Beijing Contemporary 2025 | Yuko MOHRI
Shown among Mohri’s recent works–including at the Japan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale–her sculptural artwork series Decomposition (2021–) uses a constellation of fruits as its source. These pieces strongly reflect the artist’s signature play with materials beyond her control, as well as her praxis of “not composing.” Tapping into fluctuating resistance generated by the fruits, Mohri sets up a composition translated by a synthesizer into an unstable harmony. Winking at the history of still-life painting, she suggests a sounding image that questions the relation between stillness and liveness, and reveals that what might seem with ought life is actually full of it. As the fruits dry and decay over time with sweet odor, the resistance of the fruits grow, and consequently changes the pitch of the tone, the sound, and the lights to flicker. The choice of fruits and the timing of their replacement is left to the owners, reflecting the conditions of their local environment.
Resembling Marcel Duchamp’s last work to include doors surrounded by brick archways from Cadaqués, Spain, the installation by Mohri utilizes antique objects found locally in Beijing.
