Philippe Parreno: A Manifestation of Objects

Among Tokyo's major art venues, the Watari-Um is one place consistently demonstrating that contemporary art can be, besides a medium for self-expression and commentary on the state of things today, a whole lot of fun. This show from French mixed-media artist Philippe Parreno has plenty to captivate more casual visitors: ‘speech bubbles’ formed by helium balloons fill the ceiling of a corridor, while recent work ‘The Speaking Stone’ (2018) is a synthetic rock that contains a hidden speaker system enabling it to ‘speak’ a text written by Parreno and voiced by German actress Sandra Hüller. There is a deeper side to such seeming playfulness, with Parreno exploring the boundaries between the real and the imaginary, and seeking a form of communication that transcends language.