Spatial Sculpture in Karuizawa
The mobile spatial composition “Gisant/Transi” in the Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Japan, occupies a place between architecture and art. The architect and artist who created this work were inspired by a late-medieval form of tomb figure found in western Europe, in which the dead are depicted in a living state (gisant) or in a state of decay (transi). Translated into a mobile, geometric form, this representation of life and death manifests itself as two “vectors” (memory and foresight) which cross each other. The four elements that make up this object are on rollers and are connected by hinges. By rotating the individual parts, the spatial arrangement can be changed. A wire mesh fixed to the timber supporting structure serves as a reinforcing layer for the black-coloured plaster, lending the surface a distinct rough texture.
