‘beijing’,a box of eight doors (center), a swinging book ‘because’ (left), and whirling plant posts ‘brooklyn’ (right) (photo: martin holtkamp)

 

‘boojum’ by megumi matsubara with assistant

diesel denim gallery, aoyama, tokyo august 30, 2008 – february 8, 2009

 

 

 

the latest exhibit at the diesel denim gallery in aoyama, tokyo is by the female architect megumi matsubara, a founding member of the interdisciplinary studio, assistant. ‘boojum’ is being curated by masaaki takahashi and is based on and takes its title from lewis carroll’s poem ‘the hunting of the snark’. as matsubara describes, ‘boojum is a mechanism that creates a balance in nonsense’. a set of 10 linked machines, all named with words staring with ‘b’, come to life in the gallery. here is matsubara’s description of how ‘boojum’ works:

‘the machines are all black in colour and completely motionless until the ‘blind’ opens its eye to see sunrise between the ‘brooklyn’ and the ‘bridge’. when the ‘biscuit’ pours the the ‘backwards’ out a cup of tea, the ‘bounce’ screams to call the ‘beijing’ to join the table. the ‘broke’ always sits in silence when the ‘because’ passes by searching for the slit. the ‘blemish’ is the only machine whose presence is not shown in any form.’
 
related

‘glazed paradise’ by mark jenkins and miho kinomura at diesel denim gallery kimihiko okada installation at diesel denim gallery ‘suspended figure’ by ayako maruta at diesel denim gallery

‘boojum’ by megumi matsubara with assistant at diesel denim gallery overview of ‘boojum’ seen from the back of the shop (photo: martin holtkamp)

 

 

‘boojum’ by megumi matsubara with assistant at diesel denim gallery spring-loaded seesaw ‘bounce’ (left), a table with broken leg ‘broke’ (right) and ‘blind’ frames a wall for an animated projection (photo: martin holtkamp)

 

 

‘boojum’ by megumi matsubara with assistant at diesel denim gallery bars hanging like a mobile forms ‘bridge’ (photo: martin holtkamp)

 

 

‘boojum’ by megumi matsubara with assistant at diesel denim gallery ‘boojum’ half-overview (photo: martin holtkamp)

 

 

‘boojum’ by megumi matsubara with assistant at diesel denim gallery ‘backwards’ is a cheval glass with a balloon which inflates to tilt a mirror (photo: martin holtkamp)

 

 

‘boojum’ by megumi matsubara with assistant at diesel denim gallery ‘brooklyn’ uses real plants of tradescantia (photo: martin holtkamp)