All the Time I Pray to Buddha, I Keep on Killing Mosquitoes (PBKM) is a video exhibition showcasing The Koganecho Gesture, CITIZEN, and a selection of videos from @yarimoriya.

The 5-days show also includes 4 dialogue sessions on 4 different areas of discussion.

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The title All the Time I Pray To Buddha, I Keep on Killing Mosquitoes is borrowed from a haiku by the Japanese poet Issa Kobayashi, as translated by American poet Robert Hass. It is used in TKG to represent humanity’s persistent reach for an ideal while dealing with the realities of life. A contradiction that mirrors the conditions most contemporary artists work in.

TKG is a single-channel video installation that was first exhibited at *The Koganecho Bazaar 2020 Vol.2 (KB2020) in Yokohama, Japan, and was made for Gan’s online KB2020 artist residency. 

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TKG is a meandering video essay that seeks to engage the audience in conversations on contemporary art and art-making. It is based on recollections of conversations with various people Gan has met over the last two decades of his creative practice and ranges from cliches about art to actual insights into how a contemporary artist navigates through the challenges of making an artwork for an international art festival in Japan. TKG is made with found online audio and video, and documents the strangeness of reflecting in isolation, about artists and communities, in the midst of a pandemic.

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CITIZEN is the result of an open call for collaboration via TKG. It is based on a script by Makarim Salman, a British physicist turned financial analyst who then became a tour guide and resident of Tokyo. CITIZEN is a love story about Tokyo from the point of view of a global citizen.

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