, 2007 (PDF, 1.7MB)
L’Express du Pacifique – Nov. 26, 2007 (PDF, 1.5MB)
Intersection – Vancouver Shinpo – Nov. 8, 2007 (PDF, 0.8MB)
Turning the Lights on – Vancouver Shinpo (In Japanese) – Nov 1, 2007 (PDF, 1.2MB)
Turning the Lights on – Vancouver Shinpo (In Japanese) – Nov 15, 2007 (PDF, 2.7MB)
An intereview with Koki Tanaka – Whitehot Magazine – Jan, 2008 (PDF, 2.7MB) or Take me to this article online at Whitehot Magazine.
Intersection
Lighting up the Carrall Street Greenway

Exhibitions Opening: Friday November 9, 2007, 8pm
Workshops: November 9 to December 8, 2007 at Inter Urban Gallery (1 East Hastings Street)
Media Launch: November 2, 2007 11:00- at Inter Urban Gallery (1 East Hastings Street)
Street Event: Everybody Is Somebody, Saturday December 8, 3:00 – 10:00 pm

Lead Artists: Alex MacKenzie, Koki Tanaka, Paul Wong
Presenters: Centre A, Inter-Urban Gallery, Projections, Radix Theatre
Sponsors: Infinity Features, CHUM, Salient Group, GMC Projects, Macdonald Development Cooperation
Funders: City of Vancouver, Arts Now 2010, Canada Council, British Columbia Arts Council

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.

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.