PANTA Issue 5

Is your project “OMOTE” in some way also a criticism of the Western influence taking over in other cultures, such as Japan, and replacing traditional values?

Even if it’s not intentional, I think it unconsciously exists. I am of the postwar generation (World War II), but the deeper I learn about Japan’s traditional culture, I am moved by its culture and high artistic quality and depth. The culture I enjoyed while growing up in a city was not that kind of good old traditional culture but a Westernized junk culture of mass production and consumption, which I feel prioritizes economic principles and efficiency over richness of humans and humanity.

When studying history, it makes me feel there were many things that were destroyed or lost after the Meiji Restoration and a few wars.

What will be the next step in “face-hacking”?

Technology widens the possibilities of various expressions. I’m not insistent on face mapping.

But the face as a medium always presents possibilities for large expression. Next I want to take on the challenge of reaching the level of expressing emotion and personality by pursuing precision even further. I am also trying to develop a full body tracking and projection project. For example, I see a big possibility in collaboration with Cirque de Soleil.