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The Birth

 

Artist : h220430
Size : φ750

 

Price : POA

 

 

“At the moment of fertilization, eggs emit light”Since early childhood, I have been fascinated by the enigmatic nature of life, and when I came across the above statement, my imagination was completely seized by this description of that almost magical moment when life itself is created. Strictly speaking, at the moment of fertilization, what actually happens is that the wavelength of the calcium ions inside the egg begins to change. If we understand light as being a wavelength, I felt that those changes in the electric wavelength of the calcium ions could be interpreted as “light”. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity, in a research facility, to see that moment of fertilization myself through a microscope. What I was able to perceive visually at that moment what was not light being emitted, but something in a sense grotesque and yet at the same time beautiful, and which did indeed appear to be shining.The profound wonder of it all seemed to me to be encapsulated right there. That image of the countless tiny sperm swarming around the egg is something I still cannot get out of my head. I felt that I wanted to share the magic of this moment with the world. That inspiration informed the conceptualization of this work, THE BIRTH. I turned the bulbs inwards so that the structure is suggestive of the amazing phenomenon of the sperm bustling around the egg to fertilize it, and the light which is said to then emanate. In terms of the materials used in the construction (essentially only rods and circular holders), this is a very minimalist work. This is evocative of the way the fertilized egg repeats the process of cell division so that within a week it has multiplied two to three hundred times. Although THE BIRTH is a chandelier it sends out a ickering light, like the beating of a heart. This is representative of the repetitive spikes in the increase of the calcium ions (known as calcium oscillation) in the egg after fertilization. There is, in the world today, a huge amount of suffering caused by such issues as racism and terrorism. And given that nowadays it is even possible to bring about life by arti cial means, so that the very signi cance of life can appear to be in a state of ux, it would seem appropriate to take a fresh look at exactly what “life” is.Through this work, THE BIRTH, my goal is to create a sense of intimacy with one of the fundamental mysteries of life, so that observers will be encouraged to re- think the value of life itself.