Yuko MOHRI "OROCHI"

1/19 (Sat.) - 2/24 (Sun.), 2013
Opening Reception: 1/19 (Sat.) 6:00pm-9:00pm

*Open on Friday through Sunday 1-7pm and Monday 5-11pm
*The exhibition will open at 1pm before the opening salon on Saturday, 1/19. The artists will attend the opening at 6-9pm.
Installation View
Works
Hanamaki (Rekka)
2013
Mixed Media, Size variable
Photo by Hideto Maezawa
Kurohebi
2013
Mixed Media, Size variable
Photo by Hideto Maezawa
Shirohebi
2013
Mixed Media, Size variable
Photo by Hideto Maezawa
Shiranui / Unryu
2013
Mixed Media, Size variable
Photo by Hideto Maezawa
Press release
PDF

Tokyo, Japan – waitingroom is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Yuko MOHRI, “OROCHI“, through 19th of January to February 24th, 2013. It is her second solo show at our gallery and is also a part of Regional Alliance Program for “The 5th Yebisu International Festival for Arts & Alternative Visions” organized by Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

About the Artist

MOHRI was born in Kanagawa prefecture in 1980. After she graduated from Tama Art University interaction design course, she finished her studies in intermedia art at Tokyo University of the Arts. She became interested in representation using technology when she was a student and since then has been exploring fields of art that can only be expressed using the computer, information, and mechanics. One of the styles she has established to show her work is through installations, combining scrap materials and tools that are no longer in use with mechanical parts; a characteristic that is unique to her work is the individual movement of each materials displayed. Since MOHRI had originally been interested in music too, she is also known to create visual spaces using instruments intertwined with motors and cords to produce light and sound.

Hacking materials such as everyday goods and mechanical parts, and dowsing the spacial area

MOHRI’s work starts from “hacking” tools and everyday goods that she has collected through a long period of time. She places these materials in a different context by viewing them from another perspective, taking them apart, and reconstructing them. She calls this process of breathing new life into them, “hacking materials.” After she finishes her installation piece, she takes the assemblage of materials into the exhibiting space and begins the “dowsing” process. Another characteristic of MOHRI’s work is that they are closely connected to the environmental factors of the space, such as the lighting, humidity, scenery, and atmosphere. In her work of three pieces,“Circles,” (waitingroom/Tokyo) “Circuits,” (adanda/Osaka) “Circus” (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Bloomberg Pavillion/ Tokyo) that were presented in 2012, she tried to exhibit the same art work in spaces with various conditions. MOHRI says that the process of dowsing, where one searches for minerals in the water, is similar to her approach to art; she tries to take in as much element as possible that pass by unnoticed in the ordinary life, and combine them with the materials she has collected. By “hacking materials and dowsing spacial areas,” she creates works that are integrated with the surrounding atmosphere and through them, she strives to create energy and make characters of materials visible to our eyes. She wants the viewers to be unconsciously reminded of the unique memories of the exhibiting space and place unconsciously.

Feeling the energy from the “Connection” of “Orochi”

The title of this exhibition, “Orochi” comes from the artist’s recent passion for materials like strings and cords. They can be found in our ordinary lives; strings are components of our clothes, cords are connected to home appliances, and ropes are used to pack things into one. Ever since MOHRI began to wonder if inseparable relationships, or “connections” that are established deep within human nature, are caused by a form of invisible energy, just like gravity or magnetic force, she became interested in the meaning of materials.

“A while ago, I visited a company for electronic communication equipments and saw this grotesque object hanging from the ceiling as if it were a giant snake or a skeleton of a dinosaur. Seeing it up close, I realized it was a bundle of red, blue, and yellow electric cords. The employees at this workplace called this monster, ‘orochi,’ which means ‘giant sepernt.’ I’ve always showed the electric wires in my works too and that’s because I wanted the viewers to feel the invisible energy of the connection between the objects by showing the materials as they are. (Yuko MOHRI)”

MOHRI creates an “orochi” by focusing on two materials “string” and “cord,” and reconstructing their meaning and power at our gallery. Please come and feel the energy produced by these materials.

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Website

Artist
毛利悠子
Yuko MOHRI