Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM
Human Resources, Los Angeles
[Tickets](https://pools.events/t/9zopi8md/) Haruko Tanaka (b. Queens, NY, 1974; d. October 2019) was a Los Angeles–based artist, photographer, graphic designer, and filmmaker engaged in social practice. Born in the United States, she was raised in England and Japan. Tanaka earned a B.A. in Fine Art from the University of Southern California in 1997 and an M.F.A. in Photography and Media Art from the California Institute of the Arts in 2003. Her visual work was exhibited widely at venues such as the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, the Japanese American National Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, CUE Art Foundation, the Torrance Art Museum, and the Armory Center for the Arts. She also screened her films internationally, including at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and the Asian American International Film Festival. Tanaka received several prestigious fellowships and residencies, notably at the Japanese American National Museum and the Echo Park Film Center, which awarded her an L.A. Artist Residency in 2014. She was also a MacDowell Fellow in 2018. For 12 years, Tanaka collaborated with Asher Hartman under the name Krystal Krunch, presenting work often in conjunction with Machine Project. Their projects were exhibited at the Walker Art Center, the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University, the Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre in London, and Extrapool in the Netherlands. In addition, Krystal Krunch led workshops that encouraged participants to develop their intuitive capacities to experience “seeing” in deeper, more meaningful ways. Tanaka was a core member of The Readers Chorus, an experimental performance group organized by artist Jordan Biren and former CalArts faculty Sara Roberts. She remained an influential figure in Los Angeles’s creative community until her passing in October 2019. ***I Love You ***- 2002- TRT 2 min 13 sec I LOVE YOU is a two-minute film where six people tell their friend, in earnest, that they love her. "What if all the invisible barriers fell down and true feelings gushed full and free onto the mysteriously smiling Face of Pure Exalted Joy?" – New York Underground Film Festival ***Soroban and the Present***- (work in progress) 2015- TRT 20 min 51 sec A 20 minute, 16mm film, The Soroban and the Present is part abacus (soroban) tutorial, part historical account, part freeway numerology meditation, and part guerrilla ringing and field recordings of 2 forgotten L.A. bells. It is all love for the city of Los Angeles which, according to the Pythgorean system of numerology, is a “1” – the primal force and number of creation and the most difficult of all lovers. The soroban: At one point in their lives, most kids in Japan learned to use the soroban in school. Some even went to cram school for additional soroban training. Skilled soroban practitioners (adults and children alike) can perform complex calculations by ‘air soroban’ – ing. The body is the calculator. The film follows the hands of a soroban novice as they begin their training. The math: After learning basic addition and subtraction on the soroban, the novice will turn their beads towards deciphering the numerological significance of LA freeways; perhaps some of the most frequently uttered numbers in LA lingo. By calculating the “number” of each freeway (405= 4+5=9) a new story emerges, revealing the underlying hidden nature of such familiar terrain. The present(s): In 1978 a replica of the iconic symbol of Mexican independence, ‘The Bell of Dolores,’ was given as a gift to the United States by the government of Mexico. President Jimmy Carter attended the dedication ceremony at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument by Olvera Street in Downtown Los Angeles. ‘The Bell of Dolores’ replica was installed in the middle of a large fountain, in the center of a plaza bearing the same name. 34 years later the large bell was quietly moved over to an adjacent flowerbed, making way for a statue of the late Mexican born mariachi singer and actor Antonio Aguilar on horseback. Another ‘Bell of Dolores’ replica was also installed the same year in El Parque de México, 10 minutes away in Lincoln Park. Internet and library records, however, do not differentiate between the 2 bells. Unlike their California bell counterparts that line the historic route of El Camino Real, The Bell of Dolores are installed in both locations with their clappers intact. Los Angeles is a “1”: Ever had the feeling of a big weight being lifted off your soul as you flew out of LAX? That might have something to do with Los Angeles being a numerological 1. As a “1” Los Angeles is the most difficult of all lovers- demanding, confrontational, impatient, and working you all hours of the day. Ever look onto the sandy grid that is Los Angeles from your airplane window and think “eek, how do I keep living here?” but a month later you are right back in it? That’s also probably because L.A., as a “1” is a dedicated partner. The Soroban and the Present explores unseen forces that possibly inform a love/hate/confused relationship to our land and displaced acts of good will and pride. All the while trying to be a more self reliant and sustaining force of analog embodiment. *Readers Chorus Documentary - *2019, TRT 20 min A document/ary of the Readers Chorus preparing and performing a selection of works at Automata in 2015. About the Reader’s Chorus Founded in 2013 by artists Sara Roberts and Jordan Biren in Los Angeles, The Reader’s Chorus is a group of people who love to read aloud together. People come from varied backgrounds: musicians, filmmakers, poets, visual artists, teachers, etc. For a stretch of about 5 years, the chorus gathered every week to experiment with the possibilities of the speaking voices, combining the timbres of differing voice, trying strange speech rhythms and common ones, figuring out way to have the text move from voice to voice across the room. Members of the chorus brought in a text, something they wrote or found, and the group, through experimentation, orchestrated it. What they did involved aspects of experimental music practice, poetry, chant and theater. The focus though was on performing the sound of reading. This documentary captures some of the process, people and performances of the Readers Chorus. Add to calendar Google Calendar iCalendar Outlook 365 Outlook Live