Tsuyoshi Anzai traveled to Europe for the first time in 2014 to open his exhibition, funded by Works.io and the Zucker Art Collection in collaboration with the Japanese Institute.
Here is a description of Tsuyoshi's exhibition "Encounter with Doppelgänger”, a participatory kinetic installation guided by the instructions.
Anzai asked people in Budapest to make copies of his machine works by following his instructions. The participants interpreted the instructions on how to build the machines and reconstructed them using materials that they found in everyday life in Budapest.
Firstly, he built machines in Japan using everyday items and motors, and created the instructions on how to build them with drawings alone. Then, at the workshop in Budapest, the participants interpreted the instructions, went to buy everyday items for the components of the machines, and built the machines according to their own interpretations.
This process enabled us to learn the participants' subjective view and cultural background by looking at “the way they interpret the instructions”. The instructions do not always clearly indicate which item it refers to. Also, in some countries, people may find some of the items unfamiliar. Despite some obstacles, they were able to figure out solutions on their own and finally completed the machines. In this way, the machines were reproduced through the process that was beyond the artist's control. Are the duplicated machines merely copies of the originals? Anzai interprets the relationship between the duplicates and the originals as two originals being derived from the same origin. The title makes an analogy between “Doppelgänger” and the unique relationship of the two machines produced in two different countries.
Tsuyoshi Anzai, Installation in Chimera Project Gallery, Budapest 2014