Photo by (c) Keizo Kioku
Tatsuo Miyajima at the National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
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The National Art Center, Tokyo, inaugurates its exhibition Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010 with a major group presentation that includes Slash (1990), a seminal work by Tatsuo Miyajima.
Miyajima has long investigated the universal theme of time, linking it to reflections on the preciousness of life and the inevitability of mortality, extending at times to the tragedies of war. In 1987, he articulated three foundational principles that continue to guide his artistic practice:
“Keep changing. Connect with everything. Continue forever.”
His LED counter works, including Sea of Time (1988) and Slash (1990), embody these principles through their ceaseless numerical rhythms. In Slash, red and green LED counters are arranged diagonally across the surface, each blinking at individual tempos and cycling from 1 to 9. The number 0 never appears; when the counters go dark, it signifies death, a momentary void within the continuum of existence.
'Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989-2010'
The National Art Center, Tokyo
Special Exhibition Gallery 1E
7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8558