Ghost / Unknown Mass
2010
Towada Art Center, Towada Japan
Ghost
A large, white sculpture stands on the lawn. On first sight, it seems abstract, but two large black openings on the lower end turn it into a huge ghost.
Ghosts and specters take on the widest possible range of forms in our imagination. People often imagine them as being invisible: only material from the physical world, for example a sheet thrown over them, lends them visibility. This cloth veils the form and reveals it at the same time, a phenomenon interesting not only for fiction, but also for sculpture.
But Ghost not only rises from the field as a majestic solitary sculpture; it also places itself in the context of the museum building on the other side of the street. Its color and scale relate explicitly to the minimalist architectures: but where the latter are cubical in shape and organized in accordance with a strict plan, the sculpture is organic and flowing and seems to float over the lawn.
Unknown Mass
Unknown Mass, too, relates explicitly to the architecture in whose context it is positioned. Viewed from a distance, the sculpture seems like a sluggish, gleaming mass dripping down from the upper edge of the building. The slow swelling of a drop stands in contradiction to the high-gloss material, evoking a fluidity like that of mercury. The sculpture, which seems abstract from the exterior of the building, suggests a completely different interpretation to the user of the restroom, who perceives it as a spook hanging upside down to peer into the room. The form’s two openings are immediately read as eyes, which lends the form a poetic-animistic aspect. At the same time, in such an intimate situation, this perception can be somewhat suprising.
Unknown Mass takes on its complete meaning only when one visits the restroom building, where it takes on this new interpretation and can be set in relation to Ghost.
Photos:
©inges idee
A large, white sculpture stands on the lawn. On first sight, it seems abstract, but two large black openings on the lower end turn it into a huge ghost.
Ghosts and specters take on the widest possible range of forms in our imagination. People often imagine them as being invisible: only material from the physical world, for example a sheet thrown over them, lends them visibility. This cloth veils the form and reveals it at the same time, a phenomenon interesting not only for fiction, but also for sculpture.
But Ghost not only rises from the field as a majestic solitary sculpture; it also places itself in the context of the museum building on the other side of the street. Its color and scale relate explicitly to the minimalist architectures: but where the latter are cubical in shape and organized in accordance with a strict plan, the sculpture is organic and flowing and seems to float over the lawn.
Unknown Mass
Unknown Mass, too, relates explicitly to the architecture in whose context it is positioned. Viewed from a distance, the sculpture seems like a sluggish, gleaming mass dripping down from the upper edge of the building. The slow swelling of a drop stands in contradiction to the high-gloss material, evoking a fluidity like that of mercury. The sculpture, which seems abstract from the exterior of the building, suggests a completely different interpretation to the user of the restroom, who perceives it as a spook hanging upside down to peer into the room. The form’s two openings are immediately read as eyes, which lends the form a poetic-animistic aspect. At the same time, in such an intimate situation, this perception can be somewhat suprising.
Unknown Mass takes on its complete meaning only when one visits the restroom building, where it takes on this new interpretation and can be set in relation to Ghost.
Photos:
©inges idee