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Can Tamura

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Can Tamura (Japanese: カン・タムラ; also known as John Wells) is an American artist, filmmaker and multimodal anthropologist based in Kanazawa, Japan.[1][2][3][4]

Biography

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Tamura was born in 1970 in Dover, Delaware US.[1][2] He earned his BA in film at Antioch College (USA), attending from 1988 to 1993 before moving to Japan in 1993.[5] He earned his MA in Visual Anthropology, Media and Documentary Practices at the University of Münster (Germany).[1][2]

Works

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Art and films

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Working primarily in Japan, Turkey, and Mongolia, he makes experimental documentary films that explore the intersection between ethnographic film and contemporary art.[1][2] His work uses analog and digital media including 16 mm film, analog video, and digital video.[1][2]

Works include:

  • The 24 Solar Terms of Echigo-Tsumari (2021–2022). Using methods of sensory-ethnography, Tamura traveled to the Echigo-Tsumari area 24 times in one year, once during each solar term, producing a series of 24 short films. The film series was produced for exhibition at the 8th Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2022.[6][7]
  • Cinema Kamigo (2021). Tamura built a miniature movie theater in the former principal's office of the Kamigo Clove Theatre to exhibit the film The 24 Solar Terms of Echigo-Tsumari during the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2022.[8][9][10][11]
  • Suzu (2021). Working with both a 16 mm film camera and a digital video camera in the town of Suzu, Tamura made a sensory-ethnographic film about Suzu ware, a kind of ceramics production from medieval times that was revived in the late 1970s. The film was produced for exhibition at the Oku-Noto Triennale 2020+, where it was shown as two separate film and video installations,[2][12][13] and a theatrical version of the combined 16mm and digital versions was screened at Ethnofest (Athens Ethnographic Film Festival) in Athens, Greece.[14]
  • Kanaiwa Mini Cinema Project–Experimental Version 金石ミニシネマプロジェクト〜実験版〜(2021). Satoshi Murakami, Can Tamura, and Ryo Uchida created a movie theater in the Kanaiwa Studio of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa and held screenings of their experimental short 16 mm film about the local area.[15][16]
  • Okinami (2019). Tamura documented life in the seaside community of Okinami in the town of Anamizu, including the annual Okinami Tairyo Festival. It was screened at the 2021 RAI Film Festival in London[17] and BULAG art camp in Mongolia, 2021.[18]

Tamura has also worked a cinematographer and editor of video artworks by other artists including:

  • Shorinji temple (2018). Video installation, 1'30" by Song Dong.[19]
  • Living Migration (Busan–Kanazawa) (2018). Single-channel video, 2'13" by Can Tamura and Satoshi Murakami.[19]
  • Shop Sign Library (2018). Video and mixed media installation by Satoshi Murakami.[19]

Writing

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Tamura writes anthropological papers on vernacular photography in Japan,[3] Suzu ware, sensory ethnography, and social memory/cultural memory.[13][20]

Publications include:

  • Tamura, Can. 2020. “The Ghost Scrolls of Manshu-in and Tokugen-in: A Shutter-Stopping Tale of Visual Culture, Photo Curses, and Recontextualization." Visual Anthropology Review 36 (2): 343–360.
  • Tamura, Can. 2021. "Suzu-yaki to kankaku minzoku-shi 珠洲焼と感覚民族誌 [Suzu-ware and Sensory Ethnography]" in Tōsetsu 陶説 [Ceramics] No. 820, September.
  • Wells, John (Can Tamura). 2023. "On Mimesis and Memory." In Alex Da Corte: Fresh Hell, edited by Kurosawa Hiromi, Nonaka Yumiko, and Ito Masatoshi, 140–143. Tokyo: My Book Service.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Can Tamura". Echigo-Tsumari Art Field. Echigo Tsumari Executive Committee. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Art work No.14 "Suzu (16mm) "" Suzu (Digital)" Can Tamura (USA/Japan)". Suzu 2020+ Oku-Noto Triennale. Oku-Noto Triennale Executive Committee. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b Tamura, Can (2020). "The Ghost Scrolls of Manshu–in and Tokugen–in: A Shutter– Stopping Tale of Visual Culture, Photo Curses, and Recontextualization". Visual Anthropology Review. 36 (2): 343–360. doi:10.1111/var.12207. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  4. ^ "山中温泉映画に住民視点 [Residents' Perspective on a Yamanaka Onsen Film]". 北國新聞 [Hokkoku Shinbun]. No. 第47151号. 24 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Antioch alumnus debuts Little Art-inspired work at Japanese art festival". Yellow Springs News. July 17, 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  6. ^ "The 24 Solar Terms of Echigo-Tsumari". Echigo-Tsumari Art Field. Echigo Tsumari Executive Committee. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  7. ^ Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art, MonET Artworks Catalog. NPO Echigo-tsumari Satoyama Collaborative Organization. March 31, 2022. p. 75.
  8. ^ "Cinema Kamigo". Echigo-Tsumari Art Field. Echigo Tsumari Executive Committee. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  9. ^ "『上中下越に佐渡（さぁ～ど～）ぞ！』新潟 津南町". NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). August 19, 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  10. ^ "越後妻有 大地の芸術祭2022 ～企画発表会に行ってきました！ 編～（十日町市／津南町）". にいがた観光ナビ. Niigata Prefectural Tourist Association. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  11. ^ "新潟・越後妻有「大地の芸術祭 2022」 越後まつだい里山食堂 アートと一体化しながら、 里山の食文化を味わう｜後編". Discover Japan. Discover Japan Inc. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  12. ^ "「奥能登国際芸術祭2020＋」をマイペースに回る第四日目その8（カン・タムラ「珠洲（16mm）」「珠洲（デジタル)」）". 初心の趣. 4 November 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  13. ^ a b Tamura, Can (September 2021). "Suzu–yaki to kankaku minzoku–shi 珠洲焼と感覚民族誌 [Suzu–ware and Sensory Ethnography]". Tōsetsu 陶説 [Ceramics] (820): 56–60.
  14. ^ "Suzu". Ethnofest. 20 November 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  15. ^ Ito, Kaori (伊藤香織); Kurosawa, Hiromi (黒澤浩美); Nakata, Koichi (中田耕市); Nonaka, Yumiko (野中祐美子); Mori, Erika (森絵里花) (March 31, 2023). Jichiku Kanaiwa Ono Art Project Document 自治区 金石大野芸術計 記録 [Jichiku Kanaiwa Ono geijutsu keikaku kiroku]. 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa 金沢21世紀美術館［公益財団法人 金沢芸術創造財団］[Kanazawa 21 seiki bijyutsukan kouekizaidanhoujin kanazawa geijyutsu souzouzaidan]. pp. 42–45. ISBN 978-4-910864-07-5.
  16. ^ "自治区金石大野芸術計画AIR 金石ミニシネマプロジェクト〜実験版〜". 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  17. ^ "Okinami". RAI Film. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  18. ^ Narbayasgalan, U. (2021). BULAG art camp 2021. Blue Sun Mongolian Contemporary Art Center. pp. 86–87.
  19. ^ a b c KUROSAWA, Hiromi; NAKATA, Koichi; ITABASHI, Mari; SAWAI, Misato, eds. (March 29, 2019). Culture City of East Asia 2018 Kanazawa: Altering Home [Document] (First ed.). Culture City of East Asia 2018 Kanazawa Executive Committee, City of Kanazawa.
  20. ^ Wells, John (August 30, 2023). Kurosawa, Hiromi; Nonaka, Yumiko; Ito, Masatoshi (eds.). Alex Da Corte Fresh Hell (1st ed.). Tokyo: My Book Service. pp. 140–143. ISBN 978-4-907490-21-8.
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