White particles are blown around in a big transparent cylinder. Visitors can take a seat on the armchair in the middle of the whirlpool or observe from the outside. In the eye of the storm, it is calm and safe. In this spectacular meditation machine, one can follow the patterns, focus on layers of 3D pixels or listen to its waterfall sound. One could call it a training device, challenging the visitor to find peace in a fast-changing environment.

I met some representatives of Japan Media Arts Festival at Ars Electronica in Linz and I had a chance to visit Japan Media Arts Festival pavilion on the main square. I found some information about Japan Media Arts Festival prize and tried my luck. After winning the Golden Nica for interactive Art in Linz the same year, it was amazing to win another prize just a few months later. It was my first project in Japan and I was impressed by the professionalism of the organization. The content of the exhibition was also clearly different than what I have experienced in Europe where most festivals don't dare to make a link with the entertainment world. However, games have become more accepted, but almost more as a cultural and sociological phenomenon rather than a creative art form that can be juxtaposed to art. I think we try to keep art and entertainment really separated and we often write Art with a capital and we try to define the difference. Personally I am not so interested in categories and definitions, I'm interested in creative quality, I can be inspired by a visit to an industrial machine fair, a science research center, a trip in the mountains or talk with my little son and, yes, also by an Art exhibition.

An armchair is set in the center of a transparent cylinder. As the viewer sits on the chair and turns on a switch, a vortex visualized in the form of a huge volume of foam polystyrene particles is generated by an air draft. The particles that swirl violently inside the cylinder brush against its internal wall, but never hit the viewer, so he or she can appreciate the pattern created by the dynamic movement of these particles while feeling it at the same time. Many works that adopt natural phenomena as a motif, or use physical operations implement them as organic variables for creating music or CG without considering them carefully. However, this work doggedly cuts out the phenomenon itself and presents it in a straightforward way, making me feel a sense of freshness and dynamism. Beyond its concept or logic, what appeals most to me about this work, and never fails to arouse my curiosity, is that I feel I just have to try it out once. Moreover, it also makes me feel that not only is this a sophisticated work of art, but it also evokes a sense of nostalgia of an SF film set or attractions in an old-fashioned amusement park.