Artist Yuko Mohri: Emergency at The Everyday | Louisiana Channel

"My interest is how to be in life with unstable elements."

We encountered the artist Yuko Mohri seated among still-life compositions of rotting fruits with electrical wires and rhythmically dripping sculptures of water tubes and everyday objects. Here, in her installation ‘Compose’ in the Japan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale, Mohri sat down to explain her artistic approach and the foundations of her work.

Set against the collective trauma of natural catastrophes of earthquakes and tsunamis in her home country, Japan, Mohri's art reflects on recovery and resilience. Drawing inspiration from her teenage years in an experimental punk band, her art invites viewers to engage with the environment through a lens of continuous negotiation and adaptation.

A part of her work is inspired by Tokyo's metro stations, where water leaks are managed with makeshift solutions. Mohri draws parallels between these everyday improvisations and her own DYI-style kinetic installations. "It's like an improvised sculpture, confronting a little emergency," she notes, highlighting the negotiation between crisis and coexistence using everyday objects.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mohri found herself in lockdown, isolated from others, and therefore missing elements of instability. At this time, she became intrigued by the changing nature of fruits, which appear stable but undergo constant moisture level changes, which can be measured in terms of electrical resistance. "The fruit itself actually passes electricity, but it's changing the resistance depending on the rotting process," she explains. This instability became the foundation of an electrical system that generates music and light based on the fruits' condition.

Through her installations, Mohri encourages viewers to engage with their surroundings, fostering a broader perspective on the relationship between people, art, and the environment. "I hope this small negotiation can create another view," she concludes.

Yuko Mohri (B. 1980 in Kanagawa, Japan) is an artist whose work explores the interaction between art and everyday life in installations that combine sound, found objects, and kinetic elements. Yuko Mohri has exhibited internationally, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Centre Pompidou-Metz and Pirelli HangarBicocca. Mohri has received several awards, including the Nissan Art Award and a grant from the Asian Cultural Council. In 2024 Yuko Mohri represented Japan at the 60th International Art Exhibition Venice Bienale curated by Sook-Kyung Lee and commissioned by The Japan Foundation.

Yuko Mohri was interviewed by Nanna Rebekka in the Japan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale.

Producer and editor: Nanna Rebekka
Cinematographer: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2023

Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, C.L. Davids Fond og Samling, and Fritz Hansen.

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0:00 Introduction
01:10 Venice Biennale
01:49 ‘Decomposition’
03:12 From Punk to Art
04:13 ‘Moré Moré’

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