taking away
Eginhartz Kanter
2018
Artist Statement
The video "taking away" shows surprisingly quiet streets in Tokyo at night. The empty streets reminiscent of apocalyptic scenarios - only here and there lights are blinking in the distance. The nocturnal peace is interrupted by an unexpected intervention. The unauthorized manifestation of a strange object shifts the appearance of the uncanny nightly streets. It disturbs the peaceful order of the well-kept neighbourhood. Due to their illumination the sceneries shown in the video somehow seem like film-sets. The moving object divides the narrow streets, slides through the alleyways, obscuring large parts of the video image, thus creating temporarily altered spatial situations. It is rectangular and its dimensions are reminiscent of a video screen. The gloomy aura of the abandoned, nightly streets is underlined in the work. At the same time, taking-away takes a closer look at people’s primordial fear of the darkness - the Achluophobia - which is especially pronounced in childhood. Furthermore, the black wall arouses associations with stage elements and thus increases the stage-atmosphere the place somehow possesses.
The work was created in Japan and refers to urban spatial situations in japanese cities. It has references to Japanese film culture. The manifestation of the obscure object can be understood as a metaphor.
Artist Bio
Eginhartz Kanter studied Fine Arts, Cultural Studies and Photography at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, the University of Arts and Design Linz, and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. He works with video, film, photography and installation, mainly in the context of public space. In his artistic approach he questions the boundaries and conventions of everyday life and living environments. His (sub)urban interventions negotiate aspects of the public and often have a direct relation to architecture. He showed his artworks in Gallery 5020 in Salzburg, Peresvetov Pereulok Gallery in Moscow, S.Y.P. Artspace in Tokyo and at the 18th Media Art Biennial Wroclaw.