Yuga Soma-Uéno Tele-Interference Counterpoints (in Chiba)
Fluorescent lamps (with glow starters), radios, speakers, pipes, and other materials, 20 channels, 2025
This project collects and refurbishes fluorescent lamps scheduled for disposal—primarily from sites in Chiba City—and combines them with multiple radios, speakers, and other devices in order to both revive these aging lamps and play them as media of light and sound within an installation artwork. The work is structured not only as a finished artwork but also as a process: beginning with a collection phase, in which lamps are gathered from various locations, and culminating in an exhibition phase, in which their flickering light phenomena are presented.
The project is grounded in the so-called “Fluorescent Lamp 2027 Problem,” arising from the forthcoming ban on the manufacture and trade of conventional mercury-based fluorescent lamps under the Minamata Convention. In this transitional period, the replacement and disposal of such lamps has accelerated dramatically. Since around 2017, the artist has been incorporating discarded lamps into his works; in this project’s collection phase, he also integrated lectures and dialogues with local communities. Through talks and workshops, participants revisited the mechanisms and histories of fluorescent lighting, while sharing and recording memories of its fading presence.
In the subsequent exhibition phase, the gathered lamps were configured to flicker in combination with multiple radios and speakers, resulting in the work Tele-Interference Counterpoints (in Chiba). This multi-channel installation exploits the tendency of electromagnetic waves emitted by fluorescent lamps to interfere with AM radio signals. Old, self-flickering lamps generate noise in real time, which the radios continuously capture and amplify. As the interplay of light and sound accumulates and overflows, the installation produces ever-changing spatial atmospheres. By colliding electromagnetic radiation with functional devices, and radio voices with noise, the work stages a counterpoint that reveals different dimensions of the intrinsic nature of objects.
In parallel with the exhibition, the project also makes public its contextual layers: explanations of fluorescent lamp mechanisms and types, documentation from the collection phase, and shared recollections of experiences and memories tied to these materials.
The flickering of light and sound evokes nostalgia and pathos for some, while appearing as a novel medium to others. Across its two phases, the project offers a multilayered presentation of impressions, emotions, and shifting spatiotemporal experiences. Through the presence—and disappearance—of the once-familiar fluorescent lamp, it explores the role of art in connecting objects with objects, objects with people, people with communities, consumption with circulation, and memory with the future.