Sayoko Suwabe
諏訪部 佐代子【Bio】
Born in Chiba in 1995. Graduated from Oil painting BFA program,
Tokyo University of the Arts in 2019. She won “Ataka award” in2017 and held solo exhibition “hogehogefugafuga”. She won “Salonde Plantin Prize” in her Graduation Exhibition. She mainly create
installation works and also broad media such as performanceand sculpture. The focus of her artistic practice is interpretationof contemporary phenomena/preconceptions through theconstruction of models. Recent theme of her works are theglobalization of Japanese modern society. She conduct researchof the structure of the changes of the fixed notions of time in thesituation of globalization and create artwork that respond to her
observations. She recently studies in the Global Art Practice MFA
program at TUA.

of constant change. In order to express the notion of a layer as aconcept, I traced out the contours of the cement stratum I createdusing an ink jet printer. Using timestamps, the video work convey
the concept of time as a record. Without it, we cannot define whattime it is. We believe that time as something like "Blockchain". A
timely message of time is flowing from the parametric speaker
mounted on the top. This room exists to question
accepted notions of time.

【Statement】
The focus of my artistic practice is seeking the interpretation ofcontemporary phenomena through the construction of models.
I have a strong interest in how the value of qualitative time ischanging in Japanese society due to rapid globalization. I observechanges to identity that accompany such trends, and create
artwork that respond to my observations. Today, areas of theworld controlled by human is spreading day by day, and cultures
are trying to surpass nature. Amidst such circumstances, how canhumans interpret the concept of irreversible time, which is beyond
human control? In order to try to answer such questions, I conduct
research into the world-view of Australian indigenous people andstructures within contemporary society, moving back and forth
between theory and creative approaches.
【Works】
The generating unit
2019
Installation cement, video, 2’31, loop, resin, parametric speaker
4218 × 4311 × 8024mm① print on paper, 4000 × 900 × 900mm② plaster, resin, 1000 × 200 × 500mm③ cement, asphalt, 900 × 300 × 400mm④ sound, 0’ 10, loop(time signal of 12:41:10), parametric speaker⑤ movie, 2’ 31, loop
⑥ window

installation view from the view-pointA on the map
Photographer : Ujin Matsuo
In this work I attempt to create a space that naturally encourages
the viewer to consider fixed notions of time in the modern age
through models that remind us of human scale. The stratum I madeare metaphors for the limits of our understanding of the past. The
model of cement stratum shows stratification. Civilization has been
built on ground that has been formed from countless layers. Thelandscape seen from the window of this gallery represents justone layer of the present, but it is not immutable; it is in a process

installation view from the view-pointB on the map

“Artificial erosion”
2019
Marble, Vinegar, Wood
900 × 900 × 100mm“Reality and imagination of surface / Exploring Saruhashi”
2019
A workshop held in Saruhashi area

installation view
Photographer : Ryusuke Kido

workshop view
Photographer：Ujin Matsuo

Through this process the marble will keep eroding over theduration of the show and the liquid makes an artificial topography.
In this pond, the marble continues to wait to be eroded by the acidin 31 hours.
This is an allegories of contemporary remains of architecture
scattered over the world today, eroded in every moment.

At the workshop, the participants picked up and recorded
characteristic stones unique to this area. On the south side of theKatsuragawa river is a cliff area made of lava that flowed out of Mt.
Fuji 6000 years ago, and the stones that can be collected aroundthis area are affected by the lava, lapilli, volcanic ash, and thepressure caused by it.

““It is said that this star was dominated by monkeys with no hair”"
2020
Glass, sand stone, concrete
450 × 600 × 900

Suwabe reveals the history of the stone by bringing it back, cutting
it out, and polishing it. She defined this workshop as an experiment
where one can experience the pictorial cross-section and theeternal time flowing there.
Questions asked while picking up stones:-Write today’s nickname using the alphabet-Write the weight of your imagination
Condition: Express using measuring units other from grams,
pounds, or tons
-Write the time of discovery
Condition: Express using units other from year, month, day, orminuteinstallation view
Photographer : Hyunjoo Choo, Sayoko Suwabe
Mankind has been filled the land with concrete to get safe.
Centuries later, humans will become extinct and unnamed life
forms will have begun to dominate this planet. What will thisgeological era be misinterpreted by the later organisms? We,
humans, imagined the past by analyzing the layered ground. An
installation that imagines us the time after the Anthropocene,
which is layered on top of our cognition. Ants flock to thisstructure and cochlea crawls. This work was soaked in a swamp
and is now progressively weathered, forming a bizarre creatureenvironment newly.

An archive of the workshop【further information】
https://sayokosuwabes.com