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 2000.3.3 [Fri] - 2000.5.14 [Sun]  |
Miyajima Tatsuo was born in Tokyo in 1957. Ever since his work first caught the public's attention at Aperto '88 -- the "young artists" section of the international Venice Biennale exhibition held in 1988 in Venice, Italy-- he has continued to be extremely active in contemporary art both in Japan and overseas. His growing reputation was consolidated by his participation as Japan's representative in the 1999 Venice Biennale. Miyajima's work typically features gadgets (LEDs --light emitting diodes) in the form of electronic digital counters, which he uses to explore three basic concepts: continual change, interconnectedness, and eternity. The numbers formed by the LED counters flash at different speeds, and by omitting the number zero -- symbolic of an ending -- they evoke the concept of time, and the continuity, eternity and interconnectedness of the human life-cycle. In 1995, Miyajima returned to the medium of performance art he had first explored in the early 1980s, and in recent years, both his LED works and his performance pieces have attracted large audiences. The concepts that have consistently preoccupied Miyajima for the last dozen years or so are crystallizing, along with the artist's own personal reality, into a more definite form.
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| First solo exhibition at a Tokyo gallery |
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This exhibition introduces the artist's latest work, including the first showing of "MEGA DEATH" in a Miyajima exhibition in Tokyo. In addition to "MEGA DEATH", which makes a triumphal return to home ground after being exhibited at last year's Venice Biennale, new works include the performance video piece "Counter Voice in Milk", and "Floating Time", which makes use of computer graphics.
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"MEGA DEATH"
L.E.D., IC, electric wire, sensor
500*3400*1.8cm (installation)
1999/photo by UENO Norihiro |
"MEGA DEATH": Miyajima's largest LED piece, previously exhibited at the Venice Biennale
Miyajima Tatsuo's "MEGA DEATH", a large-scale work in the medium of LEDs, was exhibited at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999. Comprised of 2,400 individual gadgets, the wall-mounted piece measures 34 meters wide by 6 meters high. Designed to encapsulate a view of the 20th century, the work represents man-made genocide. Looking back over the 20th century in the light of the nature-artifice dichotomy that has always preoccupied Miyajima, "MEGA DEATH" reflects the period as one in which human beings were murdered by their own kind in large numbers, in large-scale massacres and wars that chopped short the natural life cycle of birth and death. Each of the 2,400 blue-glowing LEDs represents an individual human life and the instant in which is snuffed out, unfulfilled. Contrasting starkly with the visual beauty of the work, its dark subtext is formed by the almost-audible sorrowful cries of those still clinging to life. Installed in a space large enough to allow total sensual immersion in the beauty of the blue lights and the terror of impending darkness, "MEGA DEATH" evokes a deep impression in the viewer.
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"Counter Voice in Milk"
performance video, projector, monitor
1999/photo by UENO Norihiro |
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Miyajima's latest performance video: "Counter Voice in Milk"
In parallel with his LED works, Miyajima Tatsuo has produced a series of performance works on videotape. Nevertheless, surprisingly few people are aware that his artistic roots lie in his street performances in the early 1980s. Those early works expressed the internalized anger and dissent that the artist could not put into words, externalized, along with exclamations and shouts, on the crowded streets of Shinjuku and Shibuya, and recorded on videotape, audience reactions and all.
These performances, exploring his connectedness to other people within society, gave way, from 1984 onwards, to works featuring LEDs and other mechanical elements. It was not until 1995 that, prompted by what he describes as his "recurring need to experience his own reality once again", he returned to the medium of performance, where his works are dominated by the same themes he has pursued in his LED works. In "Counter Voice in Milk", a new work following on from 1995's "Counter Voice in the Water", performers stand in front of washbasins filled with milk, each shouting their way through a countdown from nine to one, and, when their personal countdown reaches zero, each performer experiences "death" or "emptiness" by plunging their face into the milk-filled washbasin. The performer's face is then lifted out of the milk -- that essential life-supporting nourishment of all mammals -- letting the milk trickle down from their features, only to "die" again after the next countdown, by plunging back into the washbasin. This repetition of simple actions symbolizes the cycle of life, while the actions themselves evoke the everyday cycles in the performer's individual lives. The shouted countdowns and grim facial expressions of the performers call to mind the hardship faced by the individual in passing through the life-cycle, the difficulty of life itself, and the terror of death.
Whereas "Counter Voice in the Water" was performed by the artist himself, in "Counter Voice in Milk", the countdown is performed by other, unspecified performers. This marks a new departure in Miyajima's performance art, and also seems to emphasize his connection to other people, which has become increasingly important in the artist's work in recent years, reflecting developments in his personal life.
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"Floating Time V1-100"
computer graphics soft, projector, gauze
450*320*450cm (installation)
1999/photo by UENO Norihiro |
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"Floating Time": flashing numbers feature in this latest addition to Miyajima's series on the theme of time
In "Floating Time", which made its first appearance at a solo exhibition of Miyajima's work at the Fuji Television Gallery in 1999, the artist uses computer graphics to express himself in a new way. Projected down from equipment mounted in the ceiling, numbers of varying colors and sizes flash as they move freely over the floor. This dynamic element contrasts with most of Miyajima's LED works, where the LEDs themselves are mounted on floors or walls and flash repeatedly without changing position. However, it is not the first time Miyajima has used movement: in "Running Time", unveiled in 1993, the numbers were enabled to move through space by mounting the LEDs on miniature electric-powered automobiles running around the floor. In "Floating Time", the use of computer graphics gives the LEDs greater freedom of movement, and more dynamic possibilities, producing an image of numbers floating freely, not only over the floor, but also through three-dimensional space.
In this exhibition, "Floating Time" is enclosed within a space delimited by screens. Anyone entering this space will find numbers flitting across their upturned hand, and all other surfaces: the viewer is physically immersed in floating, flowing, all-enveloping time. Viewers watching from outside the screens can also enjoy an objective viewpoint on the floating figures (symbols of time) as they flow over other viewers who have entered the space.
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"Count down Drawing against the Wall"
plaster board, drill
280*1180cm 2000/photo by UENO Norihiro |
"Count Down Drawing against the Wall": a new drawing with strong flavor of performance
"Count Down Drawing against the Wall", a wall fresco exhibited for the first time at this exhibition, was drawn directly on to a wall surface measuring roughly 12 meters square. Conventionally, in their capacity as sketches of an artwork at the conceptual stage, drawings usually offer valuable insight into the artist's mental processes, and as such, they can be fascinating. This particular drawing, however, has a high artistic value in its own right, and could be more accurately described as a piece of performance art. To experience the full impact of this work in all its freshness, it needs to be seen in situ.
| "MEGA DEATH: shout! shout! count!": The ideas behind the exhibition title |
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As we have explained, "MEGA DEATH: shout! shout! count!" sets out to introduce Miyajima Tatsuo's latest works in several different media. The themes running through all the artist's work -- continual change, interconnectedness, and eternity -- gain heightened persuasiveness by being expressed in different ways. Besides their superficial beauty and stillness, the installations of LEDs for which Miyajima is best known tend to leave an impression of an Eastern, Buddhist subtext. This reading, however, omits their most profound significance, which concerns that undefinable something, neither Eastern nor Western, lying at the root of humanity: that which gives added meaning to the life cycle of ever-repeated life and death. It is towards this inexpressible idea that Miyajima's work is yearning, through a range of different media. Therefore, although the title of this exhibition and the selection of works included have been designed to produce a new slant on Miyajima Tatsuo, it is noticeable that in actual fact, they return, full-circle, to his universal themes: while the artist, or his work are continuously changing, they are forging connections with other people, and their essential flow continues eternally. This could be seen as reflecting the fact that Miyajima's principal themes are, in his own words, crystallizing more solidly along with his own personal experience and the realizations he has arrived at over time. Now, in the year 2000, the 21st century lies before us as we stand on the dividing line between centuries and millennia -- large units of time. This is the perfect point at which to reassess the whole concept of time. We hope this exhibition of works by Miyajima Tatsuo will prompt every viewer to pause a moment and think about time, the cycle of life, and the alternation of birth and death, renewing their personal awareness of time.
Dates: Friday 3 March, 2000 - Sunday 14 May, 2000
Opening Hours: 12:00 - 20:00 (to 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, entry up to 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Mondays (Tuesday if the Monday is a public holiday), year-end/new year, General closing days (twice a year)
Admission: Ordinary:900 yen (700 yen), College and high school students: 700 yen (550yen), Junior high and elementary school students: 500 yen (400 yen), Children below school age: free
*Admission includes entrance for Terada Gallery and project N.
*Amounts in brackets ( ) are rates for groups 15 or more.
Organizered by the Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation and Asahi Shimbun
Sponsored by Nippon Life Insurance Company / NTT Urban Development Co. /
Odakyu Department Store Co.,ltd. / The Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company
For further information: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery Tel. +81-3-5353-0756
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