this text was submitted as an assignment for the Theory and Method in Art History module at the School of Arts, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London year 2024-2025
The Tenth Sentiment by Ryota Kuwakubo was displayed as the main installation in Indonesian National Gallery Instrumenta in 2018. This exhibition highlights the emerging new media art in Indonesia and Asia.
This artwork begins in a room with total darkness. Slowly, two toy trains with LED lamps move through the room, casting shadows of everyday objects onto the walls. These shadows grow larger and more expressive than the objects themselves, for example a colander becomes a looming tunnel, and small toy men turn into towering figures, even small pins resembling towers or trees when projected.
Williams, R. (2011). Culture is ordinary (1958). Cultural theory: An anthology, 5359.
Kuwakubo’s work reminds me of the mundaneness of daily life, unlike the 'high art' that I used to see, which depicts something unfamiliar, especially paintings from medieval Europe and places I have never visited before. The shifting images evoke a sense of distance, loneliness, and fleeting memories, often reminiscent of views seen from a car or train window. When the train reaches the end of the track, it reverses rapidly, as if mimicking the sudden rush of memory. This resonates with Raymond Williams’ notion in Culture is Ordinary (2011), where he asserts that culture is rooted in everyday experiences and is accessible to all, rather than confined to elite artistic expressions. Williams argues that the ordinary aspects of life should be celebrated as they shape our understanding of culture. Kuwakubo’s work exemplifies this idea by transforming the mundane into art, prompting viewers to reflect on their personal experiences and the ephemeral nature of memory, thus grounding art in the reality of lived experience.
Sontag, S. (1966). Against interpretation: And other essays. Picador
Unlike the paintings or sculptures that bore me, Kuwakubo’s work uses light and motion that are actually so simple yet successfully stimulate the visual senses. When enjoying the art, I just have to stand there and allow my eyes and ears to immerse in the artwork’s motion. I did not really want to give any meaning towards it, as Sontag (1966) argues in Against Interpretation that art should be experienced directly rather than be over-analyzed. She suggests that the tendency to seek deeper meanings in art can detract from the immediate sensory experience it offers. Instead of imposing interpretations, Sontag advocates for an appreciation of the form and the sensations it evokes, which aligns perfectly with my experience of Kuwakubo's work. It invites a visceral engagement, allowing the viewer to appreciate the beauty of its simplicity without the burden of interpretation.
Merleau-Ponty (1945) in his Phenomenology of Perception posits that perception is not a passive or detached act but an active, bodily interaction with the world. In The Tenth Sentiment, Kuwakubo uses light, shadows, and everyday objects to create a dynamic environment where the viewer’s perception shifts based on their movement through space, making them aware of their physical presence.
The dialogue between the body and the world resonates with my experience of The Tenth Sentiment, where the viewer’s movements and vantage points continuously alter their understanding of the artwork. The play of light and shadow transforms ordinary objects into fleeting, ethereal landscapes, which emphasizes the idea that perception is shaped by the body’s engagement with the environment. Just as Merleau-Ponty argues that the perceiver and the perceived are intertwined, Kuwakubo’s work blurs the boundaries between subject and object, viewer and artwork, as the installation reacts to and depends on the viewer’s embodied experience.
In The Tenth Sentiment, perception is not about recognizing fixed meanings or forms but about the fluid and changing nature of experience itself. This aligns with Merleau-Ponty’s notion that perception is a continuous process of discovery, in which the body plays a central role. The viewer is not simply observing; they are part of the artwork’s unfolding, constantly negotiating the shifting interplay of light, space, and time.
Tiampo, M. (2011). Gutai: Decentering Modernism. University of Chicago Press.
Kuwakubo’s approach towards his artwork, especially The Tenth Sentiment, reminds me of the Gutai movement. Although the movement had already disbanded by the time Kuwakubo was born, its principles of experimentation and the integration of art with life resonate in his practice. Ming Tiampo, in Gutai: Decentering Modernism (2011), discusses how the Gutai artists sought to break away from traditional Western art narratives and embrace new materials and methods that emphasized process over product. Kuwakubo embodies this ethos by using technology and light in ways that challenge conventional art forms, inviting viewers to engage with the artwork in an immersive manner. Just as Gutai artists aimed to dissolve the boundaries between art and everyday life, Kuwakubo's work invites us to reconsider our perceptions of art as an integral part of our daily experiences, blurring the lines between the artist, the artwork, and the audience.
The exhibition featuring Kuwakubo’s work, Instrumenta (2018) in Indonesia National Gallery, marks a pivotal moment in the Indonesian art scene, reflecting a shift towards new media art and a departure from the “colonial gaze” that once exoticized Indonesia’s beauty, as seen in Mooi Indie paintings. Echoing the Gutai movement’s emphasis on breaking artistic boundaries and embracing new materials, Indonesian art scene are now actively reclaiming their narratives, moving beyond the passive imagery of the past and redefining their cultural expressions on their own terms.
The Night We Met, Song by Lord Huron (2015)
“I had all and then most of you
Some and now none of you
Take me back to the night we met”
As I observe the toy trains that move through the room, the shifting shadows and light evokes a sensation of reaching for something that’s perpetually slipping away, much like fleeting memories of a distant, cherished moment. The installation’s ephemeral, dreamlike quality mirrors the sentiment of grasping at fragments of an experience, knowing it can’t be fully recaptured. The lights and shadows move and change, creating an almost haunting reminder of how memories distort over time—vivid one moment, then dissolving into the dark, leaving only traces. Kuwakubo’s use of ordinary objects transformed by light mimics the way memories and emotions become layered and distorted, taking on new forms as we try to revisit them, echoing the deep yearning in Lord Huron’s lyrics to return to a moment that has since slipped away.
