[from Lisson Gallery website]
Time and our perception of time as expressed through an ongoing succession of numbers lie at the heart of Tatsuo Miyajima’s practice. His sculptural work consists of networks of colored digital LED devices and integrated circuits. Miyajima calls the digital counters, the smallest units that make up the work, “gadgets”. The LEDs, placed on walls and floors, either at random or as part of structured networks, glow in the dark and convey a very specific atmosphere of silence and reflection. The numbers on the LEDs constantly change from 1 through 99 or from 1 through 9 in no specific sequential order. The endless counting of the numbers is just as important as the pauses between one flashing number and the next. Both convey a sense of temporal continuum marked by repetition and difference. Miyajima’s works can be considered the product of contemporary Japanese technology, but they also evoke a more profound philosophical proposition. According to Miyajima, the installation represents the universal concepts of “keep changing”, “connect with everything”, and “continue forever.” (Junichi Shioda, “Whither the Arts?” in Tatsuo Miyajima, MACRO, 2004, p. 135)
Tatsuo Miyajima lives and works in Ibaraki, Japan
www.tatsuomiyajima.com
Tatsuo Miyajima “Kadoya” at “house projects” at Naoshima 1998-1999
