​Tatsuo Miyajima is known for his light works using LED counters that flash in incessant cycles between 1 and 9 without ever reaching zero, as can be seen in his 2013 work as part of the Rhizome series.

His new work for Art Basel and the ICC will also feature LED counters and will aim to convey the eternal luminance of human life and the ethos of living in the present. This piece too will be comprised of the numbers 1 through 9, which will cascade down the face of the ICC building without ever getting to zero. The continuous counting down symbolizes life, while the zero, represented by the extinction of light, is a metaphor for death. The digits in the installation will be of different sizes and will descend at different speeds to create a number of ‘layers’ that represent the trajectory of human life.

The absence of zero in his works is a reference to the Buddhist concept of Sunya, which symbolizes the void or non-existence. Miyajima’s use of numbers as abstract and conceptual symbols allows his work to be appreciated and adapted internationally.

“Time Waterfall” will be on display every night from March 21 through the 26. It will be shown across the entire façade of Hong Kong’s 490-metre high International Commerce Centre (ICC) on the city’s Kowloon harbour front and will be visible from many locations in Hong Kong, including the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Tamar Park, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park and the terrace on Podium 3 and 4 of the IFC Mall are other recommended viewing locations.

Miyajima has had numerous solo exhibitions around the world. His work is also currently part of permanent collections at Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Tate Modern in London.

To see what else Art Basel has in store for this year in Hong Kong visit www.artbasel.com/hong-kong.