inside yuko mohri’s changing world of noise, circuits and luck
After her acclaimed presentation at the Japanese pavilion during the Venice Biennale 2024Japanese artist Yuko Mohri returns with Entanglements, her most extensive solo exhibition in Europe to date. Presented at the Centro Botín in Spain, the exhibition transforms the Renzo Piano-designed the arts focus on a vibrant network of sound, movement, energy and improvisation. Opposite kinetic sculpturesplaying myself instrumentsleaking systems and sensitive electronic circuits, Mohri invites visitors into environments shaped as much by moisture, dust, wind and chance as by the artist herself.
Originally developed at the Pirelli HangarBicocca and expanded in Santander with new paintings and a site-specific film and soundscape inspired by the coastline, Entanglements reflects Mohri’s long-standing fascination with invisible systems through installations that draw from experimental music, everyday objects and organic processes.
For Mohri, these unseen forces are neither purely hopeful nor worrisome. Instead, they exist independently of us, constantly shaping the world whether we notice them or not. “The same invisible forces, like the wind that flows invisibly through a forest, are always at work in the world.” he tells designboom. “Entanglements can be an expression of both hope and fragility, or perhaps they are neither.”
all images courtesy of Yuko Mohri and Centro Botín
hearing beyond the visible
Sound has always held a central role in Mohri’s practice. Before it became internationally known for its facilities, the artist studied fine art at Tokyo University of the Arts while also playing in the punk band Sisforsound, an experience that continues to shape the rhythm and sensibility of her work today. In her installations, pianos respond to recordings of forests and coastlines, electronic systems fuel decomposing fruit, and motors, fans and scanners become part of improvised sound compositions.
However, Mohri is more interested in the overlooked noises that surround it. “People tend to focus only on musical notes,” she explains. “But I hope they hear the roar of the engine and the beat of the piano just as much.” For the artist, the recognition of ambient noise, the sounds we usually try to erase, radically changes the way a space is experienced. This sensitivity to unobserved phenomena extends to the materials he uses. Spoons, umbrellas, kitchen tools, washing mitts, leaking pipes and leftover electronics appear throughout her installations, often repurposed into unexpectedly sensitive systems. “Even cheap, ordinary materials can bring a real sense of innovation to a piece when you use them in an unexpected way.” shares with us.
Yuko Mohri’s most extensive solo exhibition in Europe to date
facilities shaped by volatility and chance
Mohri builds environments that remain unstable and constantly respond to their surroundings. Works change depending on air currents, humidity levels, electrical feedback or environmental debris collected from the exhibition space itself. Her installations are never complete and continue to adapt over time, almost like living organisms, with a sense of openness that extends to the public. Visitors move through the systems and become part of the circulation of sound, movement and energy within the exhibition.
Asked if the viewers function almost as living elements within the work, Mohri replies: “I sure hope so.”
At the heart of Entanglements is the idea that nothing exists independently. The title of the exhibition refers to the invisible relationships that connect objects, people, forces and environments in ever-evolving networks. Mohri’s works reveal how fragile and interconnected these systems already are, whether technological, ecological or social.
the exhibition transforms the art center designed by Renzo Piano into a living network
towards continuous change
Although Entanglements began development before the start of the Venice Biennale in 2024, Mohri acknowledges that the experience of presenting her work to such an international audience broadened her worldview. For the Santander presentation, she introduced new paintings and a completely new work that she describes as so fresh that she still hasn’t fully grasped it herself.
Rather than framing her practice as a steady progression toward resolution, Mohri prefers to think in terms of continuous transformation. “I just hope that, like life itself, it remains full of constant change,” she reflects.
Ultimately, the artist hopes visitors will leave the exhibition with a slightly altered perception of the world around them. Not necessarily with answers, but with more attention to the hidden energies embedded in everyday life.“If visitors leave my exhibit and find that the everyday landscape they walk through looks even a little bit different,” Mohri says, “I honestly couldn’t be happier.”
sound, movement, energy and improvisation fill the space
Mohri invites visitors into environments shaped as much by moisture, dust, wind and chance as by the artist herself
