Tatsuo Miyajima
Japanese (Tokyo, Japan, 1957)Counter Line
This room-size installation was created expressly for SFMOMA's galleries. Miyajima placed 224 LEDs (light-emitting diodes) in a straight line. Silent, glowing red, and continually increasing, the LEDs transcend their traditional function as indicators of information to become a pictorial representation of the existence of time and the intellectual puzzle it presents.
By positioning the line to suggest a horizon, Miyajima identifies San Francisco as a place so far west that the horizon might be seen as the demarcation point between the West and the East. The straight line is a form commonly used to imply continuum, finality, or infinity. Counter Line suggests the "linear" concept of time in the West while simultaneously invoking the Eastern apprehension of time as a fluid, nonobjective experience related to space. The work also proposes time as a substance that accumulates even as it disappears.
Keywords
red, lighting, reflections, horizontal, dark
This resource represents a portion of SFMOMA's collection. Information about the artworks presented here is subject to revision. Please contact us at collections@sfmoma.org to verify information. If you are planning to visit SFMOMA, please note that not all artworks are on view at all times.
This resource is for educational use and its contents may not be reproduced without permission. Please review our Terms of Use for more information.
