Year: 2013
Medium: gardening toy, light bulb, lens, feather, etc.
Dimensions: dimensions variable
Edition: No. 2 of 10 + A.P. 2
Acquired from New Auction, 2023
This work was created as a small-scale installation divided into several parts. A solar panel illuminated by a light bulb generates electricity, and a motor powered by this electricity rotates, causing the toy butterfly to flap its wings. Everything has a cause and effect. There is a thought experiment in Chaos Theory widely known as the Butterfly Effect, but even in the real world, sometimes there are results that exceed calculation and logic. In many of Mohri’s works, the approach of the relation between cause and effect is made visible. Butterflies undergo a mysterious metamorphosis when they hatch from larva to pupa. If the butterfly motif symbolizes the mysterious causal relationship from A to B and then to C, then it is very typical of Mohri. It operates arbitrarily under the presence of artificial light. The act of a person turning on the light, rather than nature, ignites the energy within this small closed system. If the final result of this is the fluttering of butterfly wings, it is clear that no other meanings make sense than the phenomenon of light being converted into motion. The lens placed beside the work attracts viewers’ eyes. Perhaps it is a message urging us to observe the cause-and-effect phenomenon thoroughly.
