Collection: Muso Window (1983-84)

Each person is different, but I have the desire to clearly state my feelings in black or white terms. At the same time, there are some situations which are ambiguous and cannot be expressed in such terms. When I was paying attention to the state of mind, I had in mind the “Muso Window.” This is a device used in Japanese wooden architecture in which the degree of wind that penetrates can be adjusted by arranging two latticework windows back to back, then fixing the outside and moving the inner latticework window to adjust the gap. The reason that the “Muso Window” came to mind was that I considered it a device that would enable us to abstract and talk about the state of our spirits at each particular time.

If we think of the closed areas as black, and the gaps from which the outside is visible as white, we can start with a clear depiction of black and white, then vaguely decrease the white until there is no white at all. This is the principle of the “Muso Window.” I saw ambiguous windows as well as black and white ones. These included the half-open windows for wind control and windows just before being closed. It was the ambiguous windows that strongly attracted me.