℃ - Pulsating Spaces
2010.７.２３～９.５
A Solo Exhibition by Shigeru Moroizumi
Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei
MOCA Studio
Pulsating Spaces
ーFor a moment, I saw dozens of thermometers which were scattered over the work desk in my atelier connect to each other. They lined up one after another in my brain making a red band. And, they started making a series of movements under the sun light coming through a window.－
I create artworks using thermometers as material. One day I was fascinated with the thermometer visualizing the energy of temperature, which exists on the earth but invisible. The thermometer is an instrument made of liquid in a thin glass tube and can physically express the temperature which is indispensable for us to keep on living. And it changes itself in the glass tube all the time. I thought that I would be able to create artworks out of such a creature-like phenomenon using the thermometer. It’s been more than 20 years since I devoted myself into expression with the thermometer, the instrument created by mankind and ever changing.
There is no scale on the thermometers I use for my artwork. The thermometers without scales have no more function of measuring but are showing a new aspect of a thermometer. It can be clearly observed in field works. One example is a thermometer installed on the slope of mountain. The temperature rises along the sunshine coming through the trees, and the red band of thermometers move corresponding to the movements of sunshine. The heat energy of the sun draws the red lines. It is the earthwork by energy with the thermometer as media. It is an experience to realize the mystery and beauty of astronomical body which can never be drawn twice in the same manner.
As described above, my artwork is to visualize the physical changes of astronomical bodies through the thermometers.
The new work in this exhibition is the “shake-hands performance”. A visitor audience and I shake hands holding a thermometer between the hands. The thermometer would take in our body temperature and moves up or down. The changes are recorded to the thermometer and I will create a work by constructing them.
I intend to create an installation space collaborating with the people I meet in Taipei. Translation Ayumi Kudo
Visual Record of Fieldwork
Fieldwork is where the series work of lining up thermometers started. I confront the temperature that is different place by place, and I assume it is a drawing of temperature drawn by thermometers. When it is an indoor exhibition, thermometers are set to the temperature of the air-conditioned room, and they make a beautiful horizontal line on the wall. On the other hand, when it is exhibited outdoor field, various conditions such as season, weather, place, ticking time, affect the temperature, and the thermometers show a variety of conditions. You are required to be flexible to confront it, and see the results that you don’t expect. It is a necessary activity for me to achieve what is not achieved without experiencing.
We recorded the images of the thermometers set up in different places in Taipei, and edited to make one video to show how the red band of the thermometers are connected and spread out in the towns. Translation Ayumi Kudo
ⒸSHIGERU MOROIZUMI