Dates｜February 1 – 29, 2024
Venue｜MEM  map
Open Hours｜13:00 – 19:00
The gallery is closed on Mondays that are not national holidays. (Except when Monday falls on a holiday, in which case the gallery is open and closed the following day.)
Telephone｜+81-3-6459-3205

Tomoaki Ishihara has been creating works that question the framework of media and the structure of seeing while crossing the boundaries of photography, painting, and sculpture. Here, Ishihara will present a video installation based on the assumption that “darkness” may be necessary for a stable view of the world, derived from research into “saccade” eye movements and the visual afterimage.

Eyes are moving. They are always moving. They are not simple body movements, but it is said that the eyeball quivers about three times each second. This unconscious movement of the eye is known as “saccade.” Despite these eye movements, the world appears stable, without any indistinctness. There are scientific explanations for this phenomenon, but it is quite strange that humans do not get motion sickness in their bodily vehicles, for the world should be constantly moving unsteadily.

On another note, I have heard the “afterimage” phenomenon facilitates smooth transitions between frames in film. In reality, there is a darkness between each frame. But it is said that in that darkness, the viewer is left with the afterimage of what they had been looking at the moment before. I was reminded of this afterimage phenomenon when I encountered the saccade phenomenon. Perhaps darkness is necessary for the stability of the world.

Tomoaki Ishihara

This exhibition will be held as one of the Partnership Programs of the Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2024.