現代美術　増川寿一

"Transparent and layered surface" or "connecting two conflicting events"

Masahiro Aoki

  (Art critic, former deputy director of Toyota Municipal Museum of Art)

The image of salt is projected on the wall of salt, which is also on the front and back of the wall. On the front of the wall, a concentrated salt water falls, on the back, a spindle-shaped salt mass falls and its deposit, and after a while, a shadow-like image of a man appears in the deposited salt. The surface of the salt wall acts as a screen, and the salt as an image is reflected there. It seems that the actual salt of different dimensions and the salt of the image are assimilated. Those who confront this work without any information will not know that it is salt. What the hell is this? Video sculpture of salt? The title "SYNC-SALT WALL" SYNC is an abbreviation for SYNCHRONIZATION, which means synchronization.

For the past two months or so, it was the period from the concept of this "SYNC-SALT WALL" to the final stage of production, but Masukawa answered my question and exchanged emails more than a dozen times. I would like to face this new work while looking back on some of them. The keyword in the question and answer by e-mail is "non-linear science". In contrast to the two universal physical laws in the universe, the "law of conservation of energy" and the "law of increasing entropy," the contradictory concepts of collapse and creation are integrated with the term "dissipative structure," and energy is dissipated. Based on the theory that self-organization is achieved by this, it is a new science that tries to clarify the dynamic mechanism of the natural world from a different point of view from the conventional science. Entropy means physical quantities in the universe, that is, total quantities such as mass, volume, length, and time. According to the "Law of Entropy Increase", everything in this world goes from dynamic to static, from structure to unstructured, from life to death without exception.

Here, I would like to introduce some of the questions and answers about the new work that Masukawa and I exchanged.

​

Q: Why is it non-linear science, and when did you first encounter it?

A: The theory of nonlinear science that I encountered in 2008 revived the knowledge I experienced when I was a student.

Not only that, it gave me a feeling of being absorbed into my heart.

First of all, I was attracted to the structure that emerges when it dissipates. Words

In other words, the word of salvation is that collapse and creation, death and rebirth are scientifically real.

It seemed to me. Collapse and death are not necessarily events that result in nothing, it is creation

And building rebirth. I think of the idea of dissipative structure

It can be said that it is close to the concept of sculpture in the place.

Q: Why is it salt, is it due to its materiality, or is it a view?

Is it derived from just in case?

A: I think the reason why it is salt is because of its materiality.

vinegar. As with quartz, where you can see the characteristics of matter with your eyes.

I am interested in.

Q: There are some symmetrical images in my photographic works so far, but Rorschach

Have you ever been conscious of?

A: I haven't been particularly aware of Rorschach, but there are various things including nature.

I believe that events have a set law. As one of the laws

It can be said that it uses left-right symmetry.

Let's turn our attention to the structure of "SYNC-SALT WALL" again. It is understood that the concentrated salt water reflected on the front surface of the salt wall and the spindle-shaped salt mass projected on the back surface are related to the self-organization of the "dissipative structure" in nonlinear science. In addition, Masukawa started the idea of simultaneously projecting different images on the front and back of the salt wall from the late 1980s to the early 90s when he was making sculptures by constructing units made of copper and iron plates. It can be interpreted that the relationship between the surface and the inner structure that was being explored has reappeared here. Masukawa's work so far, as the heat-retaining light bulb that blinks at 36 to 38 degrees, which is close to the human body temperature, played a role as a metaphor for human existence in "Fetal Movement" produced in 2008. Introduces an element that makes us sense the existence of human beings in some way. In this work, it appears as a swaying figure in the wall of accumulated salt. Masukawa replied, "I haven't been particularly conscious of Rollschach, but there are laws in various events, and I used left-right symmetry as one of them." In my opinion, left-right symmetry works to create a human presence on the spot. This is probably because the human body is the most familiar being with left-right symmetry. Most of the animals, which are literally dynamic creatures, have a symmetrical body shape, and the plants that do not move and stay in one place to complete their lives are asymmetrical. Also, the iconography of Rorschach makes me imagine the skeleton of the human body, especially the pelvis.

In Masukawa's e-mail, at the same time as answering the question, the outline of the work, changes in the contents and installation method, etc. were described in Katsuaki each time. Initially, the main motif of the video was men and women floating in salt water while swaying. It will be changed to a metronome in the next email, and men and women floating in salt water will disappear. At the same time, a video plan appears on the back of the screen, which is the fall and accumulation of spindle-shaped salt lumps, or the fall of concentrated salt water. Next, the salt water on the back side moves to the front side of the screen and overlaps with the metronome image. At the same time, a shadow of a person appears in the salt deposit on the back side. Then, in an email that arrived three weeks later, the material of the screen was suddenly changed to a salt wall, and at the same time, the metronome (and its sound) disappeared from the image on the surface. Through this process, I arrived at the work of projecting salt images on the front and back of the salt wall mentioned at the beginning.

Every time I received an email, I drew a diagram of the plan changes and watched the development carefully. Then, at one point, I realized that this production process, which can be called "purification," is close to "dissipative structure." So I remembered Masukawa's answer that "the idea of dissipative structure is close to the concept of sculpture that I think", and I was convinced that it was accompanied by a real feeling. It is certain that "SYNC-SALT WALL" is a structure that gives "will" to each of us who confront it, asking what kind of thoughts we have about our outlook on humans and the outlook on the world. ..