Year: 2004
Medium: light-emitting diode, silver-plated brass bar, Plexiglas, electric wire and IC
Dimensions: 39 x 26 x 16 cm (15 3/8 x 10 1/4 x 6 1/4 in.)
Acquired from Christie’s, 2023
In “MEGA DEATH,” presented as the representative artist of the Japanese Pavilion at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999, it is fair to say that the series of digital counters showed a certain kind of destination. By replacing human life with countless inorganic counts, impermanence is expressed there. If “MEGA DEATH” was a gathering of human beings, the subsequent “Counter Fragile,” including this work, is a smaller-scale version that once again turns attention to the individual. It can be said that this work is more organic when compared to the solid forms of the previous works in the series. Wires are surrounded three-dimensionally by a cloud-shaped plate, which creates a twisting silhouette like painting a spiral. The scattered digital counters are extremely small, and the red numbers flickering in the darkness appear to be ephemeral indeed. “Fragile” means something that is easily broken and ephemeral. However, the repeated flickering of the numbers just like the beating of our hearts, is ticking away the time without stopping. In “MEGA DEATH,” all 2400 units of the counters become “0” at a certain moment, in other words, darkness comes like a downfall. In this work, too, the number “0” is not displayed while the red light disappears at that moment. However, multiple counters never vanish into the darkness altogether. Aside from the rhythm of each counter displaying the numbers 1 through 9, the darkness of “0” flows along the twisted form of the entire work. The expression of these double pulsations makes us imagine the spiral of life that we should connect to the future.
