Camera Takahisa Araki
Performance video DVD and Blu-ray Disc (19min 11sec), pencil, Pigment ink, Acrylic paint, on wooden panel, with framed.
56 x 82.5 x 5 cm
Ed: 3
2000/2019
Courtesy Akio Nagasawa Gallery
Special Thanks Hara Museum (Tokyo)
This artwork, initially presented by Tokyo citizens during Miyajima’s solo exhibition at Opera City Gallery in 2000, involves a unique performance. Participants counted down from 9 to 1, and upon reaching "0," they would hold their breath and immerse their faces in milk, repeating this action multiple times. The process of counting down symbolizes the everchanging fact of “life,” and the subsequent silence represents the emptiness of "death."
In 2019, Miyajima revisited this concept with a personal performance at Hara Museum in Tokyo. Miyajima's decision to transform this performance into a video work raised questions about preserving its essence, including the process, thoughts, and reality behind it. To address this concern, in 2020, he ingeniously combined a drawing with the video, creating a comprehensive artwork that encapsulates the entire transformative process.