The new work by Takahiro Tanaka for the Criterium is entitled "ROOM 01." He had formerly created "ROOM 00 " of which the new piece is a further development. "ROOM 00" included fragments of images from Polaroid photos giving a kind of deja-vu feeling of out-of-focus vagueness, yet fortified with visual impact. Tension was present in the space because a noise at a frequency of 12.5 kilohertz (extremely high frequency) was audible.

Tanaka's new "ROOM 01" consists of materials including about 6,075 fluorescent tubes, 16 kilohertz high frequency sounds, and the 6,500 Kelvin white light of high lax lamps. A noise was programmed at an even higher frequency than that of "ROOM 00," and it came close to the limit of what human beings can perceive. Actually, as far as I know, about half of the audience claimed that they did not hear anything. Of course more than a few people perceived a noise similar to a buzzing in the ears and a resonating of the skull. 6,500 Kelvin is the highest possible color temperature among man-made light and can recreate the ray of daylight. If one pays attention, anyone could perceive a feeling similar to something bubbling on the eardrum and on the retina. The object of a massive amount of fluorescent lights might remind a viewer of a memory or a vision of bubbles being smashed. It may not make him think of the "madness of daylight," but it presents an illusion that there is a threat of possibly damaging one's sight.

ROOM here means an installment of pure perception. It shows a border of human perceptions such as hearing and sight. What human senses can perceive is only a part of the whole world.

In the words of an 18th century theologian Jonathan Edwards quoted in the foreword of "Art and Objecthood" by Michael Fried: "The world is born anew at every moment. In other words, things give up their existence every instant and renew it every second." It points out that the world, existing beyond what can be perceived by human senses, is constantly moving. It presents an unstable but rich image.

Man's perception is not constructed only by a sense of sight and hearing, but by experience and learning. Thus for example, as for sight, "There is a reciprocity between seeing and knowing. In other words, one has to see to know, and also has to know to see." (Mikel Dufrenne, "L'oeil et L'oreille")

It is true that cognition by sight is not structured only through its relation to an acquisition of knowledge which can be put into words. There is certainly an area of ambiguous images which cannot be captured by language. Our retinas sometimes consciously perceive images with underlying understanding of their meanings, but sometimes unconsciously accumulate images without dealing with codes of meaning. Thus deposited "fragments of view" may suddenly be revived and construct a cognition of sight.

"Fragments of view" is the title of Tanaka's installation shown at NW House in 1995. One hundred of the 2,500 photographs, ('fragments') recorded by Tanaka over the past 10 years were displayed. A vast number of fragments were collected by Tanaka's camera as he experienced everyday living--a view that has earned the artist a reputation for being a stern and persistent critic on perception.

Tanaka searches in the world of seemingly-unstable but abundant images rather than that of superficially-clear meanings. His creations seem to be based on an idea of challenging the limit of perceptions, awake and revise them.

His Criterium piece was shown while James Turrell's solo exhibition was on at the Art Tower Mito. Although Turrell also deals with perceptions, the world he creates has to do with prayer and healing. Tanaka's work is the opposite challenging aggressively the issue of perceptions.

Tanaka rejects codes of meaning, but I cannot help being reminded of Maurice Blanchot's "La folie du jour" standing in front of "ROOM 01." The antagonist of this abstruse story has his eyes injured by glass, and is placed in the madness of bright daylight for seven days to cure them. Aren't these seven days the days of Genesis? This ROOM filled with transparent bright light is a place where creation and madness are secretly unfolded.


Seiichi Watanabe