Mariko Mori "Tom Na H-iu"
This is my favorite contemporary piece of art. When I walked into SCAI, The Bathhouse gallery, in Tokyo, Tom Na H-iu rocked my world.
Indeed the group I was with, students and teachers amounting to 30 people, were all left speechless, mouths agape at the incredible connection being made with the Universe.
We get caught up very easily in the everyday activities of our lives: go to work, eat, watch TV, take a dump. And then something likes this comes along, an ephemerally beautiful sculpture that opens our eyes to the transient nature of everything. Opens our eyes to the complex and interrelated existence we’re all part off. A most welcome cosmic interference.
Just so you understand exactly how this glass sculpture works, Tom Na H-iu is connected to the Super Kamiokande Neutrino Observatory. This observatory monitors and detects neutrinos, particles given off by the last breaths of dying stars: supernovae. Now, the size of the star and the nature of its supernova characterize the way it dies and consequently the way its neutrinos blast through the earth. The different neutrino detections are represented in the milky white glass sculpture with lights of varying intensity, appearance, position and duration. (Seriously, I want one of these!). Not only is Tom Na H-iu extremely technological, it’s intensely spiritual as well. The name, Tom Na H-iu, refers to an ancient Celtic waiting area for spirits on their way to being reincarnated. For a few seconds that’s exactly what Mori’s sculpture represents. It, and the Earth, become a transit thoroughfare for neutrinos on their way to becoming only Science knows what.
Indeed the group I was with, students and teachers amounting to 30 people, were all left speechless, mouths agape at the incredible connection being made with the Universe.
We get caught up very easily in the everyday activities of our lives: go to work, eat, watch TV, take a dump. And then something likes this comes along, an ephemerally beautiful sculpture that opens our eyes to the transient nature of everything. Opens our eyes to the complex and interrelated existence we’re all part off. A most welcome cosmic interference.
Just so you understand exactly how this glass sculpture works, Tom Na H-iu is connected to the Super Kamiokande Neutrino Observatory. This observatory monitors and detects neutrinos, particles given off by the last breaths of dying stars: supernovae. Now, the size of the star and the nature of its supernova characterize the way it dies and consequently the way its neutrinos blast through the earth. The different neutrino detections are represented in the milky white glass sculpture with lights of varying intensity, appearance, position and duration. (Seriously, I want one of these!). Not only is Tom Na H-iu extremely technological, it’s intensely spiritual as well. The name, Tom Na H-iu, refers to an ancient Celtic waiting area for spirits on their way to being reincarnated. For a few seconds that’s exactly what Mori’s sculpture represents. It, and the Earth, become a transit thoroughfare for neutrinos on their way to becoming only Science knows what.
Can you blame me for loving this so much?
"Yoshi “the sytch” Sanchez"
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