Light Emitting Diode, IC, Electric wire, Wood, Stone.
Site specific commissioned work.
2005
Courtesy Samsung Museum of Art
Photo: Myoung-Rae Park
The LEDs Miyajima used for this work are digital devices that count down from 9 to 1 repeatedly without displaying zero, symbolizing the Buddhist concepts of the eternity and radiance of life. The LEDs are laid out in a grid fashion, centered on the museum entrance and extending out to the pavement and streets to entice passersby into the museum. The arrangement of the lights, however, remains grid-like and connected to the museum entrance, a layout suggestive of sections of different kinds: partitions, divisions, classes, zones. But because the LEDs move and change, the sections open and close, suggesting a "harmony of life" that goes beyond sections per se. Art must not be limited to closed spaces. Nor should people or societies be closed. This work aims, as the title suggests, to transcend such sections.
For this work, Miyajima called 40 people from the Museum friends and in the neighborhood to participate in the workshop. They determined and adjusted the counting speed of each LED as they wanted. The following is the list of the participants: Kyung Hoo Ahn / Kyung Shik Um / So-Hyun Jeon / Hee Sung Huh / Joon Lee / Jae Yeol Kim / Jihun Ahn / Soohee Park / Hayoon Kim / O kyung Kwon / Hee Young Yang / Jae Hyoup Lee / Rei Asao / Sin-Young Park / Ki Sook Nam / Jae-man Park / Seong Bae Kim / Hyeran Kim / Sun Jung Lee / Ka On Lee / Sung-rok Kwon / Ho Uhm / Ra Young Hong / Yu Ree Hong / Jiho Song / Hye Inn Kim / Ye Lim Hong / Mi Sung Moon / Keumha Jeun / Wonil Song / Ki-Hun Hong / Jee Eun Oh / Seung Hyun Ji / Eun-Hee Choi / Gyu-ho Oh / Soyeon Ahn / Mee Young Huh / Ra Hee Hong Lee / Young-Hee Min / Young Wha Park.