Image and Matter by Yoichi Ochiai

The List of Artworks

Reinvention of Kinematographs

Here we introduce artwork on the theme of efforts to virtualize time and space using sound and light since the 16th century. These works rediscover the context of historical efforts.

When we look through a kaleidoscope, we see beautiful patterns on the two dimensional planes inside. What is this beauty shown in the patterns of three-dimensional behavior? In this work we create beauty that is transformed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional using a traditional device.

Animation is a re-composition of “time,” and here we have composed animation using multiple episcopes and clocks. We live in the objective material world while holding subjective perceptions of time. Nowadays, these subjective times are combined and translated in various ways (e.g., social media activities and timelines, via devices for recording and displaying data). This work aims to critique that situation using clock animation without recording media.

The “Zoetrograph” is a kinetic projector that generates images from materials. When a traditional zoetrope animation is inserted into the projector unit, planar images are generated from moving 3D statues on the rotating table. It acts as an aphoristic expression on our society, with its reliance on two-dimensional video communication generated from the three-dimensional world.

This is a composition of rotating physical pixels. The disks are covered with textures which generate optical illusions. Their appearance changes in connection with their rotational speed. Each individual will perceive their color and appearance differently. This rotation is closely related to cinematographs, reinvented here using computational resources.

Image onto everywhere

Projection Alternatives: Video expression through projection devices yielding imagery that is comparatively more material and more context-mediated.

Morpho butterflies floating on bubble film against a backdrop of the streets of Tokyo. Ultrasonic technologies enable the projection of images by vibrating ultra-thin bubble film. The colloidal liquid screen reflects the light diffusely to produce changes in texture, making the shining reflection particularly visible. With this fusion of state-of-the-art science, technology, and art, materiality and virtuality are superimposed to realize an enchanted world.

Sakura, Japanese plants in city scenery. For Japanese cities, Sakura cherry blossoms in particular behave essentially as public art for a limited time each year. Their scattered petals are like a screen of particles dancing in the sky. Cherry blossoms at night can be treated as white screens, allowing the plants' fluffy bodies to be colored and dyed with video instruments. This work was born in contemplation of plants and media in the city.

Aerial imaging is one of the essentials of releasing computational data from physical forms. Here we introduce alternatives to aerial imaging towards *Digital Nature*. Here a new method to render aerial images using aerosol-based fog screens is presented. Conventional fog screens are easily effected by airflow and their generators occupy large areas. This study proposes to add new tradeoffs between limited display time and payloads. Aerosol distribution from off-the-shelf spray was employed as a highly-portable fog screen that can resist the wind. Some application examples are also presented: wearable applications, multi-viewpoint displays, displays embodied in the environment, and aerial imaging with drones or radio-controlled model cars. This study will contribute to the exploration of new application areas for fog displays and expand expressions of entertainment and interactivity.

Computational Field: Here we introduce a new way of interacting with light and sound via three-dimensional synthesis of both generated with a computational holograms.

Holographic Synthesis

In the art & science project Fairy Lights in Femtoseconds, compositions are created with light field technologies that use laser-induced plasma 30 femtosecond ultra-short pulse lasers. New artificial matter becomes tangible and visible new material. This project proposes a method of rendering aerial and volumetric graphics with computationally-controlled femtosecond lasers. A high-intensity laser excites physical matter to emit light at an arbitrary 3D position and excites it in an ultra-short time period. Artistic applications can then be explored, especially since plasma induced by a femtosecond laser is safer than that generated by a nanosecond laser as employed in conventional approaches. We believe this project will melt the borders between matter and images. Moreover, tangibility, invisibility, and malleability are essential for digital societies, and update our concept of matter.

How can our imaginations be materialized? From the dawn of humanity, we have constructed two ways to express our imagination: imagery and sculpture. This artwork shows the Anti-Gravity Soundscape. Using this equipment, small Styrofoam particles are made to hover in midair through so-called acoustic levitation. Levitation is defined as the process by which an object is held aloft in a stable position without contacting the ground or any mechanical support. Here, the structures are formed with invisible, ultrasonic strings.

Audio information is one essential component of multimedia content and real-world interactions. In contrast to light rays, sound waves have lower directivity and are received by listeners who were not targeted by the speaker. With this holographic whisper project, personalized sound delivery becomes possible and sound environments can be designed more freely. Here a novel method of three-dimensional spatial audio rendering is proposed using expansion of the ultrasonic phased array technique. An ultrasonic phased array is employed as a holographic acoustic generator to focus ultrasound at arbitrary three-dimensional positions. The sound pressure at the ultrasonic focal points is high enough to radiate audible sound based on the self-demodulation effect in air. Consequently, the ultrasonic focal points act as audible sound sources. This sound-point method enables control of aerial audio distributions more flexibly and more precisely in comparison with conventional super-directional (sound-beam) loudspeakers. This method can generate and vanish sound sources in air freely. We utilize these point sound sources to alter the context of space.

Between nature and artifacts

Here we reconsider the role played by visual communications in the awareness of humans and other living beings in an ecosystem made up of animals, computers, circuits, and nature itself.

The kare-zansui dry landscape garden - often called a Zen garden - is a traditional styles of garden in Japan. This work aims to present an electrical kare-zansui using electronic parts, and as such gave me a chance to think about Digital Nature. The breadboard represents a similarly shaped work meta-structure. These breadboards represent the world we live in: everything is connected electronically. Crickets act as parts in this small world, and it is filled with rows of gadgets much like a human viewpoint would be. However, from a higher perspective these are all electrically-connected “parts.”

Cocktorches are creatures similar to the firebug, as cockroaches that emit light. The theme of this installation art is our sense of the value of life and the interaction between humans and hybrid creatures. Firebugs are fragile and beautiful, but are not fundamentally different from a cocktorch. Cockroaches are treated as symbols, and are extremely stubborn. We see them in television commercials every day, where demonstrations are given on how to kill them “efficiently.” Our sense of the value of life is subject to artificially-generated visual differences. This artwork criticizes these mechanisms.

Toward Digital Nature

“Digital Nature” refers to the future as Yoichi Ochiai envisions it. A world where there is no distinction between the virtual and material, or between human and machine. It also refers to the perception of nature in such a world. Here we offer a brief insight into his research.

Materials of information display are now limited to materials that transmit light, or materials to be projected on. Many alternative display materials should be considered towards *Digital Nature*. Here we present a new design method for pervasive information displays. Nowadays surface materials commonly used for LCDs are limited to smooth, transparent substances such as glass or plastic. However, these displays do not allow for the expression of surface texture; therefore, they cannot be built into an object without damaging its natural surface. We propose a new method that changes the display surface to allow for not only glass or plastic surfaces, but also a wide variety of materials such as wood, stone, or mirrors, in order to overcome this weakness of conventional displays. With invisible pinholes made on material surfaces, we achieved a new kind of alternative display.

A Digital Fabrication process with sustained malleability has an important role to describe physical material properties towards *Digital Nature*. We propose a novel design method to fabricate user interfaces with a mechanical metamaterial called *Coded Skeleton*. The Coded Skeleton is composed of shape-memory alloys (SMAs) and a 3-D printable structure. The key concept in this work is isolating deformation modes. The proposed structure is geometrically designed to be flexible in one deformation mode but is stiff in other deformation modes. We call this property isolation. This property enables us to control kinematics with linear actuators such as SMAs

To achieve tactile feedback close to that of physical material, we should consider organizing multiple fields of physical quantities. Here we present one haptic alternative towards *Digital Nature*. This new method of rendering haptic textures uses electrostatic fields and magnetic fields. In conventional research, a single physical quantity is used to render haptic textures. In contrast, our method combines multiple fields (electrostatic and magnetic fields) simultaneously. While these fields have no direct interference, combining them provides benefits such as multi-resolution haptic images and synergistic effect on haptic perception. We investigated the increase in the variation of texture by comparing each single field method.

Human-presence would be transformed to other forms and remote places in the *Digital Nature* ecosystem. How to fabricate human bodies and how to transmit them to alternatives are important topic in Digital Nature. We propose a system for transmitting a human performer’s body and facial movements to a puppet with audiovisual feedback to the performer. The system consists of a head-mounted display (HMD) that shows the performer a live video feed from the puppet’s viewpoint, a microphone for voice capture, and photoreflectors for detecting the mouth movements of the human performer. In conventional puppetry, practicing manipulation of the puppet is also required to perform well. The proposed telepresence system addresses these issues by enabling the human performer to manipulate the puppet through their own body and facial movements. The proposed system is expected to contribute to the development of new applications of puppetry and to expand the interactivity of puppetry and the scope of entertainment.

From the viewpoint of robotics, walking is a fundamental ability of humans. We present a novel method for manipulating humans’ walking directions by visual processing on HMD. Towards *Digital Nature*, we are focusing on unconscious manipulation of humans via optical stimulation. Existing navigation systems require their users to recognize information and then to follow directions as two separate, conscious processes. This study proposes a novel method that enables pedestrians to be guided without paying attention to information provided by a system.This system enables users to be graphically manipulated by controllers. Users perceive the real world by means of dual images provided by a stereo camera and a stereo head-mounted display. In detail, when they walk, the navigation system provides users with real-time visual feedback by processing the images that they have just perceived. The system gives visual cues to users and thus controls the users’ walking directions. This study examined three methods of image processing, namely, see-through image without processing, moving stripe pattern method, and changing focal region method. Based on the result, the changing focal region method worked most effectively in leading pedestrians, changing their walking path by about 200 mm/m on average. These results and this demonstration propose alternatives to controlling human walking just by displaying optical stimuli to human eyes.

Solar is the most commonly used light source in our ecosystem. Towards *Digital Nature*, we investigated a new projection system that directly converts solar rays into coded projection rays. This is a new projector that utilizes solar energy directly. The Solar Projector can produce visible displays even in bright conditions, without having to use an electric power source. It uses a parabolic mirror and components of a digital light processing (DLP) projector. The element of the Solar Projector responsible for collecting focused solar energy replaces the lamp. The Solar Projector has a wide range of applications aside from projection display, and could become pervasive due to its ability to function amidst nature.

Levitation is deeply tied to magic and enchantment. Media instruments in Edison's age were developed to defy gravity using rotated visual images. This artwork is called the “Levitrope,” and the name stands for “lev (levitation)” and “trope (rotation).” This media installation displays levitated metallic balls which rotate on a wheel-like structure. It is reminiscent of our bodies, and an embodiment of ourselves as we are subject to gravity. We envision these zero-gravity kinetic sculptures helping to usher in an age of new media and Digital Nature.

Thank you for joining us today to appreciate the path followed by the artist Yoichi Ochiai. As an artist, he has progressed from the realization of moments in space in time via light and sound to the concept of “Digital Nature.” e Digital Nature he envisions refers to a world in which distinctions between the virtual and material have vanished, as have those between human and machine. e term also refers to the concept of nature in such a world. We are on the brink of entering a world in which we will be unable to distinguish virtual reality from physical reality.

Born and raised in Tokyo, Ochiai is of a generation conceived in the 20th century and raised in the 21st. As an environment, Tokyo features an abundance of infrastructure and industry, as well as a vibrant contrast between the international diversity of the internet and Japanese local culture. is unique harmony between distinct elements has helped shape Ochiai as a person. He is focused on work that involves taking action in the consideration of Digital Nature. In this work, these imaginary-yet-possible concepts are named, experienced, written about, criticized, and questioned on many points from all corners of society.

In his work, Ochiai has rediscovered the wood to use as display surfaces, manipulated human sense, manipulated sunlight, suspended objects in mid-air, and created light that can be touched. At a glance, his works and research seem like something from the far-ung future. However, these repeated patterns of research and expression seem to be asking questions of us all when viewed with an eye toward human connections.

Yoichi Ochiai’s exploration of reality and humanity began with imagery and materials, and will continue as he gives the world a new concept of nature. All of us here hope that this contemporary exhibit’s spirit of inquiry will oer a new perspective for all of our visitors.