In Tactility: Filmic Propositions by Takuya Watanabe, the artist screened three moving image works Factory worker “K” (2017), Good luck on your journey (2019) and LIKE GRAVITY (2022). With these works, Takuya attempts to embody and visualise the social and power dynamics of three protagonists featured: blue-collar factory worker “K” who has dedicated 20 years working at a major tile manufacturer in a small Japanese town; a father of Japanese-Brazilian descent who writes a letter to his past self in Portuguese which his son translates to Japanese; and a retiree who worked at a nuclear power plant in Reinan region in Japan, once a site of local pride until the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Probing into social phenomena and lived realities, Takuya dissects the physical and linguistic gestures of each featured character and reveal “the forces at work in society spilling out from its body.” These are the moments thereafter crystallised in his moving image works. The screening will be followed by a dialogue and Q&A with Takuya Watanabe, who is currently artist-in-residence at SAM.

This programme was hosted as part of Residency Thursday, an ongoing series of activations and presentations led by SAM residents.

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