[Title] air du temps 90 x 90
Scénographie par Tokujin Yoshioka
[Date] 25 Mai – 22 Août, 2004
Tokujin Yoshioka He who breathes Life into Space
The wind blows. Birds fly freely in the sky without moving their wings.
With that sight, we can feel the invisible wind.
It was said that those who have mastered Noh called such a situation “DANCE (Bu)” and sensed an emotion between existence and non-existence, which was designated as their ideal state.
Although objects exist in shape, Tokujin Yoshioka’s activity cannot be fully captured in a still picture. It is a design that we cannot always see but can feel. His message in terms of space is there. Design is not simply about producing mere shape. This is what we find in the unique world of Yoshioka’s works.
He once worked for a lighting equipment project called “TÔFU”, in which he expressed light residing between acrylic sections. For instance, a chair made of optical glass. It disappears as soon as it starts to rain but reflects light and shines when bathed in sunlight. This is a chair that keeps altering with the change of the weather. His awaited new work “KISS ME GOODBYE” was just unveiled in Milan, which is a transparent chair made of polycarbonate that does not have a shape. It reminds us of a magic chair as if we are sitting on air. Bringing out the possibility of a certain situation can quietly break the silence and bring movement to life. Sometimes it can be in humor.
This time, Yoshioka flies a scarf in the air. A scarf gracefully sways with the wind. He named it “48 People’s Sigh” and said he wanted to express “people’s movements” here. Along with the window-display at the Maison Hermès, each scarf at Le Forum will dance as if life were breathed into them. We will feel something that we cannot see with our eyes in these scarves dancing.
What kind of story can that sigh tell? Tokujin Yoshioka knows that the possibility of design is to produce a further story.
Noriko Kawakami (Design Journalist)