During the late 1950s Arakawa created paintings and sculptures, some of which he exhibited at the Yomiuri Independent, a.k.a., Anpan, held annually at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Around this time, he also took part in nonsensical performances, which art critic Yoshiaki Tōno described as “anti-events.” Together with several other avant-garde artists he formed the Neo Dada who collectively exhibited in Tokyo during which time Arakawa developed a series of mixed-media sculptures later called the ‘Coffin Series’.
These works, made from cement fashioned into forms, reminiscent of bodies cushioned by padded material and set within wooden boxes were both sinister and erotic. Some had metal or electrical parts attached with circles and arrows painted or sculpted onto their surface referencing science fiction and surrealism and evoking the recent memory of war.
In 1960 Arakawa had his first solo exhibition at Tokyo’s Muramatsu Gallery followed by at show at Mudo Gallery in 1961 curated by the art critic Jun Ebara, and was included in Adventure in Today’s Art of Japan at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. His individual success triggered discord between Arakawa and other members of Neo Dada resulted in him leaving the group and with the help and encouragement of the Japanese poet, art critic, and artist Shūzō Takiguchi he made the move to New York at the end of 1961.
The project The Mechanism of Meaning began in 1963, a year after Arakawa met Madeline Gins for the first time. They saw the work as an open-ended process of research and invention, which as they suggested was: “maybe the first rudimentary compendium of the capabilities (or innate functions) of the mind… …a unique and provocative foray into an uncharted region where art, experience and thought filtered through experience, began to define each other.” Arakawa and Madeline Gins considered The Mechanism of Meaning as the foundation for their philosophy of ‘procedural architecture’ and the buildings they designed and built.
Comprised primarily of acrylic and mixed media on canvas, the panels, each measuring 90 x 66 inches, are organized by chapters with titles like: Neutralization of Subjectivity, Presentation of Ambiguous Zones and Texture of Meaning. Each panel offers a visual puzzle that combines text, images and everyday objects to engage the mind in a meditation of meaning and comprehension. In their introduction to The Mechanism of Meaning, Work in Progress (1963-71, 1978), Based on a method of Arakawa, 1979, they write “we hope future generations find our humor useful for the models of thought and other escape routes they shall construct.” The work was exhibited both in groups and its entirety. There are two editions of the project: the first dated 1963-71, 1978, 1996; and the second dated 1988 in the collection of the Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Karuizawa, Japan.
The completed first edition comprises 80 panels along with a table of contents and a two panel digital rendering of City without Graveyards (Reversible Destiny). The second edition comprises 81 panels along with a table of contents, 52 pencil drawings on paper, an architectural model and a photograph.
Four publications track the first edition’s development: Mechanismus der Bedeutung (Werk im Entstehen: 1963-1971), published by Verlag F. Bruckmann KG. Munich, 1971; The Mechanism of Meaning, Work in Progress (1963-71, 1978), Based on a method of Arakawa, published by Harry N. Abrams, New York 1979; The Mechanism of Meaning, published by Abbeville Press 1988 and the final version that appears in Reversible Destiny – Arakawa/Gins, published by the Guggenheim Museum Soho, New York 1997.
NEW PROJECT BY PIETRO FRANESI
COMING SOON
