ICC
"gravicells - gravity and resistance"
2004-
MIKAMI Seiko + ICHIKAWA Sota
gravicells - gravity and resistance
photo: KIOKU Keizo

The floor is covered with 225 panels with a regime of string-like lines. Stepping onto it, the surrounding lines deform as sensors underneath react to the your weight, tilt, or velocity. The entire space of this installation changes as the movements of multiple users are converted into a real-time dynamic interplay of image, sound and light. Within the space a virtual field of gravity and opposing force pull against one another. Elements that influence this interplay include the physical mass of the users sharing the space, the site's location data as calculated by GPS, and algorithms that constantly calculate changes in the space. GPS data calculated from triangulated satellite points indicate that the site of the installation itself is a relative space, changing according to its internal shifts in gravity.

In encountering the piece, we users, as part of the installation, not only encounter the existence of gravity in ways not notable in ordinary life, but we also encounter how the world, our bodies, our senses, and our world views, are all intricately related to gravity. The title "gravicells" comes from the idea of the cell as a set of plural elements influencing each other by means of gravity.

Cooperation: Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM)
MIKAMI Seiko + ICHIKAWA Sota Profile

MIKAMI Seiko is a media artist active internationally presenting work which explores "perceptual interfaces." As a core member of dNA (doubleNegatives Architecture), ICHIKAWA Sota seeks new expressions of "architecture," and as such has been developing the automaton program and architectural project "Corpora" since 2004. This piece is their first collaboration. It has been exhibited in 12 cities in Japan as well as internationally.
Artists' website: MIKAMI Seiko <http://www.idd.tamabi.ac.jp/~mikami/artworks/index.htm> / ICHIKAWA Sota <http://www.doublenegatives.jp>

Past Exhibition/ Event (MIKAMI Seiko) Past Exhibition / Event (ICHIKAWA Sota)
Keyword: Relational

Within the field of interactive art, this piece, in which the participant's existence and behavior influence the space and dynamically change multiple parameters of the entire experience, especially deals with "relational" matters. Invisible relations in the world are visualized here by placing gravity, a force that acts upon all things, in complex relational environment. Related event Artists' Talk
Date: April 20 (Sun.), 2008, 2:00 pm - [finished]| >Details |