A Piano Played By 5 Pianists At Once By Video Artist Koki Tanaka

moray mair | Art and design | May 31, 2012

These two videos; a piano played by five pianists at once and a haircut by nine hairdressers at once are the work of video artist Koki Tanaka who has recently been asked to represent Japan at next years 2013 Venice Biennial. HIs work is centred around mundanity. It is his obsession. Throughout the noughties he created a series of videos in which he demonstrated mind – numbingly complicated procedures to complete mundane tasks like getting into a house, drawing a line or closing the doors on a vehicle.

These days he’s producing hour long videos such as those above that follow a narrative structure. In both works a group of people are given a seemingly difficult challenge. The loophole – very few rules.

Let me know what you think of them. I find them interesting; the group dynamic, the solving of a nonsensical problem, the process, the act of play.

Via Spoon & Tamago