MOLE CAST

Ube Biennale, 2001

  In MOLE CAST, at the Ube Outdoor Museum, Matsui realized a work in which the visible hints at the invisible, and an expansion of space is achieved through a time-based process. Here he is perhaps at his closest to traditional Japanese thinking, although the work also serves as an iconic take on the many huge ossified gestures of other artists, which lie scattered throughout the Outdoor Museum. 

  Underneath the ground is a long low tunnel, walled in fire brick, which can be fired like a huge oven. The smoke escapes the tunnel through several funnel-shaped openings in the ground. At dusk the smoke mingles with the light of the fire burning on the inside. This creates a perpetually shifting picture that hints at unseen events and, finally, reminds us of the powers of nature, particularly in Japan, a country rich in volcanoes. At the same time it is a social sculpture that calls for the collective action of the visitors. Matsui is also working here with his own childhood memories, since his father was a well-known potter.

Berndt Schulz
Excerpt from catalogue essay for The Outside's Inside, Heidelberg Kunstverein, 2004

MOLE CAST (2001)
firebrick, smoke, 780x1300x180cm