“Crying of Earthworms Calendar” (2025)
Shodai Tanaka
Crying of Earthworms Calendar (September – November 2025)
2025
This is a calendar only for Autumn.
In the ancient tongue of expressing seasons in Japanese Haiku, earthworms do cry in Autumn.
Biologically, earthworms do not cry –
yet, old Japanese people imagined that they cried.
In this calendar, each date carries images:
The photographs of dead earthworms taken by the author in 2024-2025
and the sonification of the shape of the dead earthworms into sound.
Listen –
and imagine
the cries of earthworms in Autumn.
“Method of Kami-kosuri (How to bow a book)” (2025)
Shodai Tanaka
紙こすりの方法 Method of Kami-kosuri (How to bow a book)
2025
canvas matte, sketch paper, a bow
The artist’s book invites readers to a new interaction with a book, which is to rub a sheet of paper with a bow and listen to the sound from the book. The artist discovered the phenomenon that if you bow a sheet of paper while holding a paper with your hand, the sound pitch from the paper transits spontaneously as you move the bow. This book is designed to demonstrate the phenomenon, providing visual and written instructions to help readers realize the phenomenon. The direct translation of the word “Kami-kosuri” is “paper rubbing” in Japanese. The geometric shapes on the front and back covers express the frequency variation on the bow hair due to bowing a sheet of paper, which are the vibration modes from two portions of the bow hair divided by the contact point with a sheet of paper and the vibration modes from the entire bow hair length. The color of the book was inspired by the music sheet of Jean-Joseph de Mondonville’s “Les sons harmoniques” (1738), which is the book that contains the first evidence of a written text concerning a playing technique called flageolet harmonics on bowed string instruments.
“A Requiem for Earthworm Roadkilled by Bicycles” (2024)
Shodai Tanaka
A Requiem for Earthworm Roadkilled by Bicycles
2024
bowed bicycle-lock cardboard container, a computer
I found an earthworm on the road near Casper Dining Hall at Stanford University on the morning of 11/02/2024. It was a sunny day after a heavy rain. An earthworm was moving slowly as it was on the verge of death. Although it was nice to come out on the ground in the rain, the water on the ground had dried up, and unfortunately stranded on the concrete road. I took a picture of an earthworm, and I left the place. After eating the branch at Casper dining hall, I was driven to look for the earthworm again. However, the earthworm has completely changed its appearance. It was roadkilled by Bicycles.
I took a picture of the earthworm, and I left the place. This is a requiem for the earthworm.