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For immediate release

Public Art Fund presents…

Mariko Mori's
Wave UFO

590 Madison Avenue at 56th Street
Sponsored by Bloomberg

On view May 10 - July 31, 2003

Wave UFO - an all-encompassing project that comes after three years of research - fuses real-time computer graphics, brainwave technology, sound, and state-of-the-art architectural engineering to create a dynamic interactive experience. The connection between technology and spirituality, increasingly important in Mori's work, is effected here through the use of specially designed computer programs and scientific equipment that monitor and visually interpret the participants' brainwaves.

Drawing upon the Buddhist principle that all forms of life in the universe are interconnected, Wave UFO seamlessly unites actual individual physical experience with Mori's singular vision of a cosmic dream world. Within the tranquil interior of the work, Mori sends participants, three at a time, on an aesthetic voyage that seeks to connect three individuals to each other and to the world at large.

Wave UFO: The Structure
From the outside, Wave UFO is an immense shimmering sculpture, shaped like a drop of water and appearing to hover a few feet above the ground. It measures 34 feet long x 17 feet wide x 14 feet tall. This fiberglass shell houses an interior capsule, which viewers enter via a series of resin lily pad shaped steps. Inside Wave UFO, three viewers at a time recline on a Technogel chair - a spongy, comfortable surface - to watch a 7-minute projection on the domed ceiling above.

Wave UFO: Real Time Brain Wave and "Connected World"
The video projection that takes place inside consists of two parts, which flow seamlessly together. Each viewer is outfitted with a set of electrodes, which gather brainwave data. This information is instantly transformed into visual imagery, in real-time correspondence with the actual activity of the brain, and projected onto the screen: Six undulating bio-amorphous cells represent the left and right lobes of each of the three participants' brains, and a waving line moves in correspondence with blinks and other facial movements. This instant biofeedback thus incorporates the experience of watching the projection, and the interaction between the three viewers. The forms change shape and color in response to three types of brainwaves, showing which type is most dominant. Alpha (blue) waves indicate wakeful relaxation, Beta (pink) waves indicate alertness or agitation, and Theta (yellow) waves indicate a dreamlike state. When the two cells come together, that demonstrates "coherence" between the two lobes of the brain. Mental functions such as thinking in other languages or doing math problems immediately transform the characteristics of the graphics.

The second part of the projection, "Connected World," links the individual experience to the universal through a graphic animation sequence, based on a series of paintings made by Mori. Colorful abstract forms slowly expand and evolve into shapes like single cells and molecular structures, creating a dream world that is at once primordial and ethereal. With this sequence, Mori brings the viewer from the live biofeedback stage into what she describes as "a deeper consciousness in which the self and the universe become interconnected."

With Wave UFO, her most technically ambitious project to date, Mariko Mori adds to an accomplished body of recent work that has revolved around the universal themes of spiritual journey, beauty, emptiness, and enlightenment. In 1999 she created the Dream Temple, a high-tech installation based upon the ancient Buddhist Yumedono Temple in Nara, Japan (739 A.D.), a work that could be experienced by only one person at a time. Mori first became known in the 1990s for her engaging, highly stylized photographic and multimedia works that blended animation and pop culture with Japanese ritual and cultural tradition. These works - which often starred Mori herself as shaman, cyber-chic girl, goddess, or another mythical character- were typically set in otherworldly landscapes and made using up-to-the-minute technologies.

Mariko Mori's Wave UFO in the atrium of 590 Madison Avenue (at 56th Street) will be on view May 10 - July 31, 2003. Hours are Tuesday 10am - 8pm; Wednesday - Saturday 11am - 7pm; and Sunday 11am - 5pm. This exhibition is free.

A special press preview will be held on Friday, May 9 from 11am - 5pm; please call the Public Art Fund for reservations at 212-980-4575.

This exhibition of Mariko Mori's Wave UFO is sponsored by Bloomberg. Additional support was provided by Melissa and Robert Soros. Special thanks to Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Deitch Projects, and Marco Della Torre. Additional project support provided by Shiseido Co., LTD, Technogel, Lechler, and Zumtobel Staff, The Light.

About Mariko Mori
Mariko Mori, born in Tokyo, was educated at the Chelsea College of Art, London (1989-92) and participated in the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. She has had recent solo exhibitions and installations at Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Centre Georges Ponpidou, Paris; Prada Foundation, Milan; The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, The Serpentine Gallery, London; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Deitch Projects, New York.

About the Public Art Fund
The Public Art Fund is New York's leading presenter of artists' projects, new commissions, installations and exhibitions in public spaces. With twenty-five years of experience and an international reputation, the Public Art Fund identifies, coordinates, and realizes a diversity of major projects by both established and emerging artists throughout New York City. By bringing artworks outside the traditional context of museums and galleries, the Public Art Fund provides a unique platform for an unparalleled public encounter with the art of our time.

The Public Art Fund is a non-profit arts organization supported by generous gifts from individuals, foundations, and corporations, and with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

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Contact:
Public Art Fund
tel: (212) 980-4575
e-mail: press@publicartfund.org