There are artists who are happy with a paint brush and dab of oil paint. Then there are artists who live in perspex boxes, tie themselves up with knitted rope, and fake their own death. Hiromi Tango’s work sits firmly in the latter group: it’s eclectic, it’s highly interactive, and it’s absolutely kick-you-in-the-guts overwhelming. We asked Hiromi how she goes about planning her sprawling projects, and just how much public interaction is the right amount.

Your work as a whole seems to be in a constant state of evolution – with each project acting as a starting point for the next. What about the process of creating keeps spurring you on to new ideas and new works? In the last three years I’ve used my previous projects as a blue print for the next project. It happens subconsciously. But I became aware that I was making an artwork based on a perfect moment experienced in the last project. So your analysis is spot on.  Now a big part of me is hoping to change this.

Do you think there is a uniquely ‘Japanese’ aesthetic in art? If yes, how does your work fit into this? I don’t know.  All I can say is I make art which comes from my body.

Collaboration is an important part of your work. What does working with other people bring to your art? Collaboration is challenging, uncomfortable, and anxious, but through my ephemeral public art projects, I have been encouraging others and myself to co-author the art work. The more people who care and are involved, the more anxious we all feel by not having full control over the direction and authority of the work. It’s very complex. But I deliberately try not to have my own direction, and let the artwork evolve organically and respond. When we make artwork together, the outcome is better than I do it by myself.

Your aesthetic is very cluttered, almost overwhelming with the amount of objects you use. Do you have a solid vision of how a project will end up looking, or is it always an unexpected result?  The encounter with people through the project has a big influence on the process and outcome of the project, but my identity also has a large influence. I do not deliberately clutter nor overwhelm. My circumstance and state of mind changes everyday as do the people who engage in the project, so the projects objective is to develop unexpected outcomes. But here again, is there any originality or locality left in us?