mono no aware

LINDEN CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS, MELBOURNE

INNOVATORS PROGRAM, 2013

CURATED BY KIM FASHER AND SARAH MOSCA (SUPERKALEIDOSCOPE)

LOTTIE CONSALVO, PAULA DOEPFNER (GER), CHRISTOPHER HANRAHAN (USA), STEVEN HARVEY, KK+JLD (KAILANA SOMMER + JACK LANAGAN DUNBAR), PAUL KOS (USA), FINN MARCHANT, TODD MCMILLAN, GEMMA MESSIH, SARAH MOSCA, SLUSH (SARAH CONTOS, JONNY NIESCHE, JUSTIN BALMAIN, MARIAN TUBBS), MARIAN TUBBS, KEN UNSWORTH

Mono no aware is an exhibition exploring the relationship between impermanence and beauty. The title refers to a Japanese concept which literally translates to 'the pathos of things' but the meaning of the phrase is subtly nuanced and has changed over time. Eighteenth century Japanese scholar Motoori Norinaga, derived the concept in his critique of 'Tale of Genji',  believing it to be the crucial emotion that moved readers. The idea predates Norinaga though to Heian times (794-1185), where aware was often used to described as the ‘ah!-ness of things’ -  the profound individual emotion one feels when encountering the beauty of a situation, object or person, whilst also being conscious of its frailty or fleeting nature. 

Some works in the exhibition evoke this feeling, creating moments of suspension and exploring the passing of time through cycles of impermanence. In them we see a tension between absence and presence; form and formlessness; sound and silence. Other works reveal the poetic charm and emotional quality of things, reflecting a fascination with objects and their inner lives.

Mono no aware is about an experience of beauty and time that is heightened by an understanding of its inevitable passing. It is about the wonder of beauty in the face of decay, of happiness that cannot last, about an appreciation of light in the knowledge of darkness.  We experience everything in the shadow of imminent departure.