Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum

From streams of sunlight to the gentle warmth of places basked in the light of day, and moonlight shining through the darkness, we encounter various kinds of light over the course of our lives. In this exhibition, Noe Aoki and Ritsue Mishima, two artists who continue to be active at the forefront of contemporary art, present their work throughout the museum, shedding light on its Art Deco interior from a new perspective. Aoki has opened up new horizons of expressions with her sculptures that draw lines in space using iron, while Mishima captures the energy of the space and transforms it into light through her colorless, transparent glass works. The materials of “iron” and “glass,” which the two artists respectively use in the production of their work, are not only blessings of nature that have been passed down through the ages, but are also employed extensively in the decoration of the Former Residence of Prince Asaka, which serves as the venue for the exhibition, including its chandeliers, reliefs, and the tympanums above the doors.

The artists visited the site on many occasions and engaged in a repeated dialogue with the building's 1930s decorative interior to bring together a remarkably unique, once-in-a-lifetime installation plan. Noe Aoki and Ritsue Mishima, who both use fire in their creations, breathe life into materials through blazing, luminous flames. The forms they produce, imbued with this primitive power, evoke the energy and cycles of nature, bringing wonderment and awareness to those who view them, and enveloping the world around us in a new light.