Exploring Mariko Mori’s World of Cyber-Futurism

Welcome to the 189th insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode, we enter the cyber sphere, studying Japanese creative Mariko Mori’s hybridized future.

Mariko Mori’s work exists in an alternate plane, injected with electric fantasy and dystopia. In mediums of sculpture, film, sound and photography, she draws from an interest in the virtual world, incorporating robotics and sci-fi sensibilities into a tech-based metropolis. Using this intersection between consciousness and self, Mori creates illusory, often interactive projects that continue to trailblaze an entirely unique niche.

Having grown up in the stimulating streets of Tokyo, Mariko Mori was born with a European art historian for a mother, and an inventor/technician for a father. Creating an obscure parallel between West and Eastern culture, this dynamic would play a critical role in Mori’s design philosophy and interests, explaining many underlying themes throughout her portfolio. Often revisiting these conflicting ethos of her youth and adolescence, the creative is instinctively drawn to contrast, never shying from a comparative clash.

After graduating from Bunka Fashion College in the late 80s, Mori, who at the time was intermittently working as a model, would begin her journey as an independent artist. From her earliest photo collectives, she would portray herself as a sole protagonist, much like the vast work of Cindy Sherman. Mariko would debut her first kitsch-like project titled ‘Play With Me’ in 1994, pictured in a dingy Japanese sidestreet as an armoured heroine.

Immersing viewers into a realm of shadowed humanity, the artisan would continue to release projects from here onwards. While some were brief, many, like ‘Beginning of the End’ (‘96-’06) spanned years as she explored tropes of sexuality and time. Being her most iconic work, Mori would place herself in an acrylic Body-Capsule dressed as a robotic deity, travelling the world to capture herself, frozen in both hyper-modern and ancient, desolate settings.