Jon Sasaki | In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock on the morning

Jon Sasaki

In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock on the morning

Toronto, Canada: Nothing Else Press, 2014

9 x 7 x 3 cm

Edition of 50 signed and numbered copies.

Two potatoes wired to power a science toy clock broadcast a distressing message.

Packaged in a clear plastic box, the work includes the altered clock (a wired LCD screen, copper and zinc electrodes), extra nails and an instruction sheet. 

“The buyer becomes complicit, Sasaki told Canadian Art Magazine in 2014, "they have to stab these two potatoes with electrodes and watch the system run itself down. It’s tragedy, but really only tragicomedy. If it were a sentient being it would be tragedy. It’s comedy because it’s just a potato. There’s something heartbreaking and funny about empathizing with an inanimate object.”

A new exhibition of Sasaki’s work opens at week today at Clint Roenisch Gallery in Toronto. An opening reception will be held on September 4th from 6 to 8pm. The exhibition - titled Making Do With The Photons That Linger After The Sun Has Set - continues until October 18th.