Salt

Motoi Yamamoto uses more than a tonne of salt to create exquisitely detailed mazes. These 'sculptures', akin to sand painting, creep through existing spaces, invading, flaunting the nature of salt itself. In a Co.Design article, it was reported that one of these pieces in Cologne were deconstructed by its viewers and they were allowed to redistribute the salt to where ever they wanted, be it sea or soil, to 'contribute to new life'. Interestingly, a comment points out that salting the soil was a cruel form of ancient warfare; salted soil allows nothing to grow as experienced by areas with soil salinisation. What is this bitter twist at the end of this elegance? Salt versus sugar? These works are not solely visual, but on a sensory level, the sheer presence of salt adds a gustatory influence - that salt can sting the tongue.