Together in electric dreams
For Japanese light artist Tatsuo Miyajima, LED lights ‘symbolise the glitter of human life’.
So much so, in fact, that much of his new work sees the little illuminations ‘in conversation’ with one another, chattering away as a sort of glowing colony.
Next month an exhibition of Miyajima’s work will open at London’s Lisson gallery, presenting three major new installations.
Each of the futuristic works use LED counters numbered from one to nine, which ‘communicate’ with one another thanks to technology developed by the artist and Tokyo-based scientist Professor Takashi Ikegami.
The pair has been developing an ‘artificial life’ system – effectively a field of computer simulations and robots that work together to mimic a human-like existence.
These experiments have culminated in the Life Palace installation, which is entered by a solo viewer, who becomes privy to the ‘life’ of the multitudinous LED lights.
The exterior of the piece is clad with red leather, though the interior is inspired by a traditional Japanese teahouse structure.
Elsewhere the artist draws on Buddhist ideas to create other LED-based installations.
According to the gallery, the Buddhist principles ‘Keep Changing’, ‘Connect with All’, and ‘Goes on forever’ underpin the works, formed from intricate networks of hundreds of coloured LED counters – creating their own microcosms that in their own, blinking way, replicate the cyclical nature of human life, death and rebirth.
Tatsuo Miyajima runs from 27 September – 2 November at Lisson Gallery, 29 Bell St, London NW1
Miyagima’s work has fascinated me for over a decade exploring concepts of duration and techno-ecologies with a sublime imminent aesthetic