Japan - KOUNOSUKE KAWAKAMI

Identity Art Gallery is proud to present Kounosuke Kawakami’s latest project: Survival of Adaptable (2013).

A scrim-covered hanging cube, this artwork display water going through its life cycle. From condensation to evaporation, this cycle’s consistency changes according to the temperature of the exhibiting space. Drops little by little, hour by hour seem to appear on the scrim surface. As soon as they reach such a size that their weight overcomes the forces of adhesion, they run down along the walls, leaving a trace behind. A pulsating light is projected from within. Through its pulses it reveals quotes by world entrepreneurs in loop projected on the scrim’s surfaces where various statistical drawings have been printed on. The hanging cube’s appearance constantly but slowly changes while never repeating itself without prediction and change freely.

Referencing to Hans Haake’s Condensation Cube (1963-65), Kawakami employs the artwork’s operational and systematic independence as to advance a metaphorical transition towards the topic of wealth’s relocation in today market economy. As the drops fall down directed only by the surrounding environment, Kawakami is able to draw an analogy to the quite independent system of income distribution. Focusing on natural process such as condensation and evaporation and the experimentation with abstract forms, this work enables a questioning of “the very nature of the economic system in the shadowy days of capitalism” (KK).

Text by Identity Art Gallery