Mono-ha, a movement that emerged in Tokyo in the late 1960s, was concerned with capturing the essence of organic and industrial materials through thoughtfully conceived, carefully staged installations. It follows the longstanding tradition of taking its name from a journalistic slur. Translating literally to ‘School of Things’, the term was coined by a critic who was sceptical of the apparent lack of artistic skill that went into the work, but the movement’s conceptual rigour remains as bracing as ever. Kishio Suga is one of Mono-ha’s eminent practitioners: interested in time as well as space, he has often referred to his installations as ‘situations’, inviting the viewer to participate in the artwork by walking around and observing the arrangement of his objects. This exhibition at Dia Beacon brings together several sculptures Suga made using industrial materials and gives visitors a chance to see Suga’s mystery film Being and Murder (1999), which is being screened outside Japan for the first time (from 19 July).
Find out more from Dia’s website.
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