Mohri Yuko is renowned for works that combine sculpture, sound, and movement to give form to “invisible forces/events” floating in space and transform them into something we can perceive. Mohri, who has in recent years participated in many international exhibitions and attracted attention throughout the global art scene, was chosen to present her works at the Japan Pavilion for the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (April 20–November 24, 2024). Now this exhibition, in which previously shown works updated for the Artizon Museum’s spaces interact with new works inspired by works in our collection, is her first large-scale exhibition in Japan.

The term “jam session” originally meant a gathering of musicians who improvised together. Our Jam Sessions are exhibitons combining works from our collection with works by contemporary artists, held annually since the museum opened in 2020. For Mohri Yuko, the artist featured in this Jam Session, “improvisation” has been a key word since her debut. Mohri has incorporated in her art the “errors” and “feedback” found in experimental music and excluded from conventionally structured music composition. Here modern works chosen by the artist, who has been influenced by that musical approach and finds important oscillations, waverings, variations, and uncertainty in her works, are presented alongside works by Mohri, making perceivable hidden aspects of the modern works. Here we showcase the timeless creativity that Mori shares with Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee, Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Cornell, and Fujishima Takeji.

Many corporations and governments are now cooperating in the effort to achieve SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals that should be reached by 2030, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015). That means we are now directly confronting, profound threats to the global environment, complex environmental problems posed by an industry-led society that has developed through an emphasis on efficiency, based on control, and that endorses mass production and mass consumption. We need fresh thinking now.

“Art thinking,” which fosters creativity by through detours that allow confusion and reframing, rather than emphasizing clear goals and efficiency, has recently become a focus of attention on the frontlines of both business and education.
Mohri’s approach to letting her works be affected by minute changes in magnetism, electrical currents, air, dust, water, and　temperature, in addition to error and loss of control, can enhance our sensitivity to flows, changes ungraspable because they are sometimes too large or too small. This attitude seems to offer modest hints about addressing the global environmental issues we face today.