Aichi Triennale 2019

Takamine Tadasu lays bare buried issues in society through the prism of his own personal experiences and physical sensitivities, employing various media including video, installation and stage performance. Created at the site of a former manganese mine which still bears traces of Japan's history of Korean forced labor, A Lover from Korea is a work inspired by his relationship with his partner. Another work, The Unwelcomed, takes as its theme an immigrant ship washed ashore on a nearby coast. Both works are laced with a sense of pain and frustration coming from the artist himself--emotions which can't be dismissed as mere empathy for others. Placing his audience in uncomfortable situations, Takamine pointedly calls into question their sense of belonging, while conveying, through untrained, awkward bodies, an underlying warm, naive humanity that longs for others.