Haruo Ishii: Hyper Scratch

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Artist(s):


Title:


    Hyper Scratch

Exhibition:


Category:


Artist Statement:


    Hyper Scratch presents an active creative space with an interactive system that is like a video game in which any person can easily take part.

    Real-time synchronization of sound and images is achieved through the use of a personal computer.  A touch interface makes it possible for nontechnical persons to interactively manipulate images and sampled sounds. These sounds and images are combined with a set audio rhythm through the use of a digital sampler and a personal computer. The images are then projected onto a 100-inch screen using a liquid crystal video projector, and are accompanied by stereo sound.

    I want to examine contemporary society, international events, technology, and communications media. TV, radio, facsimile machines, and personal computers are said to have played a key role in providing instantaneous worldwide communication of events such as the collapse of the Soviet Union, the splintering of Eastern Europe, and the student uprisings in Tianamen Square. A lack of international communication may have been a contributing factor to the misunderstandings that lead to World War II.

    In the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, called by some “television wars,” real-time reports on television influenced the prosecution and outcome of the battles as they occurred. Today, political systems exist that attempt to control the information its people receive. If people are able to receive information directly, free from the control of their rulers, oppressive political systems embodied in those rulers will become untenable. As the Cold War has ended, the world has become more fragmented. It is becoming increasingly dangerous to depend on traditional political systerns and values. Independent thinking is paramount in this new, uncertain environment.

    Tools like ISDN allow fast, personal exchanges of large amounts of information. Soon, conventional text-based data will be replaced by visual images interface makes it possible for non- and sound. The value of face-to-face spoken communication may change. Electronically assisted communication will allow deep, direct communication between individuals with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

    North Korea, a country that is very close to Japan, has limited communications with the rest of the world. In its isolation it has threatened to become a nuclear renegade. As a citizen of the only country that has been the recipient of a nuclear attack, I am very concerned about this issue.

    Perhaps, through work such as Hyper Scratch, subjects such as nuclear proliferation may receive greater exposure to ordinary citizens. Through the use of an interactive system, I hope to symbolically express the closeness that all people share as citizens of this world.