Mariko Mori «Link of the Moon» 1996.


Mariko Mori, Link of the Moon 1996

In the 1996 photograph Last Departure and video Miko no Inori (The Shaman-Girl's Prayer presented here in the installation Link of the Moon) Mori merges aspects of the present and future with spiritual traditions of the past. Both of these works are set in the ultramodern Kansai International Airport in Japan, and feature Mori dressed as a strange and mystical female being from the future.

Mariko Mori, Link of the Moon 1996

This figure comes to life in the video Miko no Inori, carefully turning a crystal ball over in her hands while transfixing the viewer with her gleaming eyes. A recording of Mori singing a haunting song in Japanese plays in the background to enhance and intensify the unsettlingly beautiful performance. By assuming the role of shaman-a human being who acts as an intermediary between the earthly world and an unknown spiritual realm-Mori imbues her futuristic techno-spectacle with a sensibility derived from Far Eastern transcendental religious beliefs.

Mariko Mori, Link of the Moon 1996
Mariko Mori, Link of the Moon 1996