cute little ugly things: 02.08.10

Sensing Nature,Mori art museum

I visited the Sensing Nature exhibition at Mori art museum in Roppongi hills.
'sensing nature', an exhibition which rethinks the japanese perception of nature,
with interpretations of the subject made by takashi kuribayashi, taro shinoda and tokujin yoshioka. the three japanese artists / designers give abstract or symbolic expression to immaterial or amorphous concepts as well as natural phenomenon such as snow, water, wind, light, stars, mountains, waterfalls and forests. Their ideas of nature suggest that it is not something that is to be contrasted with the human world, but that it is something that incorporates all life-forms, including human beings. the exhibition consisted of newly commissioned works by each of the three artists, each attempting to stimulate our sense of nature through large-scale installations.

Tokujin Yoshioka
Tokujin yoshioka's project 'snow' is a dynamic 15-meter-wide installation. It consists of a scene depicting hundreds of kilograms of light feathers blowing all over and falling down slowly which lets the visitors experience the feeling of looking at or walking through a snowstorm.

other works on show by tokujin yoshioka hist pieces 'the light' and 'waterblock':
This was quite amazing!The waterblock is so clear that when it is placed in water it disappears. When it rains on this block, it is nearly impossible to differentiate between the rain and the crystal. Also, even tho its so long, one can see clearly from one end to the other without any distortion.

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/10982/tokujin-yoshioka-for-sensing-nature-exhibition.html

Shinoda Taro

Kuribayashi Takashi

Open Space 2010

I visited a gallery at the NTT Intercommunication center(ICC)at the beautiful Tokyo opera city tower. The exhibit was called Open Space 2010. Open Space includes a gallery, a library, a mini-theater, and a lounge.
Here's some of the work i really enjoyed:

"Juggler"
Gregory BARSAMIAN
Strobe lights render three-dimensional animation in the dark. Figures toss telephones into the air. These phones transform from nursing bottles to dice before they return to the figures' hand. The work employs the theory of photogene to express anticipations and dissensions within the relationship between humankind and machines.

"Morel's Panorama"
FUJIHATA Masaki
A panorama camera is installed in the center of the room. This camera is able to capture its entire surrounding by shooting images reflected by the hemispherical mirror. The shot images are transformed into cylindrical shapes using computer software and projected onto the walls in real time. Furthermore, in another cylinder that appears on and off, pre-recorded footage of the artist himself is also mapped in the same way. The camera lens is pointed towards the photographic subject as a surrogate for our line of vision, but in the case of a panorama lens that can shoot a range of 360 degrees, there is no such thin as being "behind the camera." That is to say, people are made to be the photographic objects at the same time as they are the viewers and are transformed into the viewed. In this regard the panorama camera can be said to have properties that are very close to those of mirrors, but unlike with mirrors, the line of sight is not directly in front of the lens. Furthermore, because computer image processing technology is used in this work to reproduce the images, the viewer can see from the outside panoramas in which their own image has been captured and a structure created in which the relationship between the subject and the object is superimposed in multiple layers.

"Marshmallow Scope"
IWAI Toshio
If you look into the monitor mounted in the white marshmallow-shaped object, you will see the surrounding landscape changing as if time is going forward and backward or the passengers or objects distorted. What you see is a result of the real time manipulation and deformation of video imagery and the flow of time that was shot with a video camera and stored in the computer. "Marshmallow Scope," with its lovely and friendly shape, can serve as a window through which you can look into another world that has a different time-flow from that in the real world we know.

"The Tenth Sentiment"
KUWAKUBO Ryota
On the front of the model train running around the darkened room is a small, lit-up LED light. This train slowly navigates the room, which contains various large and small "objects," according to the model rail route, throwing the shadows of the "objects" onto the walls and ceiling as it goes. Due to the movement of the light source, the shadows of the stationary "objects" move as images like views from the carriage windows, surrounding viewers with images as if they were passengers riding on the train.

"A Parallel Image"
Gebhard SENGMÜLLER & Franz BÜCHINGER
Some 2,500 photoconductors whose electric resistance changes depending on the brightness of light detected, have been attached to one of the two panels suspended from the ceiling. The same number of light bulbs has been attached to the other panel, and the two panels are connected with copper wire so that the position of each photoconductor on one panel corresponds with that of a light bulb on the other panel. When the brightness of light hitting photoconductors changes, this is reflected by the brightness of the corresponding light bulbs on the opposite panel, and the images captured by the "camera" panel with the photoconductors is conveyed as is to the "monitor" light bulbs on the opposite panel.

http://www.ntticc.or.jp/Exhibition/2010/Openspace2010/index.html

Exhibit, tokyo

I went to another art gallery, the paintings were brightly coloured and detailed. The subject was what looked like scenes from little red riding hood. Beautiful artwork and the gallery was lovely too. There were tiny sculptures made from clay. The artists work process was projected on the floor and on a tiny screen. The pens used to create a particular drawing were all stuck together and sold with the drawing, dvd and a book by the artist. The artist also held workshops and sculptures were made using all the material used during the workshop.

Mao Nakada, Tokyo

I visited the Mao Nakada Exhibition at Galleria Grafica Tokyo in Ginza. It displayed handprinted wooden panels that depicted wierd but adorable subjects like girls and foxes using multicoloured printing techniques. These were lovely and very intricately done. There were also miniature figurines made of different material like wool,fabric,paper mache.

Rubber stamp exhibit, Tokyo

I visited Parco's LOGOS Gallery in Shibuya, which was running an exhibit of hand carved eraser seals/prints by various artists/illustrators/print makers. "Retracting seal Poppy" was a charming exhibition. The exhibit was selling prints and original editions of artists and illustrators. There were cutters and rubbers provided for those who wanted to get a seal carved or even make their own. It was fun and participatory. Some artists even conducted weekend workshops for those who were interested. I absolutely loved!I bought a lovely postcard from there.

Few of the artists:
Keiko Top
Tomoko Tsukui
Yamada Yasuyuki

2121 design sight museum, Tokyo

I was in Tokyo for a little over than a week and it was amazing!I got the chance to visit some really great art shows,galleries and museums. Everything from the presentation, content, space was wonderful!And i absolutely loved the museum shops.
First i went to the 2121 design sight museum.

This exhibition introduced new pieces, which leverage interactive devices and cutting-edge technologies, and existing pieces which reveal a theme “intrinsic attributes of ourselves.” Through a number of hands-on exhibits, a blend of scientific technologies and art works by designers and artists both in Japan and overseas, the exhibition aimed to create an opportunity for the visitors to identify their undeniable “self.”

Individuality and identity are something that you take for granted in designs and making things. The goal of the exhibition was to search for a new perspective on what makes us “us” with the visitors.

Here's some of the best ones from the exhibit.
When we entered the exhibit, before entering the main hall we had to give out some of our personal information. For this, i entered a booth which took my height, weight, pupil recognition and my name.

Pool of fingerprints- this was my favorite installation.There was a bright white ,low table top screen.We were required to press our thumb onto a device which took the impression. Then the impression showed up on the screen.This thumb print began to swim, and i followed it until it entered a large pool of living thumb prints that other visitors had previously created. I was also told that something amazing would happen if i made a another impression on the device with the same thumb. When i did this, my thumb print(which had got lost amongst the others)came swimming back to where it started of. This indicates the lost and found identity of self.There was something truly amazing to watch my own little sperm-like fingerprint swim in a see of other fingerprints.

The nominal divide-This was another interesting one. This had 3 questions to be answered which had 2 choices each(1 door for each choice).There was a camera that would recognize me and interpret/misinterpret the information and open the 'right' door. The first question was 'girl' or 'boy'. I stood at girl and it opened the gate and let me through. Second question was 'below 30' or 'above 30'.I went to the gate that said below 30 and it opened the 'above 30' gate instead, and let me through. The next question was 'smiling' or 'not smiling'. I stood at smiling, and after a while it let me through.

Outline to go-There was a screen that i stood close to. It recognized my silhouette and etched it on the screen. There was a rope hanging there which i had to pull. As i pulled it, the outline of my body on the screen got erased little by little. When i pulled the rope to its fullest and let it erase my entire outline, it told me the measurement of my silhouette.

There was a peephole to look through. It then processed several names on the screen and flashed my name eventually.

Peeping hole-There was another peephole to look through. I was looking at an image inside. People passing by could view what i was viewing. As my eyes moved towards the different parts of the picture, it projected those parts of the image on the outside wall.