Ryuichi Sakamoto

2022 (2022)

Dumb Type

Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia,
Photo: Shiro Takatani, © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type, 2022, Installation view, Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Photo: Yuki Seli © Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation
Dumb Type welcomed Sakamoto as a new member of the collective and together created a new work for the Japan Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition displays an installation on the theme of "post-truth" and "liminal spaces", exploring how humans communicate with each other and perceive the world, which has changed dramatically with the evolution and advances of the internet and social media, coupled with the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Mirrors on four stands rotate at high speed, reflecting lasers trained on them to project text onto the surrounding walls. The projected texts are taken from an 1850s geography textbook, posing simple yet universal questions. The sounds of voices reading the texts are emitted from rotating parametric speakers, becoming highly directional beams of sound that travel around the room.
In contrast to the discourses that surround it, the center of the room is an empty space—a place that exists nowhere, but at the same time, a place that could be anywhere. We live in a time of post-truth and liminal spaces. The center is void.