EXHIBITION
This page documents the exhibition held on April 10th - 12th, 2009 in Design Festa Gallery (Tokyo, Japan). High-resolution versions of the posters on display can be found in the Projects section.
A video documentary about the exhibition and the reactions of the visitors. Shot and edited by project participant Noritaka Inoue - within 12 hours after the end of the exhibition (who needs sleep?!).
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Exhibition set-up: assembling the posters. April 10th, 2009. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Exhibition set-up: henging the posters. Click on images for larger photographs.
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General views of the exhibition. Each student project had its poster, centered around a live projection of the Second-Life locations investigated in the posters. Visitors could explore the virtual world using laptop computers made available for them. Click on images for larger photographs.
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General views of the exhibition. Conceptual links between posters were marked physically with "teleport" threads. The live Second-Life broadcast served as music source for the exhibition: we ensured live music was performed on screen most of the time. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Mixed-reality live music performance, streamed from Second-Life into the gallery, by Paul Cohen/Komuso Tokugawa the BluesBorg. The gig was produced for the exhibition specifically. 30-40 people attended in the exhibition venue, as well as roughly the same attendance directly from Second-Life (on VIP invitation in Komuso's own SL studio). Both sides of the computer screen enjoyed it equally. April 11th, 2009. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Visitors of the exhibition ranged from the general Harajuku crowd to journalists and virtual world enthusiasts. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Students did a great job discussing their projects, attending both English and Japanese visitors. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Panel on display during the exhibition, with the real and virtual participants in the project. Students did as part of the "Introduction to Cybermedia" class, School of Communications and Theater, Temple University, Japan Campus. See also the participants section here for more details. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Details of the posters on display. High-definition versions of each poster can be found in the projects section of the site. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Details of the posters on display. High-definition versions of each poster can be found in the projects section of the site. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Details of the posters on display. High-definition versions of each poster can be found in the projects section of the site. Click on images for larger photographs.
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The live broadcast from Second-Life allowed visitors to experience the Virtual World and some of the places documented in the accompanying posters. It also served as the background music for the exhibition (here a DJ-set in a night-club). Click on images for larger photographs.
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The serendipity of Second-Life worked for us several times: here, a live gig by SL bluesman Von Johin magically synchronized with our exhibition opening hours. Von Johin is arguably the first SL musician to secure a real-world record deal thanks to his virtual career. Several student posters mentionned his story, and we were lucky to have him play live for our visitors. (by the way, walking in a gig in SL saying "oh, by the way, we're currently broadcasting this in an art gallery in Tokyo" is a good way to make friends). Click on images for larger photographs.
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Details of the "teleport" links used to mark conceptual relations between posters in a physical way. Navigation Second-Life heavily relies on the ability to teleport instantly from one place to another. We wanted to recreate this atmosphere in the physical space of the exhibition. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Teleport links made for a non-linear path through the exhibition, following posters by idea rather than in their physical order around the room. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Details of an accompanying installation inspired by the 40,000 trials against individuals in the US put up by the RIAA on claims of copyright infringement, between 2004 and 2009. Each CD hung around the room accounted for 500 trials, and bore the name of some of the most well-known cases. Click on images for larger photographs.
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Each CD contained downloaded mp3 versions of the top ten most downloaded tracks in 2008. This could make for a hefty fine in court for copyright violation, if we weren't covered by fair-use here (as an art/parody piece). Visitors of the exhibition were encouraged to take CDs home with them, but in that latter case, we couldn't guarantee lawfulness. Curiously, not many risked it... Click on images for larger photographs.