AKIRA HASEGAWA*DIGITAL KAKEJIKU*D-K LIVE





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Carol Speed

Shern, Thompson & Block P.R.

(212) 988-3265

Carolsspeed@aol.com


AKIRA HASEGAWA, GUEST SPEAKER AT “ROBOT/MEDIA/ART” SYMPOSIUM AT THE HYOGO PREFECTURAL MUSEUM OF ART, FOLLOWED BY D-K LIVE INSTALLATION AT THE MARINA STAGE IN NAGISA PARK



KOBE, June 28 – Media artist, Akira Hasegawa, discussed new directions for media art


with fellow artists at “Robot/Media/Art”, a Symposium sponsored by Kobe Biennale 2007,


at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, this afternoon. Afterwards, at sunset, he


demonstrated his creation, Digital Kakejiku, with a dazzling D-K Live show of computer-controlled light, color and abstract patterns projected directly onto the waterfront façade of


the museum and the Marina Stage, adjacent to Nagisa Park. Because the museum, the


Marina Stage and Nagisa Park are located in the New Metropolis area, in the Eastern Water


Redevelopment section, the D-K Live installation could be seen from vantage points all


over Kobe.



The D-K Live installation at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art was serene and


stunning as always. The geometric clarity of Tadao Ando’s architecture --- particularly the


vast flight of steps connecting the museum to the waterfront --- made an excellent backdrop for Akira Hasegawa’s light projections. The slight mist in the air, the sound of the


sea against the wharf, all contributed to a beautiful sensory experience.


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Digital Kakejiku is an original concept and technique developed by the artist Akira


Hasegawa. He has used his knowledge of film, video and cyber arts to invent a unique


sensitizing instrument, which he calls D-K. D-K is a projection method for lighting up a large area (architectural or


natural surroundings) with random sequences of abstract images that appear still, but are actually undergoing constant sow change. If you look away for a minute, the image will be totally transformed. D-K comprises a projection of constantly updated


pixels of computer generated art. Its pixels are sequentially updated, so with D-K, there is no FPS rate, as with conventional film or video. It is perceived just like


the setting sun…as slow, almost imperceptible change. D-K’s abstract patterns and colors


are created by capturing cosmic noise and encoding it into digital data. When these images


are reproduced via a computer using Hasegawa-created software, it turns into an


artistic masterpiece…D-K Live.



Hasegawa has on the technique for over a decade, first using computer monitors,


then video projectors. He sees D-K as an architectural material, able to actively engage and


transform any context, applicable at a scale ranging from an urban event to a computer


screensaver. Because it is constantly changing, it is practically impossible to freeze-frame exactly the same image twice.



The possibilities of infinite variation have already attracted wide attention. D-K Live


installations have been presented on several contemporary art museums, on the three most


famous medieval, Samurai-era castles and ancient shrines in Japan, at Yuyuan Gardens in


Shanghai, within Tokyo’s new, architecturally stunning Roppongi Hills



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complex and, under the auspices of UNESCO, at the Acropolis in Athens and the


Shiretoko Peninsula of Hokkaido, both of which are World Heritage sites.



Hasegawa’s D-K Live installation on the Richard Meier-designed new San Jose City


Hall, a part of last August’s ZeroOne San Jose: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge and


the 13th International Symposium of Electronic Arts (ISEA 2006), was included in The


2007 Public Art Year in Review, presented on June 3, 2007 at The Americans for the Arts


Annual Convention in Las Vegas, NV. The Public Art Network (PAN) established The


Public Art Year in Review in 2001 to celebrate the most successful, innovative, and


exciting public art projects in the United States. It is an honor to be one of only 40 projects


recognized from among over 300 by this year’s guest jurors, Larry Kirkland and Miwon


Kwan. Submitted to PAN by Mary Rubin, Senior Project Manager, San Jose Public Art


Program, Hasegawa’s installation won the only Recognition Award in the entire United


States for art projects with his first show in America.



Although D-K Live is easily perceived as “high tech”, its purpose is to regain the natural


rhythms of life for the 21st Century. It is an entirely new living art form that transcends


time and engulfs space. It is the interval between one moment and the next, the infinite


world in an instant. It is like an endless sunset, like the space between the lines of a haiku, between colors, between sounds, between times…the essence of Japanese art, updated for a digitized world.


In fact, the Kakejiku in D-K refers to the decorative, seasonal and regularly changed


hanging scrolls displayed in the traditional tokonoma alcove, the spiritual heart of the Japanese home.

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Hasegawa’s D-K Live installation, sponsored by Kobe Biennale 2007, at the Marina


Stage through the weekend, is designed to introduce his art to the city. Later on this year,


his D-K Live installation will become the nighttime symbol of the prestigious Kobe


Biennale when projected onto its site, October 6 to November 25, 2007. Other Kobe


Biennale 2007-sponsored D-K Live installations this summer include: Porto Bazaar in


Kobe City, July 20-22; Hyogo Prefectural Hall (Kokan Building), August 21-22.






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URLs:


http://dk.popculture.jp

http://d-k-tv.blogspot.com/

http://www.shinei-net.co.jp/hst/archis.htm

http://www.wanowa.com/bi/60506b.htm

http://www.dnp.co.jp/artscape/eng/focus/0609_02.html

http://www3.toshiba.co.jp/pc/museuminsight/001/index_j.htm

http://www.01sj.org/ ZeroOne San Jose