Tomoko Hayashi’s work explores the interrelationship between “inner nature” – the subtle movements of human consciousness – and “outer nature” – the physical world and its ever-changing forces. Her installations transform invisible processes of change into sensory experiences. Shaped by her time in the vast deserts of the American Southwest, the wetlands of Ireland and Scotland, and the metropolis of London and Tokyo, her work reflects the contrast between slow geological shifts, the cycles of life and decay, and human temporality within these scales.
After collaborating with technologists in Dublin to create Mutsugoto which was exhibited in V&A London, 2005, and The Science Gallery Dublin, 2010, Hayashi returned to Kyoto where nature and history deepened her awareness of the fluid connection between inner and outer nature. In her solo shows Reweaving the Rainbow, 2021, she integrated scientific and cultural insights into installations that wove human consciousness, the earth’s tremors, and life’s cyclical processes. And the world is mud, 2024, used bacteria-generated energy and field recordings to reveal physis – the unseen rhythms of life and death. Through materials like mud, microorganisms, sound and light, Hayashi’s ever-changing installations evoke a fleeting resonance, like a crystal radio briefly catching a signal, inviting viewers to experience the hidden forces that shape both nature and human existence.
Visit Tomoko Hayashi’s website here
May 2025 – joining the Dwell Here Research Intensive Week from 14 – 20 May 2025
Research Focus
While on residency Hayashi aims to research how we can revalue and sublimate as art, the landscapes and collective memories that have been passed down from generation to generation, which are becoming lost in the modern world. The properties of mud is of particular interest, the memories and consciousness of people associated with it. Mud and wetlands tend to be anathematized by civilised societies, however they are valuable from the perspective of biodiversity and are a critical legacy of the earth that is essential to people’s lives and activities since ancient times.
Dwell Here offers participants a simple proposition: to commit to this time and place while thinking deeply about its urgencies. Together we are curious to learn what can be activated or challenged through the process of dwelling. IMMA encourages reflection across the following themes to consider geographical, historical, political and cultural concepts of Ireland as a starting point to expand and connect international contexts through similarities and differences:
Technologies of Peace – to consider commemorative landscapes and memories of peace (as a dream, movement, or value) while generating perspectives on sustainable coexistence.
The Irish Paradigm – Welcomes artistic research that creates intimacy and connections, while celebrating the perceived agility and freedoms of operating on the periphery. As a small island on the edge of Europe, Ireland often has a challenging relationship with ‘the centre’.
The Museum as a Site of Vibration – consider how the museum and site can create new vibrations and rhythms within the built legacy of empire. How can museums make visible cultural shifts, including erased, censored or marginalised histories, as well as sustainability, planetary care, sharing and hospitality.