Sync For Japan: a synchronised audiovisual kaleidoscope, or almost…
The interactive exhibition Sync For Japan is taking place in Kyoto from the 13th to the 25th December 2011. The project, led by Masayuki Akamatsu, Karl Bartos and Hideyuki Oda, will feature 35 iPads.
Following the disastrous events of March 2011 in Japan, Masayuki Akamatsu, media artist and teacher/researcher at IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences), and Karl Bartos, ex-KW and high priest of German techno-pop, got together to develop Mini-Composer, a free music application for iPhone that urges users to make a donation to those affected by the disaster.
The app is an easy-to-use, 16 step sequencer with 32 polyphonic tones, 4 waves and 4 drumbeat loops and allows you to ‘compose’ a nice electronic ditty on the fly.
In parallel and in the same spirit, video artist (animation and CG) Hideyuki Oda, also a teacher at IAMAS, has developed the moving graphics work Mini-Tableau.
Sync For Japan the exhibition brings the two projects together to create an interactive audiovisual installation synchronised for 35 tablets. Visitors will also be able to come with their own favourite iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) and sync into the installation via WiFi to follow the serenade.
No doubt some will see this cute installation as a sort of geek equivalent to metal concerts, with the walls of Marshall amps replaced by rows of iPads, but digital technology doesn't always completely rule out the unexpected and there is a random element to the project, which adds that little bit of interest.
In effect, Masayuki Akamatsu aims to highlight the individuality of the iPad within the synching system and show how, even with all the efforts to program these machines to synchronise the flow of music and images, they can be subject to tiny delays during which communications break down and the system as a whole is put out of synch, creating either new harmony or chaos.
Sync For Japan the exhibition, uniting the Mini-Composer and Mini-Tableau projects both created following the events of March, will of course be dedicated to the victims in North-East Japan and all those who lend their support.
Franck Stofer, 2011-12-08
Sync For Japan
13th to 25th December 2011, Free Entry
@ Paris Miki, Shijo Karasuma, Kyoto
