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verbal exchange which is programmed in advance. So we can't help feeling that we
are forced to talk along some patterns. Conversations should be more fresh, free and
enjoyable.
I created a work
《
Neuro-baby
》
based on these ideas. The baby computer
character cries, laughs, or does some actions from the user's voice expression of talk.
When I announced it in the international conference, it became the center of the
attention of researchers in the fields of AI and robots. I did not know why, but now I
think my work hit a blind spot in the point that it had an aim to exchange the feelings
by the conversation, instead of their aim, to exchange the information.
The exhibition titled 'Artificial Life' took place at Als Electronica in 1993. Studies
and works with computers and robots aiming at simulation of Lifelike evolution or
humanize by using the theorem of biology or neural networks. There, I met an strange
foreigner who was watching the
《
Neurobaby
》
many times, and talking to it in
funny tone. After a casual greeting, I knew he was Rodney Brooks, a worldwide
authority of MIT in the fields of AI and robots.
AI and robot technology met with Interactive art. I felt that technologies were
approaching to arts in a new way. I also met Thomas Ray who were studying artificial
life at ATR in the position of biology. At that time, few people created interactive
arts, and there're no concrete way in this field.
I met Yoichi Tokura, who was the director of ATR (Advanced Telecommunications
Research Institute International) Human Information Communication Research
Laboratories and studied a sound using baby at ATR, and got the position of a guest
researcher in new laboratory, Media Integration & Communications Research
Laboratories of ATR. And among many technological researchers, I had studied the
mechanism of the communication of feeling from 1995 to 2001.
Is it the technology using the method of art? Or is it an art using the method of
technology? Looking back upon it, I focused on the essential component which is
inherent in the human communications, rather than their technologies. I think I spend
more time to visualize in artistic method using the technology. Communication is an
action deeply related in our instinct, and includes many interesting phenomena. First,
I focused on handling nonverbal information like feeling started in
《
Neurobaby
》
,
and second I focused on handling the story.
A typical example of nonverbal information is feeling, and it contains much
information widely spread from simple feelings like happiness, anger, sadness and
comfort, sensitivity to the unconscious sense. So tackling these problems can make us
enable the interactive visualization of feelings, sensitivity, and unconsciousness.
3.2 MIT CAVS
After I had quit ATR Media Integration and Communications Research Laboratories,
I stayed Boston as the fellow of MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies from 2002
to 2004.
The history of art & technology started from the avant-garde art group, EAT which
was active in later half of 1960s. The main members of the group were engineers who
engaged in Bell Telephone Laboratory of AT&T. Famous artists, Robert
Rauschenberg, Robert Whitman and John Cage participated in, and carried out
activities crossing the borders of arts, dances, music, videos, pursuit of the borderline
