#011 Mutation at the dead end｜Masaru Iwai

Artists:Masaru Iwai

A performance will take place at the opening reception. Please bring along your digital camera and/or mobile phone with video function if possible. Videos shot by the viewers will be edited and made into artwork to exhibit during the exhibition period.

In the Asian conception of the universe, the microcosm of the body
and the macrocosm of the whole of nature are connected to each other
through the energy of each spirit. The flow of this energy is heightened
through the circulation and purification processes within the body,
the balance of which is central to Eastern Medicinal Science.

Through interventions in the absurd cleanliness of everyday utensils and
foodstuffs and the disposal and cyclic processes of household waste,
Iwai Masaru puts into practice what may be perceived as a desire towards
this circulation and purification.
The transitory expressions of performance and installation
refuse the fixity of things around us, maintaining a fluidity and forming
a technique which is able to activate always with a fresh energy.
Here in his new installation, in its circulations,
exchanges and activations a new energy is surely to be formed.

Mami Kataoka, Mori Art Museum Chief Curator


We are pleased to announce "Mutation at the Dead End", a solo exhibition by Masaru Iwai at 3331 Gallery.

In recent works, Iwai has been focusing upon the everyday action of "cleaning" and actively developing and presenting projects both nationally and internationally. In these works Iwai takes not only consumer products or people as the object of cleaning, but even expands this to the scale of a city or a nation, in an action often seemingly absurd, nonsensical, and excessive. However, the reactions and sensations raised through such actions (which Iwai has coined as "Cleaner's High") reveal aspects of our physiological desires, and their context in terms of social identity and history, leading us to question the values which "we cling to".

In this exhibition, a performance will be presented at the opening event, in which porcelain cleanser bottles will be destroyed through the act of bowling. The sudden mutation that takes place here provides the base for a new work, which Iwai will develop throughout the exhibition period. Here the dead end is broken through and this new opening allows for a new circulation in the production process and final work.


Masaru Iwai
Born in Kyoto, 1975. Received a Ph.D. in Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2009. Masaru Iwai incorporates garbage and cleaning in his works under the theme of "Cleaner's High". Utilizing various media such as installation, video and performance, Iwai reveals our innate desire for cleanliness in our everyday lives, and while shifting its point redefines this circulative action.