Speak Spindle – A solo exhibition by Yutaka Inagawa

“Speak Spindle つむ・くち” presents a sensory labyrinth traversing the physical and transmaterial realms. Inagawa’s work interlaces the tangible world with numerous immaterial domains – the digital, the cerebral, the spiritual, and realms of ‘otherness’.

The exhibition showcases visual timestamps from his tangible reality, captured through Inagawa’s lens – personal digital photographs from his Singapore trip in 2017. The collective consciousness of the AI tool ‘Mid Journey’ transfigures his personal photos into blended images, generating an ethereal photographic reality that is reflective of both the artist’s physical constraints as a shooter and the technological limits of the time. This collaboration results in a peculiarly but smoothly fused photographic reality underscored by an invisible digital logic.

From a reservoir of more than 2500 AI-generated images, Inagawa curates a careful selection for his series of satin prints, thereby creating complex, multi-dimensional landscapes of mesmerizing diversity. “Speak Spindle” binds various elements beyond the satin prints. It features soft sculptures, a personal item – a small body bag – and its semi-abstract replica, swathed in satin skin, alongside graphically enhanced short wordings. Each element carries traces of Inagawa’s personal narrative, composing a puzzling aesthetic experience and acting as multiple gateways into an intricate web of interconnectedness.

Inagawa’s exploration of the interplay of language, emotion, and visual language takes a new stride from his collaborative online project with curator Ying Kwok, titled ‘Say to Day’ (2020). He presents visually structured mural phrases extracted from the digital cacophony, including Twitter and personal WhatsApp messages, and translated multiple times from Japanese to English. This process invites a dialogic relationship between language, emotions, and visual representation.

“Speak Spindle つむ・くち” offers a glimpse into the intricate fabric of shared experiences and nonsensicality where a blend of words, images, and objects dances across the boundary between physical and transmaterial ontology. The exhibition promises a captivating encounter between these realms that will undoubtedly resonate with viewers.”