GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Tatsuo Miyajima was born in Tokyo in 1957 and received two degrees from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1984 and 1986. His sculpture deals with the metaphysics of light, numbers, electricity, and space. An artist of exceptional perception and vision, Miyajima is nearly alone in the resolve and range he brings to the idea of large-scale electrical installations that combine the traditional beauty of glowing color (red, green and blue light-emitting diode units) with an entirely contemporary feel for technology and its import in today's world. Hypnotic and mysterious, Miyajima's work consists primarily of strings of numbers in small electrical units not unlike the banks of numerals found in space labs and control stations. Miyajima is interested not in security, research or exploration that such numbers often connote, but in the mysterious way in which numbers and electricity can represent infinities of time and space. Miyajima builds Zen-like environments out of common electrical devices that captivate visually while suggesting a fusion of Eastern mysticism and Western technology, raising the idea that the scientific and the spiritual are in no way incompatible.
Such a view of the potential metaphysical import of our technological landscape is a theme common today not only in the visual arts but also in film, literature, philosophy, and cultural studies. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is of course a paradigm of the way in which our technological capabilities can be seen leading us into unknown areas of cognition, perception, and being. In the final stages of the movie the narrative evolves into an enigmatic yet rapturous evocation of the very origins and possible extinction of human existence, as the astronaut meets something in space that can only be described as both apocalyptic and regenerative. This investigation of the power of science to bring us closer to answering (or even being able to raise) the most basic questions of existence occurs as well in recent scientific research postulating the existence of invisible strings of matter and energy that govern the laws of the universe, to the complex yet barely extant core matter of atoms that replicate, on infinitesimal, scale these essential laws.
Miyajima's work then fits neatly into this strain of contemporary thought by visually postulating the existence of infinitude through slowly counting number systems that behave according to the program Miyajima devises. Using only the numbers one through nine, Miyajima's numerals also correspond to either increase or decrease: in one installation, all the red numbers go from one to nine, while the green ones start at nine and descend in order. In others, numbers are arranged in a lengthy solo line across the room, and count off their sequences with nearly organic irregularity that suggests growth, or least sentience. In still another installation, Miyajima has installed glowing blue numerals on spinning apparata so that the numerals appear to be slowly cascading through empty space.
Adapted from
- Gallery text, Hoffman Galleries, 2009.
- Charles Wylie, DMA unpublished material, 2009.
NOTES
DMA unpublished material = * "Hoffman Galleries, 2009." File on TAZ.
* Charles Wylie, "Acquisition Proposal," April 22, 2009. In object file.
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IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
Tate~Watch a video of artist Tatsuo Miyajima in conversation with art historian Marcus Verhagen .
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES (digitized/non-digitized)
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
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set operator as OR
apply to constituents where id equals 3378
apply to objects where constituent_id equals 3378
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General Description
Tatsuo Miyajima was born in Tokyo in 1957 and received two degrees from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1984 and 1986. His sculpture deals with the metaphysics of light, numbers, electricity, and space. An artist of exceptional perception and vision, Miyajima is nearly alone in the resolve and range he brings to the idea of large-scale electrical installations that combine the traditional beauty of glowing color (red, green and blue light-emitting diode units) with an entirely contemporary feel for technology and its import in today's world. Hypnotic and mysterious, Miyajima's work consists primarily of strings of numbers in small electrical units not unlike the banks of numerals found in space labs and control stations. Miyajima is interested not in security, research or exploration that such numbers often connote, but in the mysterious way in which numbers and electricity can represent infinities of time and space. Miyajima builds Zen-like environments out of common electrical devices that captivate visually while suggesting a fusion of Eastern mysticism and Western technology, raising the idea that the scientific and the spiritual are in no way incompatible.
Such a view of the potential metaphysical import of our technological landscape is a theme common today not only in the visual arts but also in film, literature, philosophy, and cultural studies. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is of course a paradigm of the way in which our technological capabilities can be seen leading us into unknown areas of cognition, perception, and being. In the final stages of the movie the narrative evolves into an enigmatic yet rapturous evocation of the very origins and possible extinction of human existence, as the astronaut meets something in space that can only be described as both apocalyptic and regenerative. This investigation of the power of science to bring us closer to answering (or even being able to raise) the most basic questions of existence occurs as well in recent scientific research postulating the existence of invisible strings of matter and energy that govern the laws of the universe, to the complex yet barely extant core matter of atoms that replicate, on infinitesimal, scale these essential laws.
Miyajima's work then fits neatly into this strain of contemporary thought by visually postulating the existence of infinitude through slowly counting number systems that behave according to the program Miyajima devises. Using only the numbers one through nine, Miyajima's numerals also correspond to either increase or decrease: in one installation, all the red numbers go from one to nine, while the green ones start at nine and descend in order. In others, numbers are arranged in a lengthy solo line across the room, and count off their sequences with nearly organic irregularity that suggests growth, or least sentience. In still another installation, Miyajima has installed glowing blue numerals on spinning apparata so that the numerals appear to be slowly cascading through empty space.
Adapted from
- Gallery text, Hoffman Galleries, 2009.
- Charles Wylie, DMA unpublished material, 2009.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
(digitized/non-digitized)
Web Resources
Notes
DMA unpublished material = * "Hoffman Galleries, 2009." File on TAZ.
* Charles Wylie, "Acquisition Proposal," April 22, 2009. In object file.
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artists_and_designers-0183.xml.nores