The
Bizarre and the Everyday—Whitney Biennial Artist to Visit
Smith
Aki
Sasamoto, a New York-based Japanese artist in several media,
uses performance, sculpture, dance and other forms of expression
to explore her avid curiosities about the way we live life,
our unconscious repeated actions and routines, and how minute
changes alter our realities.
 “I am interested in procedures, gestures, and habits in daily life,” she comments
in her artist statement on her Web site. “They are constant. Minute differences
in their execution expose the condition of people’s mental state or environment.”
Sasamoto, the recipient of several
art awards, will visit Smith on Tuesday, March 2, to give
an artist talk at 5 p.m. in Graham Auditorium, Hillyer. Her
talk, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored
by , an ongoing creative studio space at Smith
focusing on process and dialog about art and mathematics.
“I have been following Sasamoto’s
work for a few years,” said Pau Atela, professor
of mathematics and statistics, who coordinates MathStudio. “She
will be presenting her work through projections and talking
about memory, body, emotion, time/place and personal narrative.”
It will be Sasamoto’s second performance at Smith, said Atela. The artist visited
campus in 2008 for an art/math participation event, “X =,” part of the launch
of MathStudio.
Sasamoto was recently chosen
as a 2010 Whitney Biennial artist, a prestigious group of
contemporary artists annually showcased by the Whitney Museum
of American Art. The Whitney Biennial is the renowned museum’s signature
exhibition. Sasamoto will perform there in March.
Sasamoto’s installation, performance
and visual art work has been shown in venues around the world, including—in addition
to New York—San Francisco, Germany, New Zealand, Japan.
Her Smith talk is also
sponsored by the Lecture Committee.
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