Tokujin Yoshioka - Crystallize

November, 1 2013 • 10:00

Posted inEvents

Greek philosopher Aristotle developed a method for evaluation and classification of art based on the theory that the true form of art is the imitation of nature.
Aristotle attributed the origin of art to the human affinity for imitation. From childhood, imitation is the primary method of learning. Aristotle concluded that it is natural for humans to "delight in works of imitation."
This is particularly true if we think how forms mimic organic structures, like Zaha Hadid’s work, for example, strike our imagination.

However, what Tokujin Yoshioka intended to do in his “Crystallize” exhibition at Museum for Contemporary Art in Tokyo, wasn’t simply to imitate nature but to expose the beauty inside natural processes as it is.
Through an inversion of the common roles, the designer becomes the mean by which the nature expresses itself, with little or no artificial intervention.

 

 

 

Crystallization is a natural phenomenon that happens when a supersaturated saline solution is cooled down. Germs of crystals (constituted by atoms regularly packed in a geometric lattice) form spontaneously around the bodies immersed in the solution and grow, branching like a tree.

 

 

 

 “Rose” sculpture and “Spider’s Thread” chair are two of the works exhibited in which a substrate for the growth of crystals is given: respectively a rose, hence the name, and a structure of seven fine threads in a form of a chair.
In “Swan Lake” crystals are free to grow on a plane surface but the direction in which they go is influenced by the vibration of a speaker transmitting the notes of the homonymous Tchaikowsky’s ballet.

 

 

 

 

Poetically opposed to the creation of matter seen in the crystallization, “Rainbow church” explores the themes of deconstruction.
When white light passes through a crystal prism, it decomposes in the components that form the colors of the rainbow.
In this installation, 500 prisms force the light to pass into a narrow space surrounded by white walls, creating reflections that give this experience a nearly mystical meaning.

 

 

 

Images © MOT/Museum for Contemporary Art