Nuovi lavori scultorei ed installazioni interattive basate sull'uso pionieristico della tecnologia. Il titolo della mostra, Ku, significa vuoto in giapponese, ma che anche zero come numero di partenza.
"Is death really nothing?"
Tatsuo Miyajima s first solo exhibition in Milan revolves around a new body of work
that continues his pioneering use of technology in sculptural assemblage and
interactive installations. The show is titled KU, a term that signifies empty in
Japanese, but which also stands in for the numerical starting point, zero, which has
always represented a null state or death for the artist and has consequently not
featured in his life-affirming work. For the first time in his career-long exploration of
numerology and symbolism, Miyajima is questioning whether there is anything more
to this nothingness, taking his cue from the Buddhist tenet that describes death as a
period of rest or preparation for the next life.
A large wall-hung work – containing a myriad of Miyajima s familiar LED number
counters, scrolling from 1 to 9 – briefly lights up the space after each blink or flash of
a new digit. Suddenly and without warning, the lights all extinguish simultaneously, as
if the gadget (as Miyajima refers to his self-contained counting systems) had been
abruptly switched off or unplugged. This shut-down, representing the idea of death
or perhaps the aforementioned preparatory sleep , comes unexpectedly and
seemingly randomly, and is only reversed when a viewer in the gallery nears the
object, entitled Life (KU-Wall), to bring it back to life once more. Miyajima has
recently engaged in research as to the possibilities of creating artificial, non-organic
life through technological means, in association with Professor Takashi Ikegami of
Tokyo University, who developed a new processor to drive the speeds and
programming of the individual counting units.
Nearby, another new work that acts like a sentient being, called C.F. Loop, mimics the
infinite variety found in human bodies through its inter-connected cells, vein-like
cables and fluctuating counting speeds, scrolling through every possible combination
of life and death. An outdoor piece, Moon in the Ground (all works 2014), is
Miyajima s meditative reflection on nature s cycles of time passing, expiry, re-birth
and rejuvenation, with its LED counters waxing and waning like phases of the moon
or twinkling like stars in the night sky.
Tatsuo Miyajima is one of Japan’s foremost sculptors and installation artists.
Employing contemporary materials such as electric circuits, video, and computers,
Miyajima’s supremely technological works have centred on his use of digital light-
emitting diode (LED) counters, or ‘gadgets’ as he calls them, since the late 1980s.
These numbers, flashing in continual and repetitious – though not necessarily
sequential – cycles from 1 to 9, represent the journey from life to death, the finality
of which is symbolized by ‘0’ or zero, which therefore has never previously appeared
in his work. This theory derives partially from humanist ideas, the teachings of
Buddhism, as well as from his core artistic concepts: ‘Keep Changing’, ‘Connect with
All’, and ‘Goes on Forever’. Miyajima’s LED numerals have been presented in grids,
towers, complex integrated groupings or circuits and as simple digital counters, but
are all aligned with his interests in continuity, connection and eternity, as well as with
the flow and span of time and space. ‘Time connects everything’, says Miyajima. ‘I
want people to think about the universe and the human spirit.’
Tatsuo Miyajima was born in 1957 and lives and works in Ibaraki, Japan. He finished
undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Tokyo National University of Fine
Arts and Music in 1986 after which he began experimenting with performance art
before moving on to light-based installations. In addition to participating in numerous
international biennales and important group shows, he has held solo exhibitions at
Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2011), Miyanomori Art Museum,
Hokkaido (2010), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1997), Fondation Cartier
pour l’Art Contemporain (1996) and Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (1996).
He has participated in the Venice Biennale (1988, 1999) and in numerous group
exhibitions, from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2012) to the
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (2008). In 2006, Miyajima was
selected to serve as Vice President of Tohoku University of Art and Design.
For press information:
Italy Paola C Manfredi Studio +39 02 87 23 80, press@paolamanfredi.com
UK, rest of Europe Gair Burton or Diana Babei at Rhiannon Pickles PR +44 (0)7789 868 991, gair@picklespr.com, diana@picklespr.com
Opening 20 november 7-9p.m.
Lisson Gallery
via Zenale 3, 20123 Milano
Hours:
Monday – Friday 10 am-6 pm (closed 1-3 pm)
Saturday by appointment