Special exhibition on the theme of physical sensation

NPO Aoyama Design Forum (ADF) will hold the exhibition “Phygital World - Beyond Gutenberg” at the Metaverse Virtual Museum “COCO WARP” from September 1 to October 31, 2023. This exhibition focuses on the theme of our physical senses, which are changing along with civilization.

The exhibition aims to reconstruct our relationship with the complex technology of contemporary society from a bird’s eye view. The exhibition encourages us to consider the relationship between the “physical,” which we can feel as material, and the “digital,” which is difficult to see as an entity, and how they affect each other.

Phygital is a term coined mainly in marketing that is a cross between “physical” and “digital. Phygital experiences are already deeply embedded in our lives, not as something special, but as a given: shopping on e-commerce sites, chat apps that let us talk with stamps, watching at double speed, and remote meetings that have become commonplace in the wake of pandemics, to name just a few. These new experiences, which combine both physical and digital elements and are even uncomfortable, instantly update our physical senses. It has a profound effect on our sense of speed and how we feel, whether it be laughter, sadness, or anger. When did we become so frustrated with packages that don’t arrive the next day? In his book “The Gutenberg’s Galaxy,” Marshall McLuhan, a pioneer in media theory, details the history of how technology has enabled the technological extension of the body and transformed human perception and psyche in an interacting way. From print to voice calls, email, television, and the end of electronic media turbulence, moving images continue to transform us in shorter, faster, and more accelerated ways.

In a world where Web3 and generative AI, including the Metaverse, has become a complete infrastructure in society, our feelings will be even more different than today. Technology will catastrophically shake up our existence, not only in terms of our lifestyle but also in terms of the meaning of life, free will, and intelligence. The road to “homo deus”, where humanity will be replaced by God, both physically and mentally, through bioengineering and cyborg technology, is a story for the not-too-distant future. Is this a feast for the gods who have time for poetry, music, and wine, or is it the doomed world seen in Ragnarok? The central theme of the Metaverse Virtual Museum “COCO WARP” is to experience the future of the year 3030 through a digital art exhibition. 3030 is deeply linked to the behavior of each of us living today.

One of the possibilities of art is to take a static, bird’s-eye view of our situation. We hope that by sharing this perspective with the artists in this exhibition, we can share some vision for a harmonious and sustainable future, even if it is only alarming.

For this exhibition, we have carefully selected five up-and-coming artists: A photographer who integrates familiar cities and landscapes and creates a direct dissimilar effect on the brain with a stylish sense of discomfort, and a musician who challenges the creation of music and live performances as one-of-a-kind works of art, a woodblock print artist who beautifully combines big data and the ever-changing nature of life into a digital work of art and an eccentric fashion designer who expresses their ever-changing bodies in cute avatars. We hope you will enjoy the imagination of these artists, who are capturing the tremendous future range of 3030 years, and the exceptional creativity of these artists who will travel the world in the near future. We hope you will enjoy their imagination and the extraordinary creativity of these artists who will be traveling the world in the near future.

Artists

Takuya Sakamoto

Born in Ehime, he graduated from the art course at Onomichi City University in 2020. Since then, he has been based in Onomichi. While oil painting is the foundation of his work, he also produces poetry, books, and digital works in a fluid field of expression. With the main theme of "What is 'I'? he works on "continuity of consciousness/history" and "otherness in memory/record".

Takuya Sakamoto "Lukas"

Solo Exhibition
2022 "Unauthorized Existence" Onomichi Museum of History

Main Exhibitions
2022 “Setouchi Art Jack 2022” (Kagawa, Japan)
2019 “Shanghai Art Fair 2019 New Japanese Artists Exhibition“, Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Center of International Sourcing, Organized by Shanghai Art Fair Organization, COARTZ, Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation
2019 “Tropical Lab 13: Erase,” Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Brother Joseph McNally Gallery, Praxis Space and Project Space,（LASALLE College of the Arts）
2019 “Future Artist Tokyo -EЯLection of Anonymous-,” Tokyo International Forum, Lobby Gallery

URL: http://tkysakamoto.wp-x.jp/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/takuyasakamoto1996/

Kenji Agata

In the world of photography, he creates innovative expressions that make full use of catabolic effects. By skillfully transforming familiar cities and landscapes, Agata skillfully and poetically provokes the viewer's perception and sensitivity. Agata's approach takes the primitive activity of walking as its starting point, recording urban and natural landscapes as they are, and integrating people's activities, such as the present, the past, and disparities, in an ambivalent way while paying homage to the spirituality of the place. The world seen through his camera strikes the brain as a moment of stylish discomfort, prompting us to reconstruct contemporary society's fragmented aesthetics and the city's memory.

Kenji Agata "Landscape 2017-2021 'Tokyo Tower, Ueno'"

1991 Born in Kanagawa Prefecture
2016 Completed Master's Course in Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Fine Arts. Currently Part-time Lecturer, Department of Design, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts
2012 Solo exhibition "BLASPOLOSION" at TENGAI GALLERY/Nakameguro
2016 The 64th Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation and Completion Exhibition (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum/Tokyo University of the Arts)
2019 SENJU LAB 2015-2019 "Arting Art and Music" (Sogakudo, Tokyo University of the Arts)
2019 KAMIMIHARADA KABUKI BUTAI 200th Anniversary Festival (KAMIMIHARADA KABUKI BUTAI/Gunma Prefecture)
2020 Solo exhibition "-SCAPES" (TAKU SOMETANI GALLERY/Asakusabashi)
2021 Solo exhibition "SCAPES+" (TAKU SOMETANI GALLERY/Asakusabashi)

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kenji_agata/

Miyu Goto

Composer and pianist. She calls her works "raw arts" and redefines music within the art frame, based on the question, "Can music be a one-of-a-kind art? She creates musical works that appeal to the listener's intuition and instincts and expresses them herself.

She graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Composition, and Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Composition. Upon graduation, she received the Acanthus Music Award from the same university. She received the Symphonic Band Prize from the Symphonic Band Association of Japan and the Jury Prize at the TIAA National Composers' Competition. She won the first prize in the Senzoku Contemporary Music Composition Competition.

Miyu Goto "On the Road to Coexistence"

Compositions and Performances

• GUCCI Garden Party
• Cartier collection"Les Galaxies de Cartier"
• DAKS / LEONARD collection (Takashimaya Osaka)
• Rolls-Royce (Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Tokyo)
• GINZA SIX X’mas event
• Matsuya GINZA
• Tokyo Big Sight Music Instruments Fair (YAMAHA)
• TEZUKA OSAMU "The 90th Anniversary of the Birth Ceremony"

URL: http://www.miyu-goto.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goto_miyu/
Tumblr: https://miyugoto.tumblr.com/

mole^3 （molecubed）

Printmaker and visual artist. She creates many works using open data, images, sounds, and generative art. In addition to coding, she also makes prints, which are physical art. Her flexible intellect, which crosses the border between digital and analog, approaches her subjects with a mathematical approach.

mole^3 "Shinjuku"

Using computer graphics, she performs creative coding while using various algorithms. The multiple images automatically generated by the algorithm, which adds differences to the same image, are as diverse as the expression of life through genes. The animations created by acquiring data on railroads, rivers, census data, etc., are not mere visualizations of data but paintings of waves and fluctuations hidden within the data. She graduated from the University of Tsukuba, Faculty of Art and Design—and is a part-time lecturer at Musashino Art University's CI Department.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/molecubed

MAHANA

A designer of prodigious talent, he colorfully reflects the Yamato spirit of elegance in a dashing, childlike confidence in the modern age. Inspired by the ancient carvings of the Jomon period and the colorful costumes of Kabuki, his creations carry on the cultural heritage of Japan. At the core of his expression is visualizing the changing human body as an avatar, sometimes sublimated into a lovely, rounded character. His design philosophy relies on open-minded fairness that accepts diversity as it is, and his patchwork, in particular, embodies the coexistence of "everyone is different, and everyone is good. The characteristic fringing process incorporates the shimmer and warmth of nature and blends it with sustainable materials to create his creations.

MAHANA "NFT figure＿MAX hoot dino"

2019 “Tokyo Independent 2019“
2019 Live Painting "Muroto Nature House" National Muroto Youth Nature House, Kochi, Japan Selected
2019 ACT Art Award novae Selected
2019 The 11th Exhibition of Contemporary Artists in Motion
2019 Group Exhibition, Tokyo University of the Arts, Arts Festival, Tokyo, Japan
2020 Geiiku Exhibition (Ameyoko Center Building, Ueno, Tokyo)
2021 Flesh Exhibition
2022 TWO MAN EXHIBITION 2022 IGAS
2022 smart factory zone Collaboration Collection "Rudder" 100Sneakers100NewMakers
2023 "Journey" exhibition gallery iro see some scene

Brand Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fairenough_official_
Design Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mahana_fe_d/