Corridor Gallery 27

In Japan, the phrase kusa ga haeru (« grass grows ») is an expression used mainly online to convey one’s own laughter, functioning much like « lol » in English.[SP2.1] It derives from the visual appearance of the letter « w » — the first letter of warai (laughter) — which resembles a blade of grass. This exhibition breaks the phrase down into three components: the « emotion of laughter » that carries its semantic content; the « w key on the keyboard, » the physical property that gave rise to the word; and the « abstract concept of grass » used to describe the two elements above. It then attempts to reconstruct them as physical matter.