Art used to be about what you could see, but now, thanks to a more ¡°conceptual¡± approach, it is often about what cannot be seen. Except the artist still has to demonstrate in some way what it is that can¡¯t be seen ¡ª in other words, to make it visible.
This is the paradox that underlies ¡°Constellations: Practices for Unseen Connections/Discoveries,¡± the latest group show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT). The declared intent of the exhibition is to ¡°introduce experiments by artists who take various invisible points that exist scattered throughout the world and discover connections that link them, grasping these as new constellations.¡±
The connection with astrological so-called star signs is not some casual happenstance, but very much part of the concept. After all, constellations have for millennia evoked a sense of mystery and magic, something that much contemporary art could do well to emulate.
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