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“Essay on Invisible Functions” [1996]

NAKAZAWA Hideki

“Essay on Invisible Functions”

Outline

Selecting one from a list of words on a touch panel triggers the playback of a voice pronouncing the selected word. At the same time, the word is displayed on an electronic signboard, while a computer-generated image appears on a video screen. When subsequently selecting different words one after another, new images overlap with the initial one, resulting in such effects as deformation, locomotion, color changes or multiplication.

The list contains a total of 120 words, up to 20 of which can be selected at once to be consecutively activated. In addition to words with a meaning, the list also contains words chosen for their interesting pronunciation, so the selected words don’t always make up sentences that make sense. As some of the images assigned to each word are rather abstract, the meanings of indicating words and indicated images don’t necessarily have to match.

This work is a device for building sentences by selecting and combining words, and at the same time, for drawing pictures. It can further be considered as a device for assembling words by drawing and moving pictures. In this case, words function as commands that trigger visual displays along with various effects. Put simply, the work is a device for combining words and images through invisible connections based on the rules of a computer program.

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