Keeping Space Alive with Light: Yumi Kori

I read an article titled “Keeping Space Alive with Light: Yumi Kori,” by Jonathan Goodman, which is featured in the June 2006 issue of Sculpture magazine. The artist, Yumi Kori, is presented in this article as a person who is very sensual and in touch with her physical and spiritual self. She spent some time meditating in India, and attended college in Japan where she learned architecture. (Goodman, 56). These two influences have led Kori to become a person who is very in touch with the physical manifestation of space that sculpture advocates, however she attempts to create a sense of mystery in her works by involving light and sound. For these reasons, Goodman describes Kori’s works as multifaceted arrangements which incorporate many more elements than just physical materials. Kori mostly procures locations where she can set up site-specific installations. Her creations have been featured in cities across the world, including Tokyo, Berlin, Seattle, and New York (Goodman, 56).

Kori’s works stand out to me as sculptures because they are deliberate arrangements of various elements that synthesize a unique viewing experience. Kori uses traditional features of physical creation, such as materials, but combines them with light and sound to go beyond sculpture and create an entire experience. These numerous elements engulf viewers through the effective use of large spaces and the way that lighting is arranged to create shadows. The shadows hide and reveal more refined details of the various installations, and in turn create “a new spatial experience for its inhabitants,” Kori says (Goodman, 56). Almost all of Kori’s works are accompanied by an “ambient sound environment”—also a work of art—created by musician Bernhard Gal (Goodman, 56).

What generates interest in Kori’s pieces is largely her use of lighting, specifically fluorescent lamps. Light as an intangible concept is something which “expresses itself in unlimited space,” says Goodman, making it a peculiar substance to craft with (56). Kori’s installation at the Phatory Gallery in New York, titled Green Balloon, features a 24-square-meter room filled with green balloons which cover green fluorescent lamps. The lamps border the room, the walls are white, and balloons are of varying sizes, some with much more air than others. In some areas of the room, the balloons are sparse and a wooden floor can be seen. In others, balloons are stacked and cover the lights. The contrast of crowded versus empty spaces combines with the bordering lights to remind the viewer that this exhibit is bounded by the walls of the room it occupies. Further, the way light shines through the green balloons to illuminate the entire room gives the viewer a feeling of inclusiveness, as the height of the room is accented by light terminating on the ceiling.

Kori’s background and training have made her particularly sensitive to movement through time and space (Goodman, 59). Eastern and Western influences have shaped her style of creation into one which is acutely aware of physical limitations (architecture), but set free by spiritual and mythical promises (lighting). Referring to Green Balloon, a sense of the space inside which the sculpture exists is artfully crafted, however sensual elements are also included. Each balloon in the exhibit was blown up by a gallery visitor—in a manner reminiscent of Asian collectivism—which interacts with the lights to create a sense of mystery accented by shadows, and a general diffusion of light. It is Kori’s effective combination of physical matter, light, and sound which led me to write about her sculptures.

What I find so inspiring about Kori’s creations is that they take sculpture a step further by setting physical creations in environments which fuse elements together in a way that surrounds viewers. My only experience with this idea so far has been an explanation by Professor of Sculpture Andy Holtin of American University of how the setting in which a finished sculpture is placed can dramatically alter a viewer’s perception of that piece. I have always thought of sculptures as consisting of defined physical objects that are created using physical materials, and which are made great by using any number of special variables, including material, scale, and space. My definition of sculpture has been redefined, however, after reading and learning about Yumi Kori’s works. I had never considered before the notion that light and music, concepts which are not physically tangible, can contribute to defining a sculpture. When viewing sculptures from now on, I will assess more critically the presence of non-tangible elements as features of a sculpture that integrate to make a complete work.

Works Cited

Goodman, Jonathan. "Keeping Space Alive with Light: Yumi Kori." Sculpture Jun. 2006: 54-59. Print.