WhiteBox Harlem @ El Barrio’s Artspace PS109
215 E 99 St, New York, NY 10029
April 7 – 30 | Tuesday – Saturday @11 AM – 6 PM
Curated by Masa Hosojima, Organized by Kyoko Sato

Participating artists: Kenichi Kanazawa, Ken Ikeda, Rie Nakajima, Takahiro Kawaguchi, Masa Hosojima

Collaborative artists:
Elliott Sharp, Matt Sullivan, Maho Ogawa, Beatrice Antonie Martino, Juan Puntes

Contributing scholars: Tom Cohen, Reiko Tomii

Program:
April 10, 4-7PM | Opening Reception and Interview “What is Making?” by Masa Hosojima
Reiko Tomii, Elliott Sharp, Matt Sullivan, Juan Puntes
April 17, 6-7PM | Performance by Kenichi Kanazawa
April 24, 5PM | Closing Performance
Elliott Sharp, Matt Sullivan, Maho Ogawa, Beatrice Antonie Martino

There will be an on-site interview by Masa Hosojima with Juan Puntes (WhiteBox Artistic Director)  Elliott Sharp, and Matt Sullivan on the subject of Making.

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Essay on “Making” by Masa Hosojima, April 2021

I consider that an act of “Making” art is as invaluable as appreciating artworks. In contrast to artworks, this act of  “Making” is a condition that has no structure, no polarity, no sense of mission. It is a process that can accommodate multiple directions. It is a multitude of voices. Artworks, produced as a result of the act of “Making”, have initiated appreciable value, such as beauty. In like manner, the act of “Making” art itself has its own meaning and value even if it may not ‘obviously’ appear in the actual works.

The proposal of this exhibition is to reevaluate the overtones of an act of “Making” via five artists who practice sound in an art context: similar to Action Painting and Happenings in the 50s and 60s. Especially relevant is how they negotiate with sound itself, a distinctive resort.

Among artists that I have been interviewing on the subject of Making since 2015, there are some who claimed to invoke social issues in their artworks. Actually, in the course of the interview it became evident that they create to heal themselves. Others said they were Making art to discover unknown parts of themselves. And still others said they made art to actualize their wish to know. These are very appealing statements and voices.

For an artist, the act of “Making” has an apparent magnitude of connotations that are different from the viewers’ perspectives while focusing on the artwork proper. So the audience could also be amplified allowing for the discovering of a given, other ‘something’ from an  exploration of the act of “Making” art.

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Ken Ikeda (Tokyo) makes an instrument onstage and then performs with it. His instruments, made from a wooden board, nails, and rubber strings, are constructed so that color is spread on the board when the rubber is plucked. Whence it creates a color score on that instrument.
Kenichi Kanazawa (Kawagoe City) manipulates a metal plate on which magnesium powder is placed and rubs the plate to create sound waves which shape the powder into various patterns. This is called the Chladni effect. However, in this video presentation, he expands on the phenomenon with a variety of objects on the plate, as if demonstrating a virtuosity in his ‘Making’ zone. 
Rie Nakajima (London) often composes works in direct response to unique architectural spaces, using a  combination of kinetic devices and found objects. Fusing sculpture and sound, her artistic practice is open to chance and the influence of others, raising important questions about the definition of art. She attunes with space and sound itself.
Takahiro Kawaguchi (Tokyo) performs with his handmade audio devices and also uses everyday materials to exhaustively and sincerely demonstrate a process of Making. He dares to assemble uncontrollable mechanisms and atmospheres.
Masa Hosojima (NYC) has executed a project called “Gazing Sound” for the last 10 years. It involves listening to his own music composition. In order to document his private listening  experience, he videotapes a fluctuating scene at which he gazes while listening.
Reiko Tomii (art historian) and Tom Cohen (cultural theorist) will analyze and respond to the video presentations and the artists’ statements on “What is Making?
Elliott Sharp and Matt Sullivan are two NYC Downtown Soundscape icons from the ’80s and ’90s who will join us and demonstrate what it means to collaborate (co-Making) with emerging talents, Beatrice Antonie Martino, and Maho Ogawa.

The project is supported in part by the Nomura Foundation, McGraw Hill, and 2B&2C

Special thanks to ShugoArts, Mirai Osawa, Gaspard Kuentz, Natsumi Omori and Sakurako Mizuno.