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| © SATO Masahiko, KIRIYAMA Takashi, SAITO Tatsuya, YASUMOTO Masasuke, IDAKA Kumiko, KATSUME Yuichiro, EUPHRATES, TOPICS Photo: KIOKU Keizo Photo courtesy: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] |
Excellence Prize
Exhibition Transform Yourself
Exhibition
Artist : SATO Masahiko Lab. + KIRIYAMA Takashi Lab. / EUPHRATES
(Japan)
An exhibition held at the NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC), as part of the ICC Kids Program 2008, suitable for both children and adults. The program presented works such as ‘Dot Man, Line Man’, which dismantled and reconstructed human body movements in the form of dots and lines, and ‘The Extending Arm’, which tricks the senses with a visual image; they conveyed straightforwardly the potential media art has for amusement through interaction with the human senses.

© Yuichiro Tamura
SATO Masahiko Lab. + KIRIYAMA Takashi Lab.
Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. A project team was formed for the exhibition, consisting of two university laboratories. Joined members: Professor SATO Masahiko, Associate Professor KIRIYAMA Takashi, SAITO Tatsuya, YASUMOTO Masasuke, IDAKA Kumiko, KATSUME Yuichiro.

EUPHRATES
a creative group formed by graduates of SATO Masahiko Laboratory in Keio University. This is their first media art work.
The purpose of Exhibition Transform Yourself is to produce for the viewer a new internalized physicality. To put it simply, the idea is to have them really feel a new and concrete sensation that they have never before experienced. As the contents of the exhibition were physical and sensate, the means of expression required new technologies and media; the process of repeated trial and error was done in conjunction with members from the KIRIYAMA and SATO laboratories at Tokyo University of the Arts, Euphrates, and the curator of ICC. We are very glad that it has been recognized.
This exhibition was praised almost as highly as TENORI-ON, so much so that the opinion of the jury was split in two throughout the screening sessions. The best thing about this work is that people from children to adults can simply enjoy experiencing the world of Media Art, even if in the more narrow and esoteric sense. In fact, some of the jurors who had not been to the actual exhibition actually expressed remorse at having missed it. The titles of each piece, such as Micro Craftsman Training or 21st Century Nyoi-Bo, are named without recourse to the words media or digital, which was also received favorably. It is remarkable that this exhibition and Wii Fit, both of them dealing with the human body, have both been awarded Excellence Prizes. When someone can see their own body transformed, that is when they realize that the mind itself is transformable, which could be thought a goal of art in the broad sense.
What makes you create a work?
From the first, what I was interested in creating was a new bodily sensation never before experienced, and so I started experimenting; that was the beginning of creating this work. (IDAKA Kumiko)
What tools do you use the most at present?
Visual C#, XNA, and Maya. (YASUMOTO Masasuke)
What do you place greatest value on in your work?
The criteria we have for our own work is that it should provide for people a new sensation they have never before experienced. For this exhibition we have sought to create visual images that go beyond existing expressions, and a possible new point of view for physical representation. We are continually aiming to preempt and present the future of visual and media expression. (SAITO Tatsuya)
What personal concept runs through your creative activities?
There should be discovery in an expression. The expression can be concluded when the discovery is understood by the audience. (EUPHRATES)
When you create a work, in what way do you think of a presentation using technologies or media as a means to communicate?
When designing and creating, I am constantly thinking of how technology and media can be used to create new forms of communication that have never been seen before. (SATO Masahiko)
Could you name a person, a work, or an event that you have been most influenced by?
Jean PIAGET, as he has connected the conceptual domain (thoughts) with the biological domain (development). Donald KNUTH, as he has elevated technology born from necessity to the level of art. (KIRIYAMA Takashi)
What kind of work would you like to create in the future?
Work which provokes a new feeling that people have never before experienced. (KATSUME Yuichiro)
What is the meaning or importance of creating for you?
It is the reason for me to be here. (SATO Masahiko)
It is to find a new meaning. (KIRIYAMA Takashi)
It is to give a personal quest a form, and to share it with others. (SAITO Tatsuya)
It is to search and to discover. (IDAKA Kumiko)
It is to make something so that it actually works. (YASUMOTO Masasuke)
It is to search the heart of my own interests. (EUPHRATES)
It is to get ideas, to make things real, and to discover. (KATSUME Yuichiro)
It is to find a new meaning. (KIRIYAMA Takashi)
It is to give a personal quest a form, and to share it with others. (SAITO Tatsuya)
It is to search and to discover. (IDAKA Kumiko)
It is to make something so that it actually works. (YASUMOTO Masasuke)
It is to search the heart of my own interests. (EUPHRATES)
It is to get ideas, to make things real, and to discover. (KATSUME Yuichiro)
![2008 [12th] Japan Media Arts Festival Award-winning Works 2008 [12th] Japan Media Arts Festival Award-winning Works](/english/festival/images/h1_jusyousakuhin-en2008.gif)









