Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Can we understand the culture using computers as 'media for thinking and
memorization support'which became more suitable for network, mobile, and two-way
communication by the development of information technology? This paper describes
basic methodology of cultural computing, that is, to treat the essences of the deep-
inside culture like sensitivity, national traits, or narratives. And it integrates them into
verbal and nonverbal information, proposing the prosperity of the field that treats the
experience of exchange between cultural experiences and culture models by using
computer. The cultural computing, which is essential for the communication ability of
future computer, introduces you to this new field which defines what humans have
stored in each culture and it's history in forms of actions or grammars are sharing
common or peculiar forms by showing some concrete methodology and some
examples.
2 Media for Thinking and Memorization Support
2.1 The Transcending Artist
What is the aim of arts? This is very huge and heavy question, but if I dare to answer,
it is 'the visualization of the status of someone's heart' in a word.
The value of arts is in contrary of the one of technologies. Great art works are
having universal values that have not faded yet. On the other hand, old technologies
are often selected and surpassed by other new ones. Media arts does transcend them,
making new relationship between art and technology, and affecting to other various
fields. In other words, arts transcend technologies and technologies transcend arts.
I was conscious of my way as a transcending artist, and determined to obtain
global viewpoint instead of local, Japanese culture as the next step. I moved my base
of research activity to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. However, I faced
the difference between cultures there. I noticed that there were the differences not
only in our daily life, but also in the feelings, memories, sign, unconscious
communications that are strongly related to their cultures. I noticed that extremely
Japanese-characterized expressions as well as global express had also been used in
my works, although I had tried to express my artworks generally.
I have tried to assimilate myself into America at first, but it was difficult and I
strongly realized that I am Japanese. I paid attention to actions and grammars that are
seemed as 'Japanese culture' in America. I tried to expression the difference between
American behaviors or grammars and Japanese ones in the arts.
At that time, I have met Sansui ink paintings (Japanese landscape paintings) of
Sesshu. Sansui paintings are not landscape painting, but they are imagined scenery.
This is in relation to the unconsciousness of occidental Jung's psychology. I
discovered the way of unconscious communication to understand other cultures by
using the components of unconsciousness in Sansui paintings.
I succeeded to create an interactive artwork,
《
ZENetic Computer
》
by modeling
the structure of Zen and Sansui, which are thought the very Japanese culture. After
that, I created the Kanji inspiration
《
i.plot
》
which gives relations between
psychological associations and graphical images of ideograms. Furthermore, I
