Blog - MIYAJIMA Tatsuo "Art In You"
Miyajima Tatsuo "Art In You"
On Saturday we got up early and headed to Mito, Ibaraki, where we checked out Art Tower Mito in the morning. While outside of Tokyo, this modern art museum often has great shows, and we try to catch as many as possible.
Currently showing is LED digits artist Miyajima Tatsuo's "Art In You" exhibition. I had seen his works before a few times at other museums, and there's also an outdoor wall with huge digits called "Counter Void" that can be seen outside TV Asahi near Roppongi Hills.
This time, the most important new work displayed is "HOTO", a tower of mirrors with thousands of colored digits stuck on them. There are several levels of all heights and sizes, all stacked up to a total of 6 meters! As with other of his works, all digits keep counting up or down at different speeds, and some digits reflect in mirrors from other levels. I just wished each level would spin individually. :)
Also taking prominent space in the gallery is a collection of large photos of people in different places, each with a digit on their body, under the title "Counter Skin". According to the pamphlet, each person picked their favorite number.
Aside from that, there is an impressive dark room with linked counting red digits around it, titled "Death of Time", various paintings by the artist, and "Death Clock" computer installations which show photos of participants and a clock that counts down to their death time in the future (a moment chosen by each of them).
On the way out was a room promoting nattō (fermented soy beans Mito is famous for), a whole publicity campaign complete with original song and music video, that looks like it's straight out of a kids' TV show, and a corner to sit and watch... Only it's not a real campaign but the works of artist Iida Yoshino. That was truly a lot of fun as we were tricked about whether the nattō packages are real and for sale,.. well at least her DVD was. :)
Here's her fake talent agency. (All of these girls are the artist herself.) There are a few YouTube links to be found there, but not yet of the nattō song.
Miyajima Tatsuo's "Art in You" exhibition
At Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito (Mito, Ibaraki pref.)
Until May 11
More details at Tokyo Art Beat
Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr
Posted on April 16, 2008 at 23:16 | Tweet
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i tried that natto stuff once. ooh, very interesting.
what's your favorite number?
Posted by jen on April 19, 2008 at 03:27