SACHIKO KODAMA: FERROFLUID ART

SACHIKO KODAMA: FERROFLUID ART Stephen Nomura Art History 381 November 18, 2008

SACHIKO KODAMA: FERROFLUID ART Introduction Sachiko Kodama is the poster child of ferrofluid art, which uses magnetic liquids as a sculptural medium. By its self, ferrofluid resembles crude oil - cold, dead, and static. However, in the presence of a magnet, it silently springs to life. Although computer controlled electromagnets are used, the ferrofluid s behavior is anything but cold and digital. 1 The fluid acts with emotion - sometimes calm and peaceful, other times aggressive and agitated, sometimes even violent. When the magnet is deactivated, the liquid silently crumbles back into lifelessness. Kodama s art is fascinating because it draws ideas and concepts from a wide variety of sources, the most important of which are the Monoha movement, Expressionism, and Digital Art. In brief, Kodama s associations with the Monoha movement are most explicit concerning her rejection of traditional image and her usage of relationships between everyday objects and settings. However, Kodama also embraces ideas from the western sphere of art, particularly Expressionism. This is most evident in her intention to provoke primal emotions and in the dreamlike installations she creates. The third section will explore Kodama s similarities with two contemporary Digital Art trends, interactivity and digital image. The interactive art of Victoria Vesna and the digital image art of Yoichiro Kawaguchi will be compared with Kodama s art. In conclusion, modern technology and the questions her art poses with regard to the crumbling dichotomy of the living world and the machine world will be explored. 1 Sachiko Kodama, Dynamic ferrofluid sculpture: organic shape-changing art forms, Communications of the ACM 51, 6 (2008): 80, http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1349026.1349042 1

Nomura 2 Monoha The Monoha movement of the late 60s and 70s was all about viewing the everyday world as it is, directly and unfiltered. 2 Their goal was to reduce the role of the artist and emphasize the relationships between materials and environment. 3 They accomplished this through the placement of common materials and objects in everyday local settings. Monoha artists manipulated the relationship between object and environment, both spatial and conceptual; not the materiality of the objects themselves. 4 They rejected the traditional arts, such as painting, with the argument that only through the simple and mundane could one transcend illusions. 5 Furthermore, they believed the artist should not make things, but merely show them as they are. 6 Kodama embraces the Monoha idea that image representation is flawed. She operates under the pretense that ferrofluid more accurately represents reality than images; that materials and real forms are inherently more powerful than images. She states that many artists have created surreal illusions in pictures or moving images. But those were imaginary. 7 The fundamental difference between representation through image and through ferrofluid, or through any other physical material, is that ferrofluid can take on three dimensional form and true surface textures; images only provide two dimensional representations of forms and textures. In terms of 2 Thomas R.H. Havens, Radicals and realists in the Japanese nonverbal arts: the avant-garde rejection of modernism (Honolulu: University of Hawai i Press, 2006), 190. 3 Havens, 189. 4 Havens, 190. 5 Janet Koplos, "Extensions of the Ordinary," Art in America 88, 4 (2000): 141. 6 Havens, 194. 7 Sachiko Kodama and Minako Takeno, Protrude, Flow, Ars Electronica Festival Catalog, (2003): 422, http://www.aec.at/en/archiv_files/20031/fe_2003_kodama_en.pdf

Pulsate - Melting Time, Dissolving Time (2004) Nomura 3 flexibility, since ferrofluid is both three dimensional and animated, it is like a cross between sculpture and film. In Pulsate, a common dinner table setting is juxtaposed with the ferrofluid. This stark and minimalist relationship between everyday object and environment is very Monoha. Kodama makes us think about the dinner table setting by adding a plate of ferrofluid. We see a similar technique used by Takamasa Kuniyasu, a post-monoha artist famous for his usage of bricks Fig. 1 Sachiko Kodama, Pulsate, mixed media, 2001. and lumber.8 In Kuniyasu s The Spiral of Midou, a spiraling mass of bricks and lumber appear to have overgrown a portion of the building s exterior. The common setting is the building, and the spiraling mass is juxtaposed with this. Another similarity, although not specific to Monoha, is that in both works the foreign element reminds us of lifeforms. Kodama s ferrofluid responds to speech and creates organic porcupine-like shapes; Fig. 2 Takamasa Kuniyasu, The Spiral of Midou, bricks and logs, 1997. Kuniyasu s spiral has overgrown a portion of the building, like a vine on a tree. German Expressionism Expressionism is a twentieth century art movement and artistic method in which representations of reality are distorted to provoke an emotional response in the viewer. This can range from very subtle, such as slightly skewing linear perspective, to very blunt, like using 8 Jean M. Ippolito, From the Avant-Garde: Re-Conceptualizing Cultural Origins in the Digital Media Art of Japan, Leonardo 40, no. 2 (2007): 145.

Nomura 4 images of demons, aliens, and other nonexistent creatures. It encompassed many arts, including painting, literature, and film. The film flavor is generally called German Expressionism. Nosferatu, F.W. Murnau s 1923 vampire horror film, is a great example of German Expressionism. 9 Although expressionism penetrates nearly all aspects of the film, we will concentrate on mise-en-scène, as this is most relevant to visual art. The most famous example is likely Murnau s usage of extremely dramatic lighting to create heavily shadowed Fig. 3 F.W. Murnau, scene from Nosferatu, 1923. environments. The vampire is often only seen as a shadow, eerily sliding along surfaces; it s as if the shadow itself is the vampire. This distortion is legendary in its ability to provoke anxiety and horror in the viewer. A comparison can be made with Seven Questions, a collaborative piece by Kodama and writer Hiromi Kawakami. The piece consists of an eerily lit bathroom counter with only a mirror, lights, and sink. The sink is filled with ferrofluid. In Kawakami s voice, the mirror asks viewers simple yet probing questions, such as Let me know one thing which you don't like others to do to you. 10 If they respond, the ferrofluid silently ripples and shudders in the sink. The piece is rather eerie; it feels like it was plucked from a bizarre dream. Fig. 4 Sachiko Kodama and Hiromi Kawakami, Seven Questions, 2007. 9 "F.W. Murnau," Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2008, http://www.britannica.com/ebchecked/ topic/398163/f-w-murnau 10 Sachiko Kodama, Seven Questions, http://www.kodama.hc.uec.ac.jp/sevenquestions/indexe.html

Nomura 5 This feeling is enhanced by the ferrofluid s alien behavior. Kodama s ferrofluid is like Murnau s vampire, an otherworldly lifeform. However, while Kodama states that her objective is to stimulate and inspire man's most primitive emotions, 11 she uses expressionism in a slightly different way. She takes the expressionist idea a step further by presenting a reality that feels like it shouldn t exist, but does. It feels like it should be a distorted representation, like a Hollywood special effect. But it s not a special effect; it s real. Viewers are forced to wrestle with the reality of the ferrofluid, and this is quite provocative. Digital Art Connections Digital Art is a broad term that generally encompasses any and all art whose creation is in some way connected with digital technology. The invention of computers unlocked many doors for artists; both new media and new ways to use media are now available. In terms of form, Digital Art may be a computer file, such as a digital image, or it may resemble non-digital art, such as a print of a digital image or an image drawn in pen using a robotic arm. However, most Digital Art seems to fall into one of two flavors, visual or interactive. 12 Interactive art, simply put, is art that utilizes audience participation. Unlike television and radio, which are limited to one-way communication, the internet supports interaction between viewer and media at literally the speed of light. 13 It is a relatively new vein of art and contests the traditional notion that the viewer should be a passive receptacle for ideas transmitted by the artist. 14 The traditional museum and gallery etiquette of Look, don t touch cannot be applied 11 Sachiko Kodama and Minako Takeno, Video Description of Project ʻProtrude, Flow,ʼ http:// www.kodama.hc.uec.ac.jp/protrudeflow/movies/wmv/proflod.wmv 12 Frank Popper, Art of the Electronic Age (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1993), 120. 13 Bruce Wands, Art of the Digital Age (London: Thames & Hudson, 2006), 8. 14 Eleanor Heartney, Art & Today (London; New York: Phaidon Press, 2008), 392.

Nomura 6 to interactive art. 15 In Roland Barthes s 1968 essay The Death of the Author, he argued that the real author of any piece of writing was in fact the reader who brought it to life. 16 One of Kodama s contemporaries in the interactive art sphere is Victoria Vesna, an American artist and professor. Kodama s Waves and Sea Urchins and Vesna s Nano both allow audience members to interact with the art through body Fig. 5 Sachiko Kodama, Waves and Sea Urchins, 2003. movement. In Waves and Sea Urchins, the ferrofluid s behavior responds to hand movements above the surface of the liquid. For instance, a closed fist held above the ferrofluid will not provoke a response. But, if the fist is opened, as if dropping something into the fluid, it comes to life. In Nano, participants can deform and move the projected ball images using the shadow of their body. Kodama s work may be the more user friendly of the two because it doesn t require shadow puppetry, an awkward translation of three dimensional movements into two Fig. 6 Victoria Vesna, Nano, 2002. dimensional shape. One interacts with Kodama s work more naturally by using simple hand motions or sounds. In the visual sphere of digital art, Yoichiro Kawaguchi appears extremely influential in Kodama s work. Most of Yoichiro s art is based on the organic growth algorithm GROWTH, a 15 16 Wands, 10. Heartney, 392.

Nomura 7 recursive mathematical formula he began producing in 1975.17 Both Yoichiro and Kodama have stated that their exposure to colorful ocean scenery in their childhood plays a powerful influence in their art. 18, 19 Notice the similarity in visual texture between Kodama s Waves and Sea Urchins, and Yoichiro s Topolon. Both are the result of computer processing. Yoichiro creates mathematical abstractions of the way lifeforms appear, grow, and evolve. In Protrude, Flow, Kodama creates mathematical abstractions of the way nearby lifeforms sound, which Fig. 7 Yoichiro Kawaguchi, Topolon, 2001. become the choreography for the ferrofluid. The imaginary surreal illusions that Kodama claims to surpass likely includes Yoichiro s work.20 Not only is Yoichiro widely recognized in the Digital Art world, but he and Kodama are both from Japan, and the shapes and textures of Kodama s work closely resemble Yoichiro s. Fig. 8 Sachiko Kodama, Waves and Sea Urchines, 2003. Body and Machine I think a fascinating suggestion of Kodama s art relates to the blurring lines between mechanical machine and living body, between computer and brain. The traditional idea that the living world and machine world are separate is crumbling due to modern technology. Drivers 17 18 19 20 Wands, 152. Popper, 134. Sachiko Kodama, Artistʼs Website, http://www.kodama.hc.uec.ac.jp/ Kodama and Takeno, Protrude, Flow, 422.

Nomura 8 begin to think of their car as an extension of their body. 21 Many people, especially those who grew up with cellphones, feel naked without it on their persons; a piece of them is missing. 22 And people with artificial hearts are quite literally human-machine hybrids. 23 In Morpho Tower, the ferrofluid resists gravity and climbs the magnetic cone like something alive. 24 I cannot think of anything besides lifeforms and mountains (especially volcanoes) that naturally appear to resist gravity. Might the central cone in Kodama s Morpho Tower, suggest a mountain or volcano? However, the way ferrofluid spirals up the cone seems extremely mechanical; it reminds me of a gearbox the way the fluid spins around the cone. Yet, since it is a Fig. 8 Sachiko Kodama, Morpho Tower, 2006. liquid and individual spikes of ferrofluid are unique and volatile in both shape and behavior, sometimes merging with nearby spikes; it appears organic. It s both mechanical and organic. What s more, the ferrofluid is presented in a capsule, like a precious flower being preserved from the elements, or an alien lifeform captured for observation and study. Conclusion In summary, Kodama s art shows many interesting artistic connections, both historical and modern, Japanese and Western, stylistic and conceptual. Connections with the mid twentieth century Monoha movement include a rejection of traditional representation and the usage of 21 Peter Lunenfeld, editor, The digital dialectic : new essays on new media, (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000), 64. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 24 Kodama and Takeno, Protrude, Flow, 422.

Nomura 9 everyday settings. From the Western sphere, twentieth century German Expressionist ideas and methods surface in Kodama s art in the bizarre and surreal nature of ferrofluid and her stated objective to provoke primal emotions. Kodama is a Digital artist, and is connected to both interactive artists like the Victoria Vesna, from America, and digital image artists like Yoichiro Kawaguchi, from Japan. Her art contests the traditional idea that body and machine are separate by presenting forms that are both organic and mechanical. It will be exciting to see how Kodama s work evolves because she is just getting used to ferrofluid. She has only been working with it about ten years and has yet to unlock its true artistic potential.

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Nomura 11 Merewether, Charles, editor. Art, anti-art, non-art : experimentations in the public sphere in postwar Japan, 1950-1970. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2007. Popper, Frank. Art of the Electronic Age. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1993. Poupyrev, Ivan, Tatsushi Nashida, Shigeaki Maruyama, Jun Rekimoto, and Yasufumi Yamaji. Lumen: interactive visual and shape display for calm computing. ACM SIGGRAPH 2004 Emerging Technologies (2004): 17, http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1186155.1186173 Vesna, Victoria. Artist s Website http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/ Wands, Bruce. Art of the digital age. London: Thames & Hudson, 2006.