The ‘thinness’ is given to the plane: A study of the ‘plane’ in Masaki Fujihata’s works

This article examines what the ‘plane’ in Masaki Fujihata’s works is. Although Fujihata is known as one of the most famous media artists, the work Unformed Symbols is not that well known—just an animation work which Fujihata started his artistic career from. In making this, and other works—i.e., the ‘sculpture,’ Forbidden Fruits and interactive art works like Beyond Pages—however, he discovered, for himself, the possibility of computer graphics, and, as I explore in this paper, came to tackle the problem of the plane with, for perhaps the first time, the computer.

I consider three of Fujihata’s works in order to consider this handling of the plane as it exists in his works. First, I compare the plane in Forbidden Fruits with Leo Steinberg’s the flatbed picture plane. This consideration makes clear that the plane is no longer the privileged role for the image in a collection of data. Secondly, I make a comparison between the interactive work Beyond Pages and the Graphical User Interface in order to show that the plane in the computer, through both artwork and utilitarian feature, becomes too thin to grasp with our hands. Thirdly, I ponder why the animation Unformed Symbols overlaps the image with the real, showing that there is no difference between the plane and the solid in this ‘thin’ world. Accordingly, I conclude that Fujihata may have created a new plane itself by creating a ‘thinness’ which causes a ‘switchover between dimensions’ to that of the plane.

Incidentally, the architect Junya Ishigami’s Table, which has a very thin tabletop shows some similarities to Fujihata’s ‘thin’ plane. And furthermore, in his architectural critique, Taro Igarashi refers to the tabletop of Table as Superflat. Thus, I finally point out that Fujihata’s ‘thin’ plane shares a homology with Superflat, which, as proposed by the artist Takashi Murakami and developed into the discussion about information by the philosopher Hiroki Azuma, has come to be fundamental concept for modern Japanese art, and also suggest this ‘switchover between dimensions’.

'In-between,' 'hover,' 'unfixed.'

'In-between,' 'hover,' 'unfixed.' These words remind me the cursor on the display. I took up them from the book about "Window｜Interface." We often consider about what the window is, but we have to consider about what the cursor is. I think that the cursor is the representation of our age, especially latest 30years,1980-2010.

The absolute thin electric device

I'm interested in the absolute thin for the electric device, especially touch interface one like iPhone. What is the thin for the interface? The thin is not the plane but the object. For example, even though the card is the plane when we look at it, it changes to the object when we touch it. Can we decide the point between the plane and the object? The electrical device becomes thinner and thinner, at last it will get absolute thinness. What will we feel this absolute thin electrical device? Is it the plane or the object? Is it only the display or not? Is it the only image or not?

First draft: The cursor is the switchover entity between the real and the virtual: Two works about the cursor by exonemo

This article examines the representation of the cursor in the Graphical User Interface. We often look the cursor as an expanding of our hand or the double of the pointing device like the mouse. Although the cursor on the display has been familier with us since the desktop metaphor, ‘↑’ has no correspondance with the real thing, such as the file or folder. Moreover, the cursor does not obey the physical law because it is in the cyber space. Therefore, we are familier with the cursor, but we don’t know anything about ‘↑’.

exonemo receives the unidentifiable of the cursor and considers the cursor as a halfway being: This means that the cursor is A, also it is B. This idea leads us to new understand of the cursor, therefore I focus on their two works, DanmatsuMouse (2007) and ↑ (2010) in order to explain what an essence of the cursor is. These two works make clear that the cursor is the switchover entity which makes the ‘between’ the real world and the virtual world, then switches from the real to the virtual, or vice versa.

First draft:A ‘plane’ on Masaki Fujihata’s works: Gravity/Projection/Overlapping

Masaki Fujihata is know as one the famous media artist. Although almost all people think that Fujihata’s work is interactive, Unformed Symbols (2006) is not an interactive work, just an animation one. Fujihata’s early work Forbidden Fruites is a ‘sculpture’, it is not the interactive, either. I would like focus on not an ‘interactive’ aspect of Fujihata’s work but a ‘plane‘ one because he often refer the planeness about his works.

Fujihata discover an unique field in the computer where there is no difference between the plane and solid. Forbidden Fruites are made by the Stereolithography which makes a solid from pilling many planes up. Fujihata used this technique in order to directly take out a shape of data form the computer. In Forbidden Fruites, the planes become the solid. I will compare the plane in Forbidden Fruits with Leo Steinberg’s the flatbed picture plane in order to make clear the meaning of the plane in the data.

Beyond Pages is the most famous in Fujihata’s work because it is the interactive one. Although Fujihata points out that Beyond Pages propose new semiotic issues, I consider that this work also give a question; What is the plane in Graphical User Interface age. GUI shows a new two-dimensional surface due to that it is not two-dimensional but looks two-dimensional. Beyond Pages projects the image of pages onto the table, then we regard it as the book. However we can not grab the book on the table because it too thin to catch it. There is overlapping very thin image plane on the desktop. Beyond Pages show us that every planes in GUI is too thin to grasp with our hand.

Unformed Symbols overlaps the image trumps with the real trumps. Fujihata does not use the computer in this work, therefore this is not interactive one. However, this overlapping makes new thin world on the table top, then we experience more complex interaction in the physical law than the computer does. Jyunya Ishigami makes a big thin table. This table’s thinness is very strange which is very similar with Unformed Symbols. These works do not use the computer. However, more complex interaction happens in two works because of their own thin plane. The plane is not only the plane, but also the solid. We already meet this situation on the computer, but Fujihata’s Unformed Symbols and Ishigami’s Table make no gravity field in the real gravitational world. In this thin world, there is no difference between the plane and the solid.

I would like to call Fujihata an architect of the plane. Of course, Fujihata is an artist but I dare to say he is the architect in the superflat age. Fujihata anticipates the architects in the superflat movement. The superflat is the idea of Takashi Murakami in order to export the Japanese art into the world wide art market. Although the superflat comes from the Japanese subculture, this idea is also related with the computer’s flat world like GUI. We start to refer to computer engineers as IT architects, therefore I call Masaki Fujihata who knows the essence of the computer as the architect of the plane.

An intersubjective image

Software works make a situation; not 'it used to be there' but 'this is here now.' It is summoned to appear in the display by the computer.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13298957788

The computer gives us our second language in order to communicate between the human and itself.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13318381249

There is a possibility for new second language for the man and computer communication.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13318619176

The picture and movie are the first visual language. The image based on the data which the computer makes is the second visual language.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13318763196

The first visual language has only two categories: subjective image and objective one.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13318901336

The second one has three categories: subjective image, objective image and intersubjective image which opens new thought.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13318966373

An intersubjective image which is between individuals [human and human]: the photo and the movie.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13351803960

An intersubjective image which is between spaces [human and computer]: the image based on the data.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13351812840

This is a wrong question whether the computer is rational one or not.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13352012710

This is a right question whether the image on the display made by the computer is rational one or not.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13352044867

The computer need the image in order to make a thought.
http://twitter.com/mmmemoe/status/13352080365

Re-thinking the interface: What is the meaning of Alan Kay's"Doing with Images makes Symbols"

Alan Kay created a slogan for development of user interfaces: Doing with Images makes Symbols. This reveals the essence of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) which millions of people now use all over the world. This paper examines how GUI, based on Kay's slogan, has changed our communication with the computer. In order to explore this topic, I focus on Azuma and Turkle’s argument of "interface value" intuit for thinking about the relationship between our action and new sign surfaces. Next, Kay’s slogan is considered from the viewpoint of its formation process. Finally, I refer to Sperber and Wilson's Relevance theory. I conclude that GUI demands that we, along with computers, act for ostensive-inferential communication in a mutual cognitive environment.