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| © Yuichiro Katsumoto, imgl / Keio Media Design |
Encouragement Prize
AMAGATANA
Electric Play Equipment
Artist : KATSUMOTO Yuichiro
(Japan)
KATSUMOTO Yuichiro
Born in Gifu, 1981. Currently, he studies at the Masahiko INAKAGE lab in SFC of Keio University (imgl/Keio Media Design). Being frightened by the hanging advertisements of weekly magazines in the train, he lives everyday life seeking a new entertainment.
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for receiving this prestigious award. AMAGATANA has been prototyped as play equipment for enjoying the blithe feeling after the rain following a plot which is “making the human body into hardware, what he holds in his hand into software.” It would be fun to wave the umbrella using movies, animations or games as resources. The presence of my friends from imgl and KMD made it possible for me to create such a work. Thank you very much indeed!
The whole room of the examining meeting was filled with an explosion of laughter at this work. Furthermore, the laughter came out virtually simultaneously. Basically, everyone burst into laughter at the moment we understood what the creator meant. This clarity is very important in the world of entertainment. Another amusing point is that he uses “something which you can find anywhere.” Cognitive psychology. Affordance. It does not matter what name you call it, but the plastic umbrella exists beautifully there as a “sword”. To change the recognition. This is not by any means as easy as it seems.
How old were you when you "created" something first time in your life? At that time, what did you create, and what kind of medium did you use?
I began to create things with supplements of Gakken magazines and Gundam plastic models when I was an elementary school kid. In junior-high school, I got hooked on black bass and I made lures and imitation worms with my little brother. It was when I was 23 years old that I started a master’s degree at a graduate school and began my life of production which continues to this day. I created Nozoki-Hana, a device which replicated memories using scents and sounds.
What kind of tools or medium do you use now? Please tell us the reason why you choose them.
I use a PC and a Max/MSP at present. A student ahead of me at the graduate school recommended them to me. They would not be suitable for industrial use, but you can rely on them for prototyping.
If you could get "dream tools/medium" for your creation, what do you wish to get?
I think something fascinating would happen if I had tools which could create a time when presentations typically produced by mass media or advertising agencies would no longer have power over the public. In that regard, I count on Web.2.0.
Do you have any consistent subject matter or theme through your works? If so, please explain us.
At the moment, I am working on prototyping with “a human being and a machine in one” as my concept.
Please tell us the most difficult or considerable part when you create your work.
I am a clumsy person, so I always struggle with installation. Instead, I try to squeeze out a big-boned concept which would erase the primitiveness of my installation. Rock can create a great piece of music with just three chords. I think the same thing is possible for my presentation.
Have you ever felt that your work is a "media art"? Also, what is the difference between "media arts" and "traditional fine arts"?
I myself am not conscious of art. The difference between “media art” and traditional “art” will become clear when we celebrate the centennial of Japan Media Arts Festival, in my opinion. If I am still alive by then, I would like to visit the exhibition wearing a ubiquitous toilet, or a diaper.
As an artist/creator, please tell us your approach, stance or point of view when you create your work.
There is a ramen shop behind the University which offers very nice ramen, and a large helping, which costs me 710 yen. I can be so happy for a week after I eat it. Taking this as a measure of my excitement, I work on a project.
What is your motto?
・Nice Gai (the same pronunciation with “guy” and this word means “harm” in Japanese)
: from a film Getting Wild with Our Monkey
・“It may be that boys who are not cool guys create meanings and create worlds, I suppose.”
Yajukei de Iko!! (let’s go in a beast-like manner) by MIYADAI Shinji
: from a film Getting Wild with Our Monkey
・“It may be that boys who are not cool guys create meanings and create worlds, I suppose.”
Yajukei de Iko!! (let’s go in a beast-like manner) by MIYADAI Shinji
What kind of situation in every day life do you get inspired most?
When I get stuck, I go to bed immediately. Not just lying on the bed, but lying down under the covers thinking. Then, somehow, ideas begin welling out like smoke. I scribble what occurs in my mind on a piece of paper at hand and I examine it the next morning. On a day when I have nothing to hit on, I fall asleep before I know it. The next thing I notice is the start of a new day.
What kind of vision do you have in your future development as the creator?
Though now is the time when people can sustain themselves as job-hopping part-timers, I determine to do what I can where I am. I will be very happy if I clear a wall with my research and presentation. Even if it fails, I think there is a future ahead of me.
Please name of the people, things, or phenomena that you have got most influenced by as the creator.
Friends whom I can share a laugh with, my supervisor and students ahead of me at the graduate school, and my family who brought me up. I am influenced by media in the short-term and momentarily, but when I view my life from a long-term and continual perspective, the influence of my immediate family, or people who give me advice or teach me is stronger.
