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| © Inami Laboratory, UEC Tokyo |
Excellence Prize
BYU-BYU-View
Interactive art
Artist: blue elephant
(Japan)
A work realizing telecommunication with a person in a distant place by wind through a screen. Including an example where the flame of a handheld candle is blown off by a person on the screen. Even the breathing of a partner far away can be sent and received.
blue elephant
SAWADA Erika, AWAJI Tatsuhito, MORISHITA Keisuke, FURUKAWA Masahiro, ARUGA Tomohisa, KIMURA Hidetoshi, FUJII Tomoko, TAKEICHI Ryuta, SHIMIZU Noriyoshi, IDA Shinya, TOKIWA Takuji, SUGIMOTO Maki, and voluntary members from INAMI Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems of the University of Electro-Communications led by Prof. INAMI Masahiko
We are so delighted that our work was selected for such an honorable award and experienced by a broad audience. When we communicate with people in distant places or on the screen, we have used phonetical information or image information so far. This work uses “wind” as new medium and makes the communication possible with various people or things which are unreachable. We would like you to feel someone or something precious in a different place close to you by the power of the wind.
Virtual reality does not necessarily involve just the five senses. But the feel of air which fills out a space is important. Only when the air moves and becomes a “wind” do we realize its presence. The feature of this work exists in the leading-edge research and development of input and output units of the wind, i.e. the sensor of the wind and display of the wind more than anything else. Through these, the artist succeeds in linking the touch of wind in the real and virtual environments seamlessly. The work itself might not be categorized as art. However, in the sense that there is a hidden potential for various new arts to be produced, this is a work in which I would like to place great hope.
What has lead you to “create a work”?
At first, members of the Laboratory talked to each other and said “Let's create something.” We discussed what was to be made and someone said: “I want to establish more real communication with people on the TV screen or screen of TV telephones. Then, how can it be realized? We thought that perhaps if we could feel not only images and sounds of people on the screen, but also their breathing, the communication would be more real. So we created this work.
What tools do you use the most at present?
It is difficult to name tools, but the development environment of the program is Windows XP, the software is visual studio 2003 C++ and we use OpenGL and OpenCV. Circuits are H8 and PIC. We create the device with ABS resin and used aluminum frames and cloths for the exterior.
What do you place greatest value on in your work?
What can we do in order to feel close to people who are actually in distant places and to be able to interact naturally. In this piece of work, we conceal a camera as well as all other devices behind the screen. If these devices were visible to a person who is going to try our work, they would feel that the communication is established through a machine and as if their partner is far away.
Not like that, we wished the participant to feel their partner is in just next to them as if they think: “He is behind the screen, isn't he?”, so we created our work in this style. Also, in doing so, we think participants could be like their natural selves when they play with the work. If they need to put on some devices or have to hold something, after all, they would feel that they communicate with their partner through tools. We were especially particular that just their own breaths can make communication.
Not like that, we wished the participant to feel their partner is in just next to them as if they think: “He is behind the screen, isn't he?”, so we created our work in this style. Also, in doing so, we think participants could be like their natural selves when they play with the work. If they need to put on some devices or have to hold something, after all, they would feel that they communicate with their partner through tools. We were especially particular that just their own breaths can make communication.
What personal concept do you keep throughout your creative activities?
To create something new. We believe that we definitely have to have technical freshness. And, by that technical newness, to enable what we couldn't have been able to do before.
When you create a work, in what way do you think of a presentation using technologies or media as a means to communicate?
It is similar to the previous question, but it becomes possible to do that which we were not able to do before. If you ask us “Will everyone become happy by that?”, perhaps we can make just some people happy. We think that it has a different meaning from becoming convenient. It is difficult to make everyone happy. However, we believe media are a means which can make even some people happy and smile.
Could you name a person, a work, or an event that you have been influenced by the most?
The year before last, I was at the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival to work as a staff for my senior members of the laboratory I belonged to to help the audience to experience their work, Straw-like User Interface (Conspiratio) . At that time, when I saw joy and surprise on people's faces who experienced the work, I felt strongly that “Someday, I want to create such a work.” Therefore, I think I am greatly influenced by the work, the artist of the work (i.e. my senior member of the laboratory and the teacher), as well as the exhibition at that time.
What kind of work would you like to create in the future?
I would like to create a work which “enables us to do what we could not have done before.”
What is the meaning or importance of “to create” for you?
To be able to see someone's smile.
