A beautiful Jōmon earthenware vase that curls up at the edges like the flames that it was fired from stands at one corner of the first gallery, while in the center is Mori’s interpretation of a Jōmon stone formation meant to align with the winter solstice. This movement of time is most effective at the beginning and the end, where first you enter a dark stage of death heavily inspired by ancient Jōmon culture (14,000–300 BCE). Mariko Mori, “Tama I” (2011), epoxy with pearlescent finish in front of drawings by Mori “Her understanding of time is not linear, so it’s the past, present, and future all together.” “Her concept of the space for the exhibition is almost a Möbius ring,” Tezuka told Hyperallergic during a visit to the exhibition. The earliest art in the exhibition dates to 2001, and each work is meant to be part of a journey that starts with death, then goes to birth, then a transcendental rebirth.

Rebirth: Recent Work by Mariko Moricurrently at the Japan Society was planned by Mori with curator and Japan Society Gallery Director Miwako Tezuka specifically for the space, although the exhibition itself had its debut at London’s Royal Academy of Arts last December. Now there is a focused contemplation that takes as much inspiration from the future as from the past in a sort of looping wormhole of time. No more is there a hyperreal Pop-y take on rampant commercialization where Mori decks herself out in aggressively vibrant costumes to be a sexy cyborg or other caricature of the collision of technology with consumerism. It’s been about a decade since Mariko Mori had a museum show in New York, and much has changed in the Japanese artist’s work. Mariko Mori, “Flatstone” (2006), ceramic stones and acrylic vase (all photographs by the author for Hyperallergic)

Mori ring