Although Yuko Mohri’s works are at first glance identifiable as installations, assemblages or sculptures, the concept of “event” is fundamental to her artistic vision. Since graduating from the Intermedia Art Department at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2006, the artist has been developing animated reconfigurations of everyday objects that border on choreography and performance. Her work focuses on recasting ordinary objects and ready-made materials to create distinctive ensembles. An heir to the experimental artists of the international Fluxus group in the 1970s, Yuko Mohri creates assemblages that are often unconventional and occasionally dysfunctional, characterised by a delicate balancing act.

Parade presents a dramaturgy of disparate, second-hand objects and musical instruments that come together to form an unexpected orchestra. A leopard print on a synthetic skin serves as a score that is continuously “read” by photoelectric cells, just as a music box reads strips of paper punched with holes for each note. Through a motorised mechanism, the installation generates a sequence of movements and amplified sounds. Tones, timbres and textures seem to create a conversation between these objects, which are at times triumphant, plaintive or hirsute, reminding us that the search for harmony in discrepancy is a task that must be constantly renewed. Humour and a sense of the absurd are also part of what the artist calls her “ecosystems”, autonomous entities that recreate the accidents and coincidences of life.

Marcella Lista, 2024