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No.1 Yoichiro Kawaguchi |
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| Apart from the GROWTH MODEL, GEMOTION is another big project of yours. |
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In 1987, we organized an opera at La Scala in Italy where my imagery complemented a famous Italian musician and ethnic dance. The theater was filled to beyond capacity everyday. At that time, I realized that while it took me months to make my CG imagery, music and dance could be improvised on the spot. From that, I got the idea of an improvising co-star on stage. I wanted to do the GROWTH MODEL in real-time on stage in the future.
That was the beginning of the GEMOTION project. This would be an emotional world where humans and CG imagery react in real time. It is "an art of reaction." From around 2000, I started to create an imagery space where the color and movement of an image react with the dancers and music in an on-stage collaboration. I have performed shows frequently at keynote addresses of international conferences held in Japan and abroad. |
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[Coacervater]
©YOICHIRO KAWAGUCHI 1994 |
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| You also collaborate with Noh plays and classical Japanese dance. Is it a big theme to deliver traditional performing arts to the world? |
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Noh plays, Kyogen plays, and Kabuki in Japan, Classical Chinese opera, traditional dance in Korea and so on. I want to show new possibilities of the 21st century through cultural collaboration in various countries and regions. Culture is very diverse from a global point of view. This diversity is important. If all people danced to the same tune, it would mean extinction. We need various cultures so that future artistic culture can flourish. Diversity at a high density is the biggest driving force of evolution.
It is the same for art too. It is not good to imitate Hollywood in Japanese CG. It is better to develop the unique sensibilities of the Japanese. If people don't create something different, art will become the same and lose its richness. Computers are becoming stateless and tend to be uniform. So, we need to remember to make individual expression stronger. |
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| It is important "not to follow trends and return to your origins." |
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| Yes. You will see a more interesting world when you step away from trends rather than being utterly steeped in them. And it is important for the next generation of children to have interests. Children are glad to see GEMOTION. It is better for the Japanese traditional arts themselves to try hard to improve so that they can appeal to children. I think it is interesting to think about using such ideas for theatrical art in the future. |
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| What is the future of GEMOTION? |
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| Nowadays, so-called Ņinteractive artÓ is only for a small number of people because it targets individuals. In my case, I want to target a big audience at theaters. The creation of art involving big imagery is irregular and allows a large number of people to enjoy themselves freely in a large theater. For me, art that reacts to people means art that breathes like a living creature, can emotionally change shape and color, can evolve, grow and instantly mutate going into a higher dimension, such as a four-dimensional or five-dimensional world. |
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| Professor Kawaguchi, what dreams do you have for the future? |
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My dreams, from the perspective of the theory of evolution, span back to a period more than 20,000 years ago. Also, I want to go to the Cambrian period over 500 million years ago, which was an era full of diversity because all kinds of life forms were created on an explosive scale. I also want to make artistic seeds of artificial life travel through other galaxies. I want to look down upon the Milky Way. For this, I need to have something that can exceed the speed of light. If possible, I want to go to deep reaches of the universe, the end of space, because I want to make a field guide of creatures on other planets.
For me, art is a survival media in the dialogue between nature and myself. I want to create color beyond that of real nature and bring it to life. It is a song of praise for life using art. |
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| Thank you very much. |
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| * SIGGRAPH: This is the biggest and most influential festival of CG and interactive technology, held every year in the U.S. |
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In any case, you should do whatever it is you want to do most using CG.
Making art is an enjoyable battle with yourself. An enjoyable battle over what it is you want to express. You need to search within to find out what it is you want to do and what you like and then express it. The further you search, the more conflict there will be with which to make interesting art. For example, your favorite color, flavor or touch. When people say red, there are many kinds of red. It is not so interesting if you do not pursue your own original shapes and colors to the end. If you donÕt want to do that then perhaps you wonÕt be able to succeed.
Anyway, you need to go back to your origins and make that search. That's the key. |
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