Cause is Effect (2005) is a concise video work in which Koki Tanaka assembles a sequence of fleeting, seemingly inconsequential events drawn from everyday life. Soap bubbles are squeezed from a bottle, a towel caught on a rotating fan gradually twists into a dense knot, a plastic umbrella is carried away by the wind, carbonated water fizzes into a glass, reflections shimmer across a floor, and water drains from a moss-covered surface. Individually, these actions appear incidental but together, they form a quiet meditation on chance, material behaviour, and the subtle choreography of the everyday.

Alternating between tightly cropped details and wider views of their surroundings, Tanaka shifts continually between abstract meditation and quietly objective observation. Familiar objects and gestures become estranged through careful framing, inviting close attention to the physical processes and causal relationships that ordinarily pass unnoticed. Rather than presenting dramatic events, the work foregrounds small transformations, where movement, gravity, light, and time interact in unpredictable ways.

Associated with the ‘Micropop’ generation of Japanese artists, Tanaka's practice finds significance in the overlooked and the ordinary. Cause is Effect exemplifies this approach, revealing how simple actions and accidental occurrences can reshape perception, encouraging viewers to recognise the complexity and humour embedded in everyday experience.