Summer Artist Residency Program
Seventh Gallery is very VERY excited about a visit from
TAKURO KOTAKA
International Artist in Residence 2010/11
28 December 2010 – 10 January 2011
Based in Tokyo, Japan, Kotaka is a cross-disciplinary artist concerned with the everyday experiences of people he encounters on his travels. Working with performance, installation and video Kotaka addresses questions of cultural communication, otherness, history and narrative.
In 2010, after hearing a rumour that ‘there are no potatoes in Egypt’ Kotaka bought a potato in South Africa and traveled across the African continent for seven months to Egypt, visiting 14 countries along the way. The resultant work Traveling Africa with a Potato takes the form of documentation and a video installation and records Kotaka’s encounters with the people he met on the journey.
For his Melbourne residency Kotaka will continue his exploration of community and shared experience. He will seek to create a utopian New Years Eve celebration with locals;
I heard that people in Melbourne watch big fireworks to celebrate a New Year. When I heard the story, I imagined that it would be great if I could watch the New Year’s fireworks with 1000 people on the top of a small hill, and drinking beer. I then become interested in actually searching for such an ideal place to participate the special event that I imagined.
As with his previous works, it is that search that will drive Kotaka’s project and create unexpected encounters and outcomes.
At the end of Kotaka’s residency the project will be exhibited on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th January, 12-6pm, with a closing event on Friday 7th January, 6 – 8pm.
Takuro Kotaka has exhibited in Japan and internationally since 2004. Recent exhibitions include Future Vision - The APT Global Art Collection, Li-Space, Beijing, 2010; 56th International movie festival Oberhauzen, Oberhauzen, Germany, 2010; /+\=X serialworks, Cape town, South Africa, 2010; Jakarta biennale 2009, Indonesian National Gallery, Jakarta, 2009; Istanbul international film festival, Istanbul, 2007; Artist as Activist, Plan B, Tokyo, Japan, 2007;SF TOKYO @ 667Shotwell at Tokyo-San Francisco Art Festival, San Francisco, 2006.