Saturday, March 21, 2015

camminando & vernissage | A White Equinox Night in New York

Urban snowscape: Broadway, at 71st Street
The March equinox 2015, which is also the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, is greeted by snow in New York, as the latest of the multitude of snowstorms hitting the Northeast extends to springtime. White is color du jour, overpowering the darkness of the night with the snow-laced trees of the New York urban grid streetscapes.

White is also the dominant color of "Cyclicscape", Mariko Mori exhibition which opened at Sean Kelly, in this snow dominated evening. The opening also included a performance in collaboration with composer Ken Ikeda. Excerpts from the press release state the intent of the work:
Cyclicscape will present ten new sculptures exploring Mori’s interest in Möbius forms and the endless universe of new physics theory. Variously called “ekpyrotic” or “cyclic” cosmology, this theory posits that the universe did not begin from one singular “Big Bang” but that our cosmos is filled with continuously repeating cycles of evolution, including possible parallel universes and an ever-expanding formation of new galaxies and planets.
     In Cyclicscape, Mori’s sculptural works play with the infinite loop of the Möbius strip as a visualization of our universe’s never-ending renewal of invisible energy. Futuristic and ethereal, the large-scale aluminum and stainless steel works seem to transcend their physical matter. With no beginning, middle, or end, the forms symbolize an eternal cycle of existence — of nature and the universe in perpetual motion.
    Inspired by nature’s invisible energy, the eight computer-generated photo-paintings in the exhibition are based on drawings Mori made in front of the ocean on Okinawa Island. Focused on a microscopic cosmos we can only imagine, Mori’s swirling particles and rotating atoms seem to radiate a phenomenal light and electricity. From the primal particle to the multiverse, Cyclicscape deepens Mori’s ongoing investigation into the interconnectedness of all things and a belief in a fundamental symbiosis between art and technology.

Mariko Mori
Sculptural explorations of the Möbius strip, in aluminum and fiberglass
Computer generated photo paintings

Images from the performance, with composer Ken Ikeda at the synthesizer
Walk Length: 7.25 km