TORAY DCA

JAPANESE

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DIGITAL CREATION AWARDS

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■ 　Introduction of the Judges　 ■

Chairman of DCA Screening Committee	Katsuhiro Yamaguchi	Professor Emeritus of University of Tsukuba and Professor of Kobe Design University
Judge	Yoichiro Kawaguchi	Associete Professor of University of Tsukuba and CG artist
	Yojiro Shirakawa	HAKUHODO INCORPORATED Group Manager Digital Communication Center Operation Staff Division
	Kevin Meyerson	RAINBOW JAPAN INC. President
	Norihiko Saitoh	Toray Industries, Inc. General Manager Corporate Communications Dept.

　Yoichiro Kawaguchi 　　Computer graphics artist; Associate Professor, University of Tsukuba

【Comment】
Serving as judge for this competition, I was exposed to several interesting works. Grand Prize Work“Mother and Child”, for example, which took mother and child as its theme, I found particularly interesting, drawing me as an abstract work. I found myself looking at it repeatedly as the work's puissance seemed to jump forth from the monitor. “Strang Fruit”, "Radiation of the Human Body," expresses a firm commitment to modeling and shows impressive attention to detail. The screen's nervousness embodies a virtual world that produces a mysterious reality. “Golden Retriever Turns Star” employs a unique method of display, composed of an assembly of symbols, resulting in algorithmic-like movements. Works such as “Rhubarb Knee” could only be the result of digital composition, the likes of which we are sure to see in the future. There are many other works from this competition that I would like to mention, from which we can expect exciting futures.

【Biography】
Associate Professor, University of Tsukuba; Computer graphics artist Born in 1952 in Kagoshima. Received a master's degree from the Tokyo University of Education Recognized globally as a computer graphics artist Received several distinguished
awards, including:
1983 Multimedia Grand Prix, Chairman's Award
1987-1988 First prize at Montreal Future Image Exhibition
Later this year, compilation of works will be published (NTT Publishing) in "COACERVATER" (CD-ROM and book)

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　Yojiro Shirakawa　　HAKUHODO INCORPORATE Group Manager Digital Communication Center Operation Staff Division

【Comment/Review】
This Digital Creation Awards is the first of its kind for Toray, a company uninvolved with the production of computers. As such, the competition attracted a wide variety of various works. Among them, "Mother and Child" boasts not only remarkable technological prowess but has a consistent theme has been maintained throughout the entire work.
We strive for this project to be more than a competition in technology, and by no means are works evaluated based only on vague ideas. Rather, works should represent a search for beauty and judges make their decision based on each individual work's level of completion. And the degree of effort put into the work's creation is an important factor.
We intend to broaden the themes and genres of the project and look forward to as many entries as possible.

【Biography】
Graduated from Waseda University, Law Department
Extensive experience in planning and production of films, plays and television programming. Key figure in establishment of New Media Department in 1980 at one of Japan's major advertising agencies.
Oversees planning and production of software for video disks, cable television, satellite broadcasts, character broadcasting (for the hearing impaired), and high-vision as well as interactive video exhibition systems; directs production and publishing of video business. Currently involved with network-related business, including production of multimedia software systems for schools, Internet home pages and game software.

【Major Achievements】
－General director in charge of developing Yokohama Museum of Art's masterpiece referencing system
－Development and production of an introductory video for the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)
－Planning and production of the Ministry of Education's "Trail of Art" project
－Production, Final Fantasy animated video

【Positions】
Personnel trainer, Multimedia Contents Promotion Association
Ability/capacity appraiser, multimedia software producers
Promoter, multimedia, Educational Materials Development Association

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　Kevin Meyerson　　RAINBOW JAPAN INC. President

【Comment】
It was a pleasure to be on the panel of judges for the First Annual Toray Digital Creation Awards. The variety of entries clearly showed that the digital medium has come to the mainstream of the creative world.
Digital media offers the artist complete creative freedom from the physical world. The ability to create nearly anything that the mind's eye envisions brings an exciting new dimension to the world of art.
The incredible variety of the entries was impressive. "Mother and Child"'sunique use of textures and three dimensional imagery to create a surrealistic impression of love and caring was particularly interesting.
"Golden Retriever", which used algorythms to express the image was wonderful. The use of hard mathematical expressions to created such soft　images left a lasting impression.
I look forward to future competitions and especially to the growth in the number of international entries.

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　Norihiko Saitoh　　Toray Industries, Inc.General Manager Corporate Communications Dept.

【Comment/Review】
On February 24, 1997, the first DCA Judging Committee meeting was held with “the pursuit of 'digitalism' which only digital technology can realize” as the judges' motto. By studying the works created in competition for this prize, we can catch a glimpse of the way people around the world of all ages and both sexes are dreaming thanks to the new possibilities opened up by the expansion of digital art. As a judge for this competition, I feel that this situation is a very hopeful one. The four works chosen as "Grand Prize" and "Excellence Award" are each original creations that are very difficult to grade. Also, Kouchi's work "Mother and Child" was unanimously selected for the Grand Prize. Among the works that were not awarded prizes, the many versatile attempts indicate that we can expect plenty of entrants for the next contest. As a representative of the sponsor, I would very much like to ask those who didn't submit any work this time to participate in future competitions. It would be a great pleasure for me if this DCA could contribute even a little to the future development of digital art.

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[ Review by the chairman | Winning Entries Gallery | Introduction of the Judges ]