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for Time in Blue No. 29
Time in Blue No. 29
Artist
Tatsuo Miyajima
(Japanese, born 1957)
Date1996
MediumSixty-one blue LED counters, IC electrical wire on black wooden panel
DimensionsUnframed (Panel 1): 96 × 89 × 3 7/8 in. (243.84 × 226.06 × 9.84 cm)
Unframed (Panel 2): 79 1/2 × 89 × 3 7/8 in. (201.93 × 226.06 × 9.84 cm)
Overall: 175 1/2 × 89 × 3 7/8 in. (445.77 × 226.06 × 9.84 cm)
Unframed (Panel 2): 79 1/2 × 89 × 3 7/8 in. (201.93 × 226.06 × 9.84 cm)
Overall: 175 1/2 × 89 × 3 7/8 in. (445.77 × 226.06 × 9.84 cm)
Credit LineCollection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Museum purchase
Object number1998.12
Status
Not on viewCopyright© Tatsuo Miyajima
Category
Label TextThe subject of Tatsuo Miyajima’s work is time, a phenomenon whose definition remains a mystery, its shape and measurement a scientific and spiritual challenge. Time in Blue No. 29, 1996, like the artist’s other works featuring continuously changing numbers, addresses the enormous challenge of visualizing the complexity of a vast universe—as defined by both Buddhist philosophy and modern physics—where the individual is a tiny but significant unit within an immense, incomprehensible whole.
Miyajima uses electronic flashing numbers as his primary means of effecting—both literally and metaphorically—a degree of “enlightenment” on the constant presence of time. Time in Blue No. 29 consists of a large wall of bright blue LED counters, arranged randomly and all looping from one to nine at different, slow rates. Taken together as a visual field, the work signifies no absolute time but a network of individual rhythms. Miyajima’s Buddhist beliefs are reflected in the circular repetition of counting from one to nine and starting over again, suggesting a revolving cycle of time and the concept of death and rebirth. Zero, which indicates an end, is never used. In Miyajima’s eyes, the theater of time is the ultimate common denominator.
Miyajima uses electronic flashing numbers as his primary means of effecting—both literally and metaphorically—a degree of “enlightenment” on the constant presence of time. Time in Blue No. 29 consists of a large wall of bright blue LED counters, arranged randomly and all looping from one to nine at different, slow rates. Taken together as a visual field, the work signifies no absolute time but a network of individual rhythms. Miyajima’s Buddhist beliefs are reflected in the circular repetition of counting from one to nine and starting over again, suggesting a revolving cycle of time and the concept of death and rebirth. Zero, which indicates an end, is never used. In Miyajima’s eyes, the theater of time is the ultimate common denominator.