DESCRIPTION

"One sunny day, I found tiny rainbows here and there in the bathroom. I put my hand gently under the light. A rainbow is in my palm... Leaves in the woods are modulating sound and light. A whirlwind from an unknown place is blowing from the computer window. In the calm bright light, listening to the voice of the woods quietly... With a little help from technology, I try to create everyday miracles which give a passing moment of contemplation for audiences to escape from the daily hustle. Like a cozy wind and sunlight of early summer’s afternoon..." (From the press release for "NIJIKA" exhibited in AD&A Gallery, Osaka Japan)


"Nijika" is an installation which creates the ephemeral dream in everyday life. "Niji" means "rainbow" in Japanese, and "ka" comes from "kaya" (= mosquito nets). "Nijika" created an ephemeral environment with physically modulated video projections, lights and sound. It is an installation as well as a salon, a performance stage, and a part of everyday life.

In the Japanese big cities like Tokyo or Osaka, you can find many tiny old shrines and temples in the valleys between skyscrapers. The spaces are an oasis in the cosmopolitan environment. What I wanted to create in this work is just such a calm air in the urban environment.

The main components of “Nijika” － sound and light － are intangible and ephemeral, like a mirage. The daydream feeling in the environment gives audiences a fresh time for self-reflection. The video snapshots in Europe, Japan and the USA are reflected and modulated physically by mirror sheets. The shower of colorful light is projected on walls and layers of clothes as both figurative and abstract figures. The mirror sheets change angles as the wind blows or people walk nearby, and the shape of the projected images is changed dynamically from a 10-inch circle to a huge, odd-shaped surface of light on the wall through the ceiling. From the 4 speakers, the audience’s ears find fragments of field recording sounds, tiny electronic sounds and silence. There are 10-20 sounds and silence of 5 sec. - 5 min. in length, and each fragment is chosen and played back randomly. The sound adds layers of different meaning and atmosphere to the environment, and the space becomes a cocoon of light in which various memories and signs of life arrive, float and disappear. Then, with a silence, the audience gets back to real life － now here.

VIDEO

...as Installation (6'22")

...as Live Stage (5'21")

PHOTO

ARTIST STATEMENT

For years, I have been making works as a fusion of the digital and the organic. I create works from fragments of my life － video snapshots and field recordings － with the help of new technologies like physical computing, computer processing and custom-made programs. For me, having grown up in the city, artificial environments are the new ecology. They are as familiar as trees or volcanoes or mountains or sunlight. I am as used to the hum of refrigerators and air conditioners as I am to cicadas and bird songs.

My activities are based on the theme of soundscape, signal scape and mediascape, and "ambient information" is one of the most important concepts for me. From music performance in a traditional stage setting to new media installations, I try to create an immersive environment in my works. I try to create ambience like sunlight or a sea breeze. I try to add openness in my works, and I believe that my work is completed when the work is put in an everyday situation and starts to breathe with the other inhabitants there.

INSTALLATION DESIGN SCHEMATICS

The setup and dimention will change depending on the venue and situations.

This is the schematics for the exhibition at AD&A Gallery, Osaka Japan. At Ad&A Gallery, I use 2 projectors to project for 3 walls and the ceiling. When the performance event were held in the installation, the floor speakers and the desk height projection setup were moved to fit the performance environment.

FUTURE PLAN: EXHIBIT at the PARK

Project to glasses, water front stones, trees, the brick wall etc.

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>>Link to Promotional Material