Please describe the intention behind your work. How do you successfully express this intention? It all started when I realized it’s strange that I don’t have any Twitter or Instagram or Snapchat account even though I’m surrounded by many friends who are enthusiastic about those social media. Internet can make people connected, and I agree it’s romantic that we can get to know someone living in the other continent but I was also scared of sharing my private life with random strangers. This work was made to clarify and estimate the use of internet as a communication tool.
Your work plays with what we see and what we think we see; the relation between a real form and the representation of it, destruction of the image, interaction between space and volume. What we find personally compelling though, is that create at the same time a real and a virtual space where forms volume can be represented in many different ways depending on the views, the space and the time. Can you talk about that?
Another reason why I decided to make this work was the experience when I lived abroad. There was a Japanese festival I wanted to participate by all means, so I asked friends to relay it via Skype. During the exhibition, the installation work and also the audience The image was rough and interrupted, but it was so much fun I are shot by the small webcam. It was very interesting to see how could somehow feel the atmosphere of the festival. Since there people in the gallery reacted to being in the video which was is a time differences, I could also felt I was time-traveling while I watched by the anonymous audience. Some people avoided to was watching night festival and eating my lunch at the same time. show their face, some people said hi to someone behind the screen, Through my work I wanted audience to experience this strange some people said it made them paranoid. The whole process of feeling of traveling through the screen. I like a German word being in a screen is actually almost same as being tagged on a “Fernsehen” means television and can be literally translated like photo on the internet as everybody might experienced before. gaze into the distance. When I was exhibiting this work in Tokyo, But once it is presented as an artwork, people start to think about some friends watched my work from their country and I really their daily behavior from a different perspective. It might give an enjoyed talking with them through the system of live streaming. opportunity to realize how posting photo can threaten someone’s Also, it was nice that some audience saw the video on the internet privacy or how it’s funny to talk online with someone who you don’t first, then came to see the actual work in the gallery. I loved when know at all. It was nice that people received an impact from that a they said it was completely different from what they imagined and little bit surprising production. expected by watching video! My mission succeeded. Can you talk a little about your formative years as an artist? The Earthquake in 2011 was the biggest turning point for my artistic activities. I had most thoughtful period at that time. Until then I had been just enjoying making artworks as a pleasure but I became not able to keep the same way. A month after the earthquake, I got shocked by one sensational artwork, LEVEL7 feat. Myth of Tomorrow by ChimPom. It made me think like artists do not only paint for themselves but they use their wits to tell a message to others. So I entered university, majored contemporary art and photography and learned a lot about journalistic role of arts. Eventually I found I prefer not to make my work too political nor didactic but I always try to include social issue in my work. Especially I’m interested in phenomenon caused by distance or traveling, cultural difference and digital communication since I studied in Zurich, Switzerland in 2014. In terms of medium I like to use any kind of material, I’ve learnt multiple methods at school and every time I choose the most suitable way for the concept
Your process includes installation, digital devices, Phone devices, cameras and others technologies to create the real/ virtual dimension.. In other hands, you use NO FILTER – FICITIONALITY to create your own reality.. How can you describe that for our Readers? I think I just clipped an ordinary scene in our everyday life, emphasize its detail, change the shape and put it in the gallery. I just realized strangeness of virtuality and extracted its features, this is not my own reality but a common one. In my opinion, one of the most important thing for artists, whether to take pictures or draw a picture, is they have to carefully consider how to cut out the reality with certain intention.
Your work is conceptual, long duration and live installation showing the gap between things in the real world and virtual world both in analog/digital platform.. How do you turn this to an artistic inspiration? When I was wondering how I could represent the interaction between people and social media, or the gap between virtual and real world, I just found NASA was broadcasting a live footage from the International Space Station. That fake-looking stream video, fantastical view of space and astronaut was just impressive and marvelous! So visually the installation was influenced by that video, and also I approved chatting system of youtube as super nice communication tool. Isn’t it chill that people all over the world could have a conversation while they are looking at the earth together? I believe artists are not activists who advocate a particular position but more like who can mesmerize others with their universal idea. I don’t argue social media is good or bad, my work allows any interpretations. ISSUE 01
83
