This room is overflowing with deep blue waters released from a dam. From the ceiling, down the walls, and to the floor, the water flows. Tonight, you will sleep within these waters.

This room represents a dam from the perspective of the artist Mariko Mukumoto, who often creates minimalistic 3-D works of art inspired by man-made landscapes. When she was a child, she visited a man-made dam and was in awe of it, and impressed by its enormity. That was when her interest in dams began and became her inspiration for this room.

Made with fiber-reinforced plastics, such as those used to make children’s playgrounds, this room is full of flat textures and cold, inorganic materials. Mukumoto purposely avoided natural materials like wood and stone in favor of synthetic materials. The bright pop-art color scheme is both surreal and yet simplistic.

The mountains and flower beds that can be seen from a dam serve as motifs for the furniture and objects decorating the room. The black chair represents a sudden hole that appears in the dam. As you gaze at the minimalist objects, ponder what each could be. The switches by the door change the lighting in the room, and if you turn on the indirect lighting setting, it looks as if the dam is being lit up at night.

This room is overflowing with the artist’s love for dams. Have you ever thought so much about dams or studied them to this degree? If you’ve found yourself wanting to research dams after listening to this guide, you’ve already fallen into the artist’s trap. In case you were curious, the artist’s favorite dam is Miyagase Dam, so that might be a good place to start.

As you sleep tonight, imagine yourself floating buoyantly in the released waters of a dam. You might feel a strange kind of comfort. What kinds of dreams will you have here, in this fantastical world of dams?