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Grand Prize
3 minutes2
Installation
Artist : Electronic Shadow
(Naziha MESTAOUI & Yacine AIT KACI)
(France)
Naziha MESTAOUI (Electronic Shadow)
born in 1975 in Brussels, she has a diploma of Architecture (LaCambre, Brussels). She used to work in the field of architecture and urbanism dealing with technologies.
Yacine AIT KACI (Electronic Shadow)
born in 1973 in Paris and studied graphic design, video and multimedia (Ensad). He had a career in cultural multimedia as designer and director (Le Louvre, DVD-Rom published in Japan by Shogakukan) and worked for the french television. They both met in 2000 and decided to operate a fusion between their fields of creation.
We would like to sincerely thank the jury and the festival for this extreme honor.This work "3 minutes2" represents for us a kind of manifest of this new hybrid kind of creation, trans-disciplinal between design, art, architecture, animation, interactivity, mixing physical environments and virtual images. As young European working between art and technology, Japan is a reference and an inspiration so this Japanese international prize represents a very special recognition for us.
When I saw this visual image projected on the box-shaped screen reminiscent of a white interior space for the first time, I felt a subtle surprise. The space and visual images look somewhat familiar, yet very new. The quietly developing drama of man and woman depicted in a silhouette gives an illusion as if the viewers could identify themselves with the figures and move into the story. This new work of visual image is a visual installation created by careful calculation. We are also looking forward to seeing the evolution of this work which gives a glimpse of the future possibilities in visual image expression. We have, therefore, awarded this prize.
What kind of medium did you choose for your work when the first time you were aware of your "creation"?
Models and paper. Drawing. (Naziha)
Pencil and paper. When I was a child, I drew comics a lot. (Yacine)
And, how old were you and what did you make?
We have been drawing since we started drawing at the age of 4 or 5.
Do you have any consistent subject matter or theme through your works?
Our unit name "Electronic Shadow" is based on our main theme. We mean, a material body, an object and a space generate shadow which is electrical (electronic shadow) and it integrates technologies which are able to expand the physical dimension into the imaginational and magical dimension. We conceive that "a design exists in a place between a certain creative field and a separate media in an image in space" and we think that we recognize that space through the image and we recognize the image through the space. In our way of thinking, we build things upon other things rather than merely attach things to other things. By doing this, the sleepy objects and spaces become activated and begin to interact with one another.
When do you feel the connection with the technology in your creative activity?
What is the difference of the sense of Media Art from the one of traditional fine art?
We do not think our work is associated with technology particularly, because technology is a tool of our creation, but is not our theme. The impressionists made it possible to paint anytime and anywhere using the technology of paints in tubes. Every generation has used the technology of the time and produced works of art and projected a new world and new way of looking at things. There is no difference between media arts and the traditional arts for us. Art is art.
How does your choice of medium affect on your works?
In another words, what kind of expression does your choice of medium allow you to make?
Our work, to be precise, embodies the idea "of integrating the concept under the conditions of a certain environment in the best way". This creates an encounter between the light, the material, the space and the image and the computer is incorporated in the concept of the work naturally. However, this would never emerge in the last stage of the work.
Do you feel that your theme of your works and the digital art will change along with the shift of the society?
Of course. The theme and the method which converts the theme into projects come from the vision of the actual society. We propose a new vision for the future.
What kind of field you are best at in your works?
And how do your works fit within and affect on this society?
This is a difficult question but we enjoy all the elements.
What is your motto?
"Make it happen."
What kind of situation in every day life do you get inspired most?
Traveling. We receive information and images, and do drawing, writing and photographing no matter where we are as if we are a moving office. We work a lot, especially when we are traveling and at present what we gain inspiration from is an airfield.
What kind of vision do you have in your future development as the creator?
We are hoping to work on our dear project and also we would like to challenge ourselves in new fields, for example, live performance, movies, design and so on.
Please name of the people or phenomena that you have got most influenced by as the creator.
Stanley Kubric
A genius who creates images and stories. A perfect artist who succeeded in creating real art work for a wide audience while reviving all the genres he had dealt with.
Richard Buckminster Fuller
One of the geniuses who had a great vision in the 20th century. His global way of thinking and science design are still the keys for imagination and design of the 21st century.
Charles & Ray Eames
They have exercised their talents in various fields such as design, art, architecture, photography, movies and others and firmly tied art and technology together.
Computer games
They are in the same generation as we are, about 30 years old, and they are a symbol of a "new and young language". They are one of the most interesting platforms which can produce something beyond the area of specialization. And they have captured an incredibly wide audience.
A genius who creates images and stories. A perfect artist who succeeded in creating real art work for a wide audience while reviving all the genres he had dealt with.
Richard Buckminster Fuller
One of the geniuses who had a great vision in the 20th century. His global way of thinking and science design are still the keys for imagination and design of the 21st century.
Charles & Ray Eames
They have exercised their talents in various fields such as design, art, architecture, photography, movies and others and firmly tied art and technology together.
Computer games
They are in the same generation as we are, about 30 years old, and they are a symbol of a "new and young language". They are one of the most interesting platforms which can produce something beyond the area of specialization. And they have captured an incredibly wide audience.
