As a sculptor, Yasue Maetake views the materials in her artwork as a seamless continuation of natural events and phenomena. Her video piece “Homo-Apparatus” proposes time-based media as animated monuments. that are transformative aspects of a material’s physical presence which can be viewed as a living agent.

In this 2-channel video, the tattoo symbolizes mankind’s attempt to master nature as seen in art history and a broader historical context. The activation of inanimate matter, its attendant subject, and individual creation is as tangible and abstract a material as the clay in the artist’s hands. Anthropomorphic imagery appears through a large fish being drawn on the floor as well as a two-faced Janus, the ancient Roman god of gates, transitions, time, duality, beginnings and endings. The incoherent harmony of piano music shows the significance of development itself.

All of these abstract activities suggest the relationship of humanity to nature, approaching man-made products as a subset of natural processes. At the same time, traditional artistry and craftsmanship are reflected as a fact that in-person interactions become ever more important in this current post-pandemic world.