Blog #10: Joker's Wild!

For this "anything goes" blog assignment, I wanted to take a look again at works found on the Creators Project website and take a look at one that I find interesting.  Specifically, I am going to look at installation pieces by Japanese artist Mariko Mori, found on the Creators Project, which deal with the concept of infinity, as well as invisible energies.

Mariko Mori is an artist who has been working on projects with photography and installations, combining fantasy and technology since the mid 90s.  With this, she has focused more and more on the influences of technology, and in many of her works, has collaborated with engineers and artists to create permanent installations across the world to express her ideas on human connectivity and communication.

Made of fiberglass and utilizing a system of sensors to detect the energy of people around it, this installation, titled "Infinite Energy I, II, III" made this year (2013), premeired in Tokyo, take a great deal of inspiration from the construction of a mobius strip to create an infinite shape.

Mori's main concept behind this work though, is that the universe is made up of 96% invisible energy, thus, with the help of engineers and programmers, made the pieces capable of recording the energy of visitors by tracking the movement in the room, and uses this information to alter the colors of the sculptures through LEDs within them, creating a visual experience which is drawn from the energy of those observing the art, and creating a visualization for the invisible energy that our universe is made up of.

In more philosophical levels, the piece along with her otherworks (not listed), Mori hopes, will help lead to the realization that we as humans are part of nature, and that this energy which we cannot see can be used to connect us all together in a similar fashion as to how computers and technology can be connected through the employement of the internet.  By seeing light which is derived from the actions of the viewers, viewers may be able to make the connection that their actions hold consequence; that they influence that which is around them, even in invisible ways through simply moving around a room and expressing energy through that.

Personally, I find the seemingly simple yet elegant design of "Infinite Energy I, II, III" to add to the meaning intended for it, as the sheer simplicity of it allows people to truly focus on the important portions of the work, the infinite design and the lights that are made to interact with those around it with the so-called "invisible energy".  The general concept as well, is intriguing as throughout the course (ISTA 301), we have looked at the different manners in which interactivity enhances or can enhance the value or meaning of art by having aspects rely on the viewers of the work; the people who would call it art.  With this interactivity, the message is far more clear than possible to communicate by a static installation, because it embodies that which it is meant to represent, the infinite energy that connects us (as Mori would like us to see).

For more information on the piece, see the link below.

~~~~~Nathaniel Hendrix~~~~~


Sources:
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/show/mariko-mori-uses-sculpture-to-explore-infinity-video