Tsuyoshi Anzai uses objects that characterize and structure our natural environment, our homes, our toolboxes or kitchens to create large-scale installations, kinetic sculptures and other beings. In his solo exhibition “Grounded” at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, the audience is confronted with enlarged packaging that one finds randomly in public space, now installed on the exhibition floor. Hybrid kinetic sculptures consisting of sponges, brushes, cleaning tools and other objects populate his exhibition space. They are loud, colorful, motorized, and move through the exhibition as if they were living entities trying to attack their surroundings. The playful change of perspective and the distorted scale of the objects in the space contrast with the size of the visitors.

In his artistic work, Anzai explores how material affects our lives and relationships and calls for a new way of looking at the matter that is in the world. Which objects call to us? Which ones are forever? Can objects die out like organic matter? Anzai strips objects that have gone through a design process of their original purpose and gives them a new life. Sometimes these are reminiscent of the human development process, but mostly they stand on their own. Anzai’s work implements what was suggested by political scientist Jane Bennett’s outstanding paper “Vibrant Matters – a political ecology of things” (2010), stating that human beings need to better acknowledge the active participation of non-human forces in active world events.

Tsuyoshi Anzai *1987, is a Japanese artist who lives and works in Saitama, Japan. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music (2009) he earned his Master of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts (2011). Important exhibitions include Being-in-the-Wired-World, Kawasaki City Museum, Kanagawa (2013), Jailhouse Locke, Daiwa Foundation, London, UK (2018), 2016 Core Exhibition, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, US (2016), The Strange Objects, Pohang Museum of Steel Art, Pohang, South Korea (2017), and Poly-, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2020). Tsuyoshi Anzai is a grantee of the Pola Art Foundation.

The access to the exhibition is only granted for recovered, vaccinated and tested persons. A valid test or complete vaccination must be shown at the entrance. Recovered persons must present a positive PCR test result that is at least 28 days and no more than 6 months old. Thank you for your understanding.