That' life
GALLERY 208
Life is a Body We are Part of−A vida é um corpo do qual fazemos parte, 2012, was created for the exhibition Madness Is Part of Live held in the Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo in 2012. This enormous hand-crocheted multicolored sculpture is suspended from the ceiling and symbolizes Ernesto Neto's conception of life, in which there is no separation between humans and nature. Divided into a male part—the suspended walkway—and a female part—the platform on the upper part—the piece re-creates fertilization, the moment when a sperm enters an egg, the beginning of life.
The artist began working with crochet in 1994 in order to create seamless fabrics and has hand-crocheted circular cells—filled with plastic balls—since then. Neto prefers materials and techniques traditionally linked to women. The artist explains “I love the idea of continuity between man and woman, both in the moral sense and the psychotopological sense. Female and male are just negative and positive. It’s like a sculpture cast—you have the model and the cast. I’m pretty interested in this ambiguity.”
According to Neto, he has wanted to move through the space, hover above the floor or trace a line to climb and float in the air for many years. Life is a Body We are Part of−A vida é um corpo do qual fazemos parte, through which Neto aims to give visitors a slight sense of vertigo, encourages us to think about balance, something which we sometimes take for granted, and to reconsider "the way we move, desire, and fear."
Life is a Body We are Part of is a work which can only be accessed by eight people at a time. To do so, visitors should remove all personal items, such as shoes, bags, and any other items, including the audio guide, which might get stuck in the piece's crochet. Please wait for your turn. In order to facilitate access to this piece to as many visitors as possible, we ask that you not remain longer than 15 minutes. When you leave, please remove all your personal items from your locker so that the next person can use it.
You can also interact with the work Design Place (Lugar Desenho, 2002), where activities will be held at certain times from Tuesday to Sunday. Please ask the Museum's docents for further information.