Kaikai Kiki Gallery

The snare drum installation will go back to NY soon after the show is over. We proudly believe we achieved our best especially if we consider we are a private gallery who has relatively limited space as compared to that of a major public museum. We hope we stay on our growth path and keep producing highly ambitious shows like this.

Finally, please allow me to express our deepest gratitude to all the guests who visited our gallery during Anri Sala solo exhibition. We look forward to seeing you again in the near future!

By noon, the vast gallery space became full of audience. I was so moved at the sight that I almost cried – it proved we had succeeded in introducing Anri’s work to such a lot of people.

Anri Sala solo exhibition ended today successfully with so many visitors who never wanted to miss the opportunity!
We express our sincere thanks to all the guests throughout the exhibition period for taking time out of their busy schedules.

The only sound audience hears during each projection interval is the tinkling tune from the arbitrarily played music box that also seems to act as a sort of tension reliever for them.
Astonishingly enough, people seem to be tempted to play it at the exact moment the artist has precalculated for the optimum effect…

We show three pieces in total each lasting three to five minutes. An ideal volume to keep audience focused and optimize their experience.

With the exhibition ending soon on Thursday, we see more visitors here rushing to take advantage of the precious opportunity. Worth noting is the fact that not few of them are specialists and celebrities.
Now we have only two days left before the end of the exhibition. The gallery is open until 19:00 for those who are dropping by after work, or school – so please come and enjoy all the wonderful world of Anri Sala!

The man in the photo told us he liked very much the way the sound was transmitted to his hand as he played the music box.

The word of mouth network seems to keep growing and the total number of today’s visitors reached 120–an exceptionally high figure among those for the solo shows featuring a foreign artist that ever took place in our gallery. Here is a comment by Takashi Murakami: “I can say the show is the most difficult to – understand, yet most beautiful contemporary art currently offered for viewing in Japan.”

Anri Sala solo exhibition at the Kaikai Kiki Gallery will end soon on Thursday November 10, 2011–so please do hurry and do not miss this opportunity!

It was the last Saturday of the exhibition, and the gallery saw a constant flow of visitors from morning till evening.

In the past few days, we’ve seen a sharp increase in the number of visitors and it turned out it was resulting from word of mouth recommendations from people who had visited our show, reception or the concurrent installations in Osaka and L’Institut Franco-Japonais de Tokyo. We have also been receiving more on – the – spot feedbacks from the impressed audience. Well, not many can resist telling others about such a fascinating show after all – aren’t they?

It was Friday today, and the gallery was bustling with visitors. The exhibition will be open until Thursday November 10 2011, and we hope to see more people taking this precious opportunity to experience the unique world offered by Anri Sala.

Since it was the day before a public holiday, we had a lot of visitors, many of whom were visiting in pairs.

This visitor was particularly fascinated with the drum installation. On hearing our explanation on how it interacted with the video piece, he said: “that made me feel like going through the video all over again!” and repositioned himself so that he would be able to fully appreciate the echoing effect between the two works.

We just had a guest who had visited L’Institut Franco-Japonais de Tokyo earlier today, making this the perfect time to introduce “No Window No Cry,” the artwork one part of which is shown at the institute concurrently with the gallery exhibition.
In this piece, a pair of music boxes shown in two remote sites(L’Institut Franco-Japonais and the Kaikai Kiki gallery) echo each other beyond time and space. Through the window glass of one lecture room at the institute, you will see the sunbathed trees on the terrace during the day, or at dusk, the dim lights coming through the windows of the nearby office buildings – a whole different vision from the one you are offered at the gallery. I imagine everyone has had that experience where they listened to a same song played in different surroundings evoking different feelings. Please do not miss this opportunity and visit the institute to enjoy another experience Anri Sala offers with this piece.

※It is recommended that you call the institute before visiting.

The man in the photo gave us a very interesting point of view: “It’s really dark in here, and that is what I think allows us to perceive the image as a purely objective ‘light’ rather than as something which makes up part of a narrative sequence, and to take the sound into our body in a more direct way.”

Well, the “darkness” may be one of the artist’s intentional settings for the exhibition to ensure his work appeals not only to our sights but also to other sensory channels.

It was late afternoon and the couple looked very happy together without exchanging a word with their eyes fixed to the screen all the time.
This represents another fascination the artist offers for the audience through his work; an opportunity where one can share an experience with others purely via non-verbal sensibilities.

We saw a moment today where the sound of the arbitrarily played music box coincidently synchronized with the soundtrack from the projection of “Le Clash”.
The two men smiled at each other as they realized the echo effect they had created without knowing between the two different pieces.

“Tlatelolco Clash” is a film work shot in Mexico. Focused on the screen are the shadows casted on the cactus leaves, and the audience looked fascinated by those shadows.
Like one gallery visitor told us: “the expression of the shadow is marvelous. The film was shot in Mexico? That explains why they look so intense –the strong sunshine in Latin America! I just could not take my eyes off the screen because they were so beautiful…”
Please come and see the fantastic contrast of the strong sunshine and the shadow with your own eyes.

Since it was Saturday today, we had many visitors. The tatami floor is one of the unique features we offer to our audience, and has been particularly popular during this show for it is perfect to relax upon and comfortably enjoy the three video works whose projection time totals up to 25 minutes.

Through the hollow glass of “No Window No Cry,” we can see the colorfully painted building which appears in another film work “Le Clash”. The building is not in use anymore, but was once the venue for a live performance by the famous punk band “The Clash,” and visited by a lot of people. The film features a music box as well as a barrel organ version of their song.
Please come and check out yourself how differently the same song sounds when played by different instruments.

“Doldrum” (left) answers “Tlatelolco Clash” (right) by the echoing vibrations on the skin of the snare drum – as if the two pieces were engaged in some sort of conversation.

The image projected on a big screen together with the sound arising from everywhere around the space allows us an experience where we use not only our sights or hearings but also every perceptual channel to capture what is happening around us.

We had a lot of visitors from afternoon until close. Their eyes all looked glued to the screen.

“No Window No Cry” has another interesting aspect.
When the screening of “Le Clash” is over, a dim spot of light on the floor creates a romantic optical effect added by a sound layer coming from another video piece “Tlatelolco Clash.”
This is just an example of Anri Sala’s extraordinary talent in beautifully releasing unknown aspects of his work. Please come and experience it yourself!

“No Window No Cry,” a piece which includes a brass music box(above), plays in response to the video piece “Le Clash,” which is seen reflected in the window glass. The video includes a performance of the Clash song “Should I Stay or Should I Go” played on a barrel organ as well as a music box, while the music box from “No Window No Cry” plays the same song. By actually operating the music box themselves, guests feel as if they have been enveloped by the multiple layers of sound.

The video “Le Clash” shares the same music as “No Window No Cry.” The two works cross time and space to merge together.

This Snare drum is part of a piece titled “Doldrum” and the sound it makes is in response to another piece titled “Tlatelolco Clash.”

After viewing each piece on display, many guests returned to the first piece to start again.

“No Window No Cry” – the counterpart to the version on display at L’Institut Franco-Japonais de Tokyo. The music box plays the song “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by the Clash.

A photo taken of Anri Sala(left) and Tomo Yamaguchi, taken after the performance.

A special performance by professional percussionist Tomo Yamaguchi was given on a barrel organ. Each guest possessed a special invitation card which, when inserted into the organ, was transformed into a sheet of music. The results were a one-time only performance that can never be duplicated. The organ being played was the same as appears in Anri’s video work. It was flown in all the way from France piece and had been transported from France!

The reception started at 18:00 and visitors poured into the gallery instantly, forming a huge crowd in front of the artwork.