Counter Ground

In the Dallas Museum of Art’s current exhibit, “Silence and Time,” works are inspired by John Cage’s composition 4’33, a piece that forces audience members to pay close attention to the surrounding sounds during the piece while the piano is silent. I found the exhibit very intriguing to me because of its clever ways of demonstrating the passing of time. One particular piece that I enjoyed is Tatsuo Miyajima’s “Counter Ground.” As I was walking though the exhibit, from a distance I saw a powerful bright red glow coming from a room. The large scale of the piece, measuring 4 ½ x 236 ¼ x 236 ¼ in., and the flickering lights instantly got my attention during the exhibit. At first, the piece was overwhelming and hard to take in because of all the different paced distracting lights. Miyamjima’s piece, which was started in 1998 and completed in 2000, is constructed of many red LED lights similar to those in alarm clocks. I think that the similarity to alarm clocks helps bring a more personal connection to the viewer. The red numeral lights form a field made out of a wooden panel of individual numbers that count down from one to nine and separate paces in a grid on the floor. The counting of numbers suggests the passing of time and seem to evoke a sense of infinity because the cycles never seem to stop. Furthermore, the cycling of the numbers resembles cycles of death and rebirth. The flashing lights create an interesting rhythm that is almost hypnotizing for the viewer. They also seem to reference our highly technologically centered and fast paced society. I think that this piece connects strongly to the theme of the exhibition through its emphasis on the passing of time shown through the counting down of the numeral red lights.