Project for Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festival

Special exhibition: The Medium as Somatic Impulse
Venue: Sitara Studio (National Engineering Compound, Garage Lane, Kakasaheb Gadgil Marg, Near Congress Bhavan Opposite Indiabulls Finance Centre, Lower Parel, Mumbai)
Edward Cinema (514, Near Metro Adlabs, Kalbadevi Road, Kalbadevi, Mumbai)
Todi Mill Social (CS NO. 242, Near Viva Center, Lower Parel West, Mumbai)
Dolby Laboratories (S14, 5th Floor, 167, Guru Hargovindji Marg, Chakala, Andheri , Mumbai)
Piramal Museum of Art (Peninsula Corporate Park, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel West, Mumbai)
Period: Friday, 19th to Sunday, 21st February, 2016
Admission: free (Edward Cinema need to festival pass RS200〜)

Organizer：

Japan Media Arts Festival

Co-organizer：

EYEMYTH Media Arts Festival

Co-operation：

The Japan Foundation New Delhi / TodaysArt JP / TAKAMATSU MEDIA ART FESTIVAL

Planning director：

UKAWA Naohiro (Genzai (Contemporary) Artist / Professor,

Kyoto University of Art and Design / Representative, DOMMUNE)

Project advisor：

MOURI Yoshitaka (Musical Creativity and the Environment, Tokyo University of the Arts / Sociology)

YOSHIOKA Hiroshi (Professor, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University / Aesthetics and Art Theory)

Theme

Planning director: UKAWA Naohiro

As former WIRED editor-in-chief Chris Anderson observed in Makers, the focus on creators is today being surpassed by the “Maker Movement” whose necessary elements are the web and social media using “desktop manufacturing” such as CAD and 3D printers. The 21st century Industrial Revolution has already begun. Simultaneously, the 2010’s have been marked by the abstract painting trend of “The Medium of Contingency”. This is the approach of introducing chance into works in order to transcend the maker’s own creative conceptions and even the laws of causality. But is it possible for such opposing creative elements to resonate well!?

I confronted artworks with trying to explore these two overarching concepts of our times in my works! Also, the world which emerges at ground level! This wasn’t media or technology but human flesh and blood! Listen carefully and you can hear the artist breathing... the hint of the artist’s after-fragrance... the finger marks and blood stains which float up transparently... Yes, the artist’s gaze and concepts become a creative light which surpasses technology and ascends!! This was how I tackled the theme of the Medium of Physicality! Medium as physical impulse! New catalysts and unprecedented technological inventions are only tools of the creator and mere vessels! Rock art, cave paintings, the desert line drawings of Nazca and the pyramids can all be regarded as ancient media arts which bore the weight of mythology. Ever since extremely distant times, media and technology have only been tools of the imagination! Imagination can become creativity! In short, isn’t the power of representing physical impulse in media the most important capability in art? This has to be the way of the alternative futures that break so easily through the stereotypical future images!!

UKAWA Naohiro (Genzai (Contemporary) Artist / Professor, Kyoto University of Art and Design / Representative, DOMMUNE)

Born in 1968 in Kagawa Prefecture. A multi-talented artist known for his wide range of activities as a graphic designer, video artist, music video director, VJ, writer, university professor, and genzai (contemporary) artist, among other roles.

Artist

■Chapter 1 / The Medium as Somatic Impulse — Performance

Media art has developed together with the evolution of technology and by definition has always been interdisciplinary. Chapter 1 examines physical impulse as the source of creativity and the honeymoon of contemporary technology as live performance.
galcid＋DORAVIDEO＋SAITO Hisashi (Gig by modular synthesizer+Laser)
UCHIHASI Kazuhisa (Gig by Daxophone)
*Due to personal reasons, DORAVIDEO/ICHIRAKU Yoshimitsu is unable to appear at the upcoming EYEMYTH Media Arts Festival.

■Chapter 2 / The Medium as Somatic Impulse — Installation

Chapter 2 is an installation that goes beyond the clichés of fast-evolving prototyping technology, sensing etc. to achieve what may be called the post-human interface. The themes include the mutual interaction of the body and external world; technology and body; and redefinition of the space of everyday life.
neural portraits MANABE Daito (2015 / Digital photo)
Forest of Daxophone, UCHIHASHI Kazuhisa (2014 / Media installation / Jury Selections at 18th Art Division)

■Chapter 3 / The Medium as Somatic Impulse — Gadget

Prototyping technology using CAD and 3D printing makes this-century social items. This is the Maker Movement. Chapter 3 introduces true alternative futures drawn from analysis of this trend, which may well be called the Third Industrial Revolution, from the viewpoint of the exhibition’s theme, The Medium as Somatic Impulse.
handiii, KONDO Genta / YAMAURA Hiroshi / KONISHI Tetsuya
(2014 / Gadget / Excellence award at 18th entertainment Division)

■Chapter4 / The Medium as Somatic Impulse—Short film OVERSEAS

Short films only from all over the world expressing fundamental concepts structured around the three elements of time, place and body have been selected from among the award-winning works of the 18th Art and Entertainment Divisions. The trends in short films in 2014 are examined in terms of Medium as Somatic Impulse.
Kintsugi, APOTROPIA (Antonella MIGNONE / Cristiano PANEPUCCIA) [Italy] Excellence award at 18th entertainment Division
The Mute, Hilla BEN ARI [Israel] Jury Selections at 18th Art Division
KAWURAS, Hendrik LACKUS / Lars SICHAU / Andreas MEVES [Germany] Jury Selections at 18th entertainment Division
FAINT, Natalie PLASKURA [Germany] Jury Selections at 18th entertainment Division
WE ARE OUTSIDE PLAYING IN THE GARDEN, Friederike HOPPE [Germany] Jury Selections at 18th entertainment Division

■Chapter5 / The Medium as Somatic Impulse—Drawing Animations 2014

The word animation derives from the Latin anima, spirit, and means to breathe life into lifeless drawings and make them move. Chapter 5 features drawing animation as the first impulse of expression, examining its avant-garde forms across the Entertainment and Animation Divisions.
A Family Story, UESHIMA Shiro / ASAI Yuki / KANO Akira / KANNO Satoko / AIHARA Sachie / audioforce / IZUMIDA Takeshi / TEKKEN [Japan] Jury Selections at 18th Entertainment Division
*Anzen unten no shiori* (Safe Driving Guide), AC-bu (ADACHI Toru / ITAKURA Shunsuke) [Japan] Jury Selections at 18th Entertainment Division
YAMASUKI YAMAZAKI, Shishi YAMAZAKI [Japan] Jury Selections at 17th Art Division
Remember me, HASHIJI Misuzu / Remember me production team (SAKAI Yosuke, Representative) Jury Selections at 18th Entertainment Division

Related Events

■ WORKSHOP

The Synthesizer Academy
Lecturer： galcid + SAITO Hisashi
Date & Time: Friday, 19th February 15:00〜17:00
Venue: Dolby Laboratories
They take various vintage synthesizers and the latest modular synthesizers from Japan and explain their structures and history with the actual sounds to transfer even more tangible technology.
Register: hello@unboxfestival.com

■ TALK

The W in V
Participants: UKAWA Naohiro / Avinash Kumar / Dr. Padini Ray Murray
Date & Time: Sunday, 21th February 15:00〜16:30
Venue: Piramal Museum of Art
This event will bring Japanese designer, visual artist and music video director Ukawa Naohiro, digital artist and academic specializing in digital humanities, games studies and design Dr. Padmini Ray Murray, and design strategist, researcher and artist, and one of the co-founders of Quicksand (plus one half of the Music group BLOT!), Avinash Kumar, who will present their experiences and examples on the female form in new media and video games. The session will be followed by a panel discussion.

■ PROGRAM SCREENING

Date: Saturday, 20th February
Venue: Edward Cinema
20:00〜 Beyond the Technology
17:30〜 / 20:30〜 Entertainment & Animation Selection 2015

■ LIVE PERFORMANCE

Date & Time: Saturday, 20th February 22:00〜
Venue: Edward Cinema
Daxophone, the Talking Wooden Instrument / UCHIHASHI Kazuhisa
The daxophone is a wooden instrument invented by the prodigious German designer and musician, the late Hans Reichel. With a percussion-like rhythm and sound like that of a stringed instrument or even the cry of a wild animal, it produces a rich variety of music. Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Reichel’s bosom friend and the only daxophonist in Japan, improvises on the instrument.

Modular Synthesizer vs Laser Guitar / galcid＋DORAVIDEO＋SAITO Hisashi
This is the improvisation group with analog synthesizer, modular synthesizer and Laser Guitar. A seamless performance of light, sound and beat is promised. You have to hear and see this!
*Due to personal reasons, DORAVIDEO/ICHIRAKU Yoshimitsu is unable to appear at the upcoming EYEMYTH Media Arts Festival.

Date & Time: Sunday, 21th February 21:00〜
Venue: Todi Mill Social
Modular Synthesizer Improvisation / galcid＋SAITO Hisashi
This is the group of female analogue synthesizer unit Galcid and solitary “synthesist” Hisashi Saito. The live improvisation applies mainly analog and modular synthesizers to the No Preset No PC theme. Visitors can experience the unique sounds and rhythms of the moment which only the people there will ever know.

Daxophone vs Laser Guitar / UCHIHASHI Kazuhisa＋DORAVIDEO
The live improvisation performance daxophone and Laser Guitar.
*Due to personal reasons, DORAVIDEO/ICHIRAKU Yoshimitsu is unable to appear at the upcoming EYEMYTH Media Arts Festival.

About the EYEMYTH Media Arts Festival
The UnBox and EyeMyth Visual Music Festivals are held annually in Mumbai, India. This time, they are being revamped as the EYEMYTH Media Arts Festival of media and performance art.