Atsuko Tanaka (b. 1932, Japan – d. 2005)
Work (Bell), 1955/2001

Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden / Visited 12/01/2020

Pressing the button activates 20 electric alarm bells.

I like Gutai’s playful and experimental approach to art making that definitely resonates with my own endeavours. This piece by one of Gutai central figures has also some elements in common with my participatory work “Anticipation piece” using a number of egg timers that participants were asked to start on my signal, then waiting for all of them to ring.

Where Tanaka’s piece did not show the bells and adventurous audience member who pressed the button would get a bit of a shock from that unexpectedly harsh and loud sound, causing also other visitors to jump and look around for the cause of alarm – my piece was quite the opposite, making the whole process visible, building up expectations in a group – and then failing to deliver on them when the timers issue very quiet and uncoordinated ding-a-lings.