Born 1970 in Dover, Delaware, USA.
Lives and works in Kanazawa, Japan.
Can Tamura is an artist, filmmaker, and audiovisual anthropologist. He earned his BA in film at Antioch College (USA) and MA in Visual Anthropology, Media and Documentary Practices at the University of Münster (Germany). Working primarily in Japan, Turkey, and Mongolia, he makes experimental documentary films that explore the intersection between ethnographic film and art.
カン・タムラ
1970年、米国デラウェア州ドーバーに生まれる。金沢在住。
カン・タムラは、アーティスト、映像製作者、映像人類学者である。アンティオーク大学（米国）で映画製作の学士号を取得し、ミュンスター大学（ドイツ）で映像人類学・メディア・ドキュメンタリーの修士号を取得した。主に日本・トルコ・モンゴルで活動し、民族誌映画とアートの交差点となるような実験的なドキュメンタリー映画を制作している。
Education
• MA in Visual Anthropology, Media and Documentary Practices, University of
Münster, Germany, 2016 to 2019.
• BA in Communications (film production), Antioch College, USA, 1988 to 1993.
• Study abroad program at Kyoto Seika University, Japan, April to June, 1993.
Selected Group Exhibitions
• Echigo–Tsumari Art Triennale 2022, Tsunan and Tōkamachi, Japan, Kamigo Clove
Theatre and Echigo–Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art, MonET, April
29 to November 6, 2022.
• Co–curator and participating artist, Hybrid Culture: Mongolian Public Media Art
2021, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Kanazawa and Kyoto, Japan, December 11 to 19, 2021.
• Oku–Noto Triennale 2020+, Suzu, Japan, September 5 to October 25, 2021.
• Echigo–Tsumari This Year, Tsunan and Tōkamachi, Japan, Kamigo Clove Theatre
and Echigo–Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art, MonET, July 22 to
October 31, 2021.
• 6th Edition of the Ulaanbaatar International Media Art Festival, Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia, June 24 to 30, 2021.
• Kanaiwa Mini Cinema Project: Experimental Version, with Little Cinema Project
(Ryo Uchida, Satoshi Murakami, and Can Tamura), Kanaiwa Studio, 21st Century
Museum of Contemporary Art, March 27, 2021.
• Artists’ Breath–Artists in the Midst of the COVID 19 Pandemic, in conjunction with
Boso Satoyama Art Festival: Ichihara Art x Mix 2020+, Ichihara Lakeside Museum,
March 20 to May 16, 2021.
• HIBIKU, KG+ Kyotographie, Cafe Foodelica, Kyoto, April 19 to May 11, 2014.
• Fotografika 6: Emotion, SoHo Art Gallery, Osaka, September 10 to 15, 2013.
• Transnational Art 2013, Enokojima Art, Culture and Creative Center, Osaka, Japan,
January 29 to February 3, 2013.
• With Wanted Artists Group, White Heat, Kanagawa Kenmin Hall Gallery Yokohama,
April 1999.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
• Can Tamura Solo Exhibition, Gallery Kohfu, Kyoto Japan, September 23 to 25, 2022.
• The Supper Gaze, Gallery Muku, Kanazawa, October 13 to 18, 2017.
• Electric Yen Zone, Gallery Muku, Kanazawa, June 3 to 8, 2016.
• In Flight Art/Landing, Foodelica, Kyoto, October 9 to 25, 2015.
• Ninjin Jyanai, Gallery Muku, Kanazawa, February 6 to 11, 2015.
• Ninjin Jyanai, Foodelica, Kyoto, February 14 to March 16, 2014.
• Zen Art Machine, Jam Sake Bar, Kyoto, July 6 to August 31, 2013.
• Jam Sake Bar, Kyoto, August 19 to November 10, 2012.
• Nostalgia For Nationalist Squid and Other Tales, Mongolian Theater Museum,
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, March, 2002.
Selected Film Screenings
• Official Selection: Suzu at Ethnofest, November 27, 2022.
• Official Selection: Shoveler 3 at Golden Ger International Film Festival, June 18 to 20, 2021.
• Official Selection: Okinami at 17th RAI Film Festival 2021, Royal Anthropological Institute, March 19
to 28, 2021.
• Okinami at EAJS2021, 16th International Conference of the European Association for
Japanese Studies, Ghent, Germany, August 25 to 28, 2021.
• Okinami at Ethnographic Film Festival, University of Bremen Department of
Anthropology and Cultural Research, Bremen, Germany, December 1 to 3, 2020.
• Okinami at Anthro–Film Laboratory, Japan, June 20, 2020.
• Official Selection: Okinami, Film Programme of the 16th EASA (European Association of Social
Anthropologists) Biennial Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, July 22, 2020.
• Okinami, at Cinema & Kurbelkiste Münster, Münster, Germany, January 29, 2020.
• Okinami at Okinami Shukaisho, Anamizu, Japan, August 4, 2019.
• Official Selection: (With Satoshi Murakami) Living Migration Busan – Kanazawa, IUAES (International
Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences) 2019 Inter–Congress “World
Solidarities,” Poznan, Poland, August 27 to 31, 2019.
• Altering Home, documentary film installation, 21st Century Musuem of Contemprary
Art, Kanazawa, Japan, September 15 to November 4, 2018.
• Shoveling Ishikawa, in connection with im/pulse: Vincent Moon, contact Gonzo, and
the Anthro–film Laboratory, Kyoto City University of Art Gallery @KCUA, Kyoto,
June 20, 2018.
• (With Ulara Tamura) Bozalan, Textile Society of America 11th
Biennial Symposium, Honolulu, Hawaii, September 24 to 27, 2008.
Publications
• Tamura, Can. 2021.“Suzu–yaki to kankaku minzoku–shi 珠洲焼と感覚民族誌 [Suzu–
ware and Sensory Ethnography]” in Tōsetsu 陶説 [Ceramics] No. 820, September.
• Tamura, Can. 2020. “The Ghost Scrolls of Manshu–in and Tokugen–in: A Shutter–
Stopping Tale of Visual Culture, Photo Curses, and Recontextualization.” Visual
Anthropology Review 36 (2): 343–360.
• Wells, John. 2023. “On Mimesis and Memory.” In Alex Da Corte: Fresh Hell, edited by Kurosawa Hiromi, Nonaka Yumiko, and Ito Masatoshi, 140–143. Tokyo: My Book Service.
Awards
• Honourable Mention, Okinami, London X4 Seasonal Short Film Festival, Autumn
2020.
• Bronze Award for Best Documentary Short, You Know How, Pinnacle Film Awards, 2018.