Soap bubbles bloom like flowers from a 6.4-meter tall tree structure. The bubbles, formed at the tips of branches, fall into the air and quickly disappear, only to be replaced by new ones. Fog takes on different shapes depending on the flow of light and air. Even when machines repeat the same movements, the resulting scenes vary each time.
The artist duo A.A. Murakami, consisting of Japan's Azusa Murakami and Britain's Alexander Grove, is holding their first exhibition in Korea.
Paradise City announced the opening of A.A. Murakami's exhibition, titled New Nature, at the Paradise Art Space in Incheon on September 1. The exhibition, which runs until February 10, 2027, is themed 'Nature after Nature.' It showcases works that reconfigure phenomena and principles found in nature, such as soap bubbles, fog, and the patterns of seashells, through technology.
A.A. Murakami refers to their work, which combines transient materials that do not maintain their form for long with advanced technology, as 'Ephemeral Tech.' Instead of mechanically replicating natural phenomena, they utilize the changes that occur from the movement of air and materials in their work. Their pieces are part of collections at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and M+ in Hong Kong.
Installed on the first floor, New Spring consists of a 6.4-meter tall tree-like structure. The process of soap bubbles forming, falling, and disappearing is repeated at the tips of 24 branches.
While the machine operates in a consistent manner, the size and movement of the bubbles, as well as the moment they burst, vary. The scenes viewed by the audience also change continuously based on the flow of air.
Another piece, Beyond the Horizon, utilizes fog and light. As the mechanical device repeats the same actions, the shape of the fog and the light change according to the air currents. Visitors experience the artwork within a space where fog and light are in constant flux.
On the second floor, attendees can see a new work, Mud Paintings: From 'A Thousand Layers of Stomach' Series, which is being unveiled for the first time at this exhibition.
This work originated from the two artists discovering different patterns on clam shells while eating miso soup in Tokyo. They interpreted the biological algorithm behind how shells form patterns as they grow and converted it into computer code.
At the center of the exhibition, an autonomous mud painting machine moves across the canvas, layering patterns based on this code. This method translates the natural principles behind the formation of shell patterns into a visual artwork through the machine's movements.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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