Tatsuo Miyajima, “Keep Changing, Connect with Everything, Continue Forever”
Tatsuo Miyajima is an artist known for works using digital counters made of LEDs (light-emitting diodes).
He drew attention with his work “Sea of Time,” shown at “Aperto 88” (the young-artists section) of the 1988 Venice Biennale, and in 1999 he participated in the Venice Biennale as Japan’s representative, earning acclaim as a world-renowned artist.
A museum where you can easily see Miyajima’s work is the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, where the work “Keep Changing, Connect with Everything, Continue Forever” is installed in a large space.
The floor of this final viewing space, leading to the exit of the collection-exhibition rooms, has become a place where diverse viewing styles intersect—people photographing with smartphones, and people sitting quietly on the installed benches.
After nearly 20 years, the LEDs had developed individual variations due to deterioration over time. As if responding to one of the meanings suggested by the work’s title, they were restored during the nearly three-year renewal closure of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.
There are 1,728 LED digital counters in all, each displaying the numbers “1–9” at a different speed. *The number “0” is not displayed.
The LEDs, each counting at a different speed, feel as though they represent a single human being. It is like the journey of life that each of us leads.
Counting up 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, the numbers, instead of displaying 0, go dark and meet a brief darkness. The pace stops, and then begins to move again. The stillness and motion the numbers etch feel like life and death, and also seem to urge us to rest.
And the relationships among each of the 1,728 numbers make me imagine the social life we lead.
The space outside the work also comes to look meaningful—isn’t this a work with a mysterious power…
Overview
Title: Keep Changing, Connect with Everything, Continue Forever
Artist: Tatsuo Miyajima
Year: 1998
Size: 288 × 384 × 13 cm
Collection: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Materials/technique: red light-emitting diodes (TIME D-R, 1,728 units), integrated circuits, electric cords, circuit boards, transformers
*Light Emitting Diode, IC, electric wire, aluminum panel, steel.
