Our very first Man-of-the-Week! blog is dedicated to none other than sexyyyyy Kota Sake (pronounced Sarr-kay like the drink). Kota is a real renaissance man, an encyclopedia for all sorts of untouched knowledge, like electrical cable laying, drinking, star-signs, the fine art of hand photography, and japanese pop band "unicorn".
Although better known as the "silent-moody" type, Kota is not averse to the odd fist-fight (he's not nicknamed "Tako Method" for nothing you know) But the best thing about Kota is he can always show you a good time....
KOTA: SPECS
Star Sign:Probably something scary (like Pisces or Libra) Blood Type: D- Age: Undisclosed Occupation: "Cable Layer" (so he says) Preferred Method of Transport:White Van Hobbies:Art, photography, soba-making Most Overused Phrase:"Fuck you"
KOTA SAYS:
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
"Some people say that one's personality is reflected in their car...well I don't have no car"
The many, many different (in fact even schizophrenic) sides of Kota Sake:
Testosterone Paradise is a systematically rotating video installation, wherein the 4 main characters- action heroes Bruce Lee, Jaa Panom, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Stallone are paired off together as if in the boxing ring. But the fight is a verbal one, as all the actual physical fighting from the original action films are cut out, leaving only shouting, moaning and “power” screeches between the two confronting screens.
The viewer is straddled in between a clashing of two larger than life-size bickering characters that sound at times more like an obnoxious nagging housewife than the super world-saving heroes they are portrayed as in their films.
Here physical aggression is manipulated into mental aggression, much like the mental warfare of a chess game. But the mental version is neither better nor loftier than its physical counterpart. The result is just absurd, and the constant shouting and verbal spats are like repetitively banging your head against the wall over and over again.
Conflict works on many levels, whether it’s within one person, between two individuals, or even two countries. The pairing of Bruce Lee and Sylvester Stallone could, for example, also allude to the struggle between America and China to be the superpower of the world.
Short video documentation of the installation 'Welcome to Your Mind' created as part of a group exhibition for ArtAids Foundation, Netherlands. The installation consisted of darkened passageways through which the audience had to pass, and a primitive sort of 'earthquake simulator'.
Motors, corrugated metal, wood.
More images/documentation: uraniansatellite.blogspot.com
Testosterone Paradise (Bruce & Sly) Face to Faces exhibition at Tang Gallery, Bangkok Jun 2008 Divination III, Brunswick Gallery, London, Jul 2008 Promethean Invention Wowow! Tate Britain, London, Jan 2008 Wowow! Transmediale Festival, Feb 2008 BEFF 5 (Bangkok Experimental Film Festival 5), Bangkok, Apr 2008 BEFF 5, Israel, Nov 2008
Alamtini Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou 2007 Obsession, GaleriX, Istanbul 2005 BEFF 4, Bangkok 2006 Coffin (to contact celestial forces) Divination II, La Generale Paris 2007
