Following her residency at Camden Arts Centre in 2016, Yuko Mohri (b. 1980, Kanagawa, Japan) returns with a site-specific installation that harnesses the environmental and architectural conditions in Gallery 3. Mohri orchestrates relations between the invisible force of electromagnetism, the movement of air and the patterns of light refracted through water to activate a series of kinetic and musical sculptures. Often repurposing found objects and inviting chance factors to determine their behaviour, in this installation Mohri has taken inspiration from John Cage’s Variations VII, 1966, reconfiguring a Yamaha reed organ to play an improvisatory score that is generated by fish swimming in an aquarium.
Mohri’s audio-spatial composition maps the interplay of sculptural form and intangible phenomena, of shifting relations between material things and conceptual propositions. Informed by Japanese concepts such as Suki (the state of openness) as well as the return of an animistic worldview in recent western philosophy, Mohri’s installation is attuned to the inherent moods or feelings that architectural spaces are imbued with and reveals the interconnectedness of the built environment with natural processes.
The title of the exhibition – Voluta – refers to the spiralling shell of a sea snail and calls on multiple visual associations from sacred geometry, architectural ornamentation and the treble clef in musical notation. In two new sculptures from the eponymous series, recorded music is directed through lengths of cable draped into coils that translate musically-coded signals into electro-magnetic fields. Metallic objects and magnets are compelled by this force, creating subtle sounds as they tremble and move.
Music and sound are central to Mohri’s practice – her involvement with the experimental music scene in Japan has included collaborations with Yoshihide Otomo and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The exhibition will be punctuated with a number of live performances including the internationally acclaimed composer, pianist and electronic musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and Akio Suzuki – a pioneer of experimental sound art. These performances are presented in association with 33:33 as part of MODE JAPAN | LONDON.
In the Reading Room Mohri has installed an earlier work – Oni-bi (fen fire), 2013-17 – which invokes a legend from Japanese mythology. Like Will-o’-the-Wisp in English folklore, mysterious lights are said to hover over bogs or swamps and are thought to be apparitions of human and animal spirits. In this installation delicate, electrically-charged threads are blown against a wire mesh, creating ephemeral sparks of light that resemble luminescent fire flies. The electrical connections also send signals to a mechanical glockenspiel which plays gamelan-like sounds to a score generated by the movement of air.
Supported by Arts Council Tokyo, Arts Initiative Tokyo, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, the Japan Foundation, Nissan Art Award, Terumo Foundation for Life Sciences and Arts, Project Fulfill Art Space, White Rainbow, Angela Koulakoglou and the Yuko Mohri Exhibition Circle. The artist would like to thank Yui Yoshizumi, David Toop and Nayo Higashide.