MIYAJIMA TATSUO RETROSPECTIVE AT THE M.C.A.

The M.C.A. is on Circular Quay in Sydney just around the the Rocks. A few years ago it held a retrospective exhibition for Yoko Ono. This year the gallery was focusing on Miyajima Tatsuo and the exhibition was no less impressive. Despite the obsession of digital devices counting down from nine to zero the exhibition was about so much more. It included the work 'Megadeath' which covers two entire walls with numerous blue digital LED screens counting down from nine to zero representing the twentieth century, the century of death, which every now and then switches off so that the room is plunged into darkness. Then, after an unspecified amount of time, the LED screens flicker back to life and the countdown begins again. Then there was the work 'Arrow of Time; which sees a shift to tiny, little, red LED screens suspended from the ceiling. Visitors can lie down on cushions and pillows and watch the various countdowns above them. In a sense it represents time raining down onto the world. Miyajima explains the zero in the countdown which comes from the sanskrit as being that part of existence that is invisible while what we call life is that part which is visible. 

There were some interesting videos of his 'performances' art in the 1980s before he switched to objects and installations. He is interested in the concept of the 'Art in You' and in the relationship between the artist the object and the audience. According to the definition he gave in a video interview the the curator of the retrospective exhibition there is no art without an audience. With objects and installations he can communicate more effectively with more people. 

In another series of videos Miyajima had people countdown from nine to zero before immersing there faces in a liquid. The liquids included water, wine and milk. Water represented the amniotic fluids, milk represented breast milk and birth whilst wine has special significance form Christians. Coming out of the space where 'Megadeath' had been installed a little child started scraping its heels on the floor and then called out "Will that pierce my eardrum?" in the darkness." In another room down the corridor there was a slag heap on the floor on which a number of LED screens were counting down. These related to various statistics about fossil fuels in Germany. Around the slag heap a track for a toy train had been set up. Before too long a train came around the corner hauling a long line of carriages on which there were more LED screens counting down from nine to zero. These represented the Jews that had been taken to the death camps in Germany during the war in trains burning coal.