Questions such as "where do we come from and where are we going?" cannot ultimately be answered in scientific terms. Such aspects of the unexplainable fascinate Ogaki, who has dealt in detail with facts and theories derived from the natural sciences.
Born in Toyama, Japan, 1973.
Mihoko Ogaki's works deal with existential themes such as birth and death, thus discussing philosophical questions of human life. Starting from scientific knowledge and based on evolutionary theories, Ogaki raises metaphysical, ontological and cosmic questions.
In terms of the genesis of human life from a biological point of view, the embryo arises from cell fusion and becomes a viable human being through cell division. All genetic information is individually determined in DNA, the molecular consistency of which can be decoded by science in detail. However, science has its limits. Questions such as "where do we come from and where are we going?" cannot ultimately be answered in scientific terms. Such aspects of the unexplainable fascinate the artist who has dealt in detail with facts and theories derived from the natural sciences. Thought or feelings, such as joy, anger or mourning, are based on molecular connections. They may work microbiologically, but they cannot be fully explained. The multitude of things always boils down to an indivisible entity. The universe is made up of an infinite number of elementary particles. Yet it constitutes a whole. "So in this double sense, the whole world is the whole world, the microcosm finds both parts completely in itself. And what it thus recognises as its own nature is the same as that which also constitutes the nature of the whole world, the macrocosm."
(Arthur Schopenhauer, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, Bd.I, § 29)
Mihoko Ogaki approaches the phenomena that she raises in her work analytically, while at the same time pointing out the impossibility of encompassing the world completely by means of science. Where science comes to an end, art becomes a medium that raises existential questions whose aporetics are presupposed.
Despite major advances in the field of prenatal research, the vision of the embryo can never be deciphered. The thought and feeling of the human being, the harmony of body and soul, defy scientific explanation. The autonomy of art frees itself from objective conclusions. This is why the world in which we live can become profoundly and substantially the centre of consideration. This is Mihoko Ogaki's approach.
In Adorno's sense, her art poses questions without claiming to know the answers. The artist uses themes such as birth and death to examine philosophical questions of life.
In 2003, Mihoko Ogaki presented her work at the 57. Bergische Kunstausstellung at the Baden Museum in Solingen and received the public prize.
Source: text by Gisela Elbracht-Iglhaut Museum Baden, Solingen