A crystal world as a metaphor for equilibrium – suspended between movement and stillness, between life and death.
This work presents an entirely new dimension – The Crystal World, inspired by the mystical and speculative world of J.G. Ballard’s novel of the same title. The theme centers on the Golden Mean, symbolizing a state of equilibrium that transcends opposing forces such as life and death or stillness and motion.
In this video work, 3D computer graphics are used to depict the story of the world’s beginning and end. Just as in our world, seemingly unrelated events transform and interrelate, creating a grand cycle. Additionally, the sculptural work portrays two figures and a serpent from the video as they become encased in gold and begin to crystallize. The male figure resists the encroaching gold with outstretched hands, while the female figure appears to accept it.
These dramatic elements intersect around the central theme of gold, influencing one another in a dynamic interplay.
In Ballard’s The Crystal World, forests and human bodies adorned with crystals are depicted in a state of suspended animation – neither alive nor dead – suggesting a new vision of happiness. In this work, the focus shifts from traditional notions of wealth and prosperity symbolized by gold to an exploration of happiness through a more measured appraisal of its value. The theme revolves around finding contentment not in the pursuit of material wealth but in the equilibrium and harmony it represents.
Shota Yamauchi – born in 1992, based in Tokyo, Japan. Yamauchi graduated with an MFA in New Media from the Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media in 2016. His recent solo exhibitions include MAM Project 030 x MAM Digital: Yamauchi Shota (Tokyo, 2022), Where is EIZO-ZIMA going? Where are we going¿ (Taipei, 2022), and Medium and Dimension: Apparition (Tokyo, 2023). He has also participated in group exhibitions such as Roppongi Crossing 2019: Connexions (Tokyo, 2019), D.T. Suzuki: Life = Zen = Art (Tokyo, 2022), and Ars Electronica Festival 2022 (Linz, Austria, 2022).
His works have been presented multiple times at the WRO Media Art Biennale in Wrocław, as well as during the Eco Expanded City festival in 2016. During the previous edition of the WRO Biennale, he presented his performance The Dancing Princess at the Laboratory Theatre in collaboration with local actors.
He is the recipient of the TERRADA ART AWARD 2021 (Kaneshima Takahiro Award and Audience Award), and an Excellence Award in the Art Division of the 25th Japan Media Arts Festival (2022).