Tokyo Art Anthology
Language: English
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Installation Art

インスタレーション

Three-dimensional work that does not sit on a wall or a pedestal but changes how a whole space feels, and that visitors walk into.

01About

Installations are often made for one particular site, and visitors move through them, so where you stand is part of the looking. Materials range from everyday objects and natural materials to video and sound, and a work may be permanent or taken down when the exhibition closes. As the name of an art form, “installation” is first recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary in 1969; in 1958 Allan Kaprow called the indoor spaces he transformed “Environments.” The events the Gutai Art Association staged in Japan from 1954 are counted among early installation art, and they influenced Kaprow. Some artists step inside their own installations: Aki Sasamoto builds spaces from string, tubes, household things and sound, then talks and moves within them, so that the work becomes an event that changes over time.

02In the gallery

Look from the entrance, from the middle and from a corner. Notice how the light, the sound, and the path you take change the work.

Wall label terms in Japanese

インスタレーション
Installation
サイトスペシフィック
Site-specific
エンヴァイラメント（環境）
Environment
具体美術協会
Gutai Art Association
パフォーマンス
Performance

03Notes

Installations are mostly made for a particular place, and where you stand is part of the looking.

After moving to a few spots, where do you think the work begins, and where does it end?

04Related

All knowledge cards

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