XYZ: Aki Sasamoto
The tension between our bodies and the spaces, objects and people that surround them is one of the invisible forces shaping the way events unfold. Every action produces a reaction, and it’s precisely through this constant exchange that Aki Sasamoto develops her artistic research.
On view at Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan until January 17, 2027, XYZ is Sasamoto’s first institutional solo exhibition in Europe, bringing together more than 20 years of her work. The title itself immediately introduces the idea of space: x, y and z are the coordinates that define the three dimensions of the Cartesian system. Yet, as the final letters of the alphabet, they can also suggest something lefSasamotoa sequence that might continue beyond its apparent end; precision and uncertainty become two opposing yet interconnected ways through which Sasamoto examines the reality around her.
Her works occupy a similarly unstable territory between performance, video, sculpture and installation, revealing the breadth of a practice shaped by interests ranging from theatre and mathematics to dance, social psychology and countless smaller fields of observation. Rather than separating these disciplines, Sasamoto allows them to overlap, building situations in which bodies, objects and environments continuously affect one another.
The exhibition unfolds across an expansive space without imposing a single way through it, leaving visitors free to decide where their exploration begins. That choice is never entirely neutral: even the smallest movement can alter the way everything around the visitor is perceived. At the same time, the space itself refuses to remain still, as elements within the works move according to mechanisms and forces beyond the viewer’s control. What emerges is a continuous negotiation between the choices we make and the conditions we are subjected to.
Credits: Photographer Simon 171 / Text by Melania Musci / Location: Pirelli HangarBicocca / Creative Partner Simona Pavan