“New reality – my studio” – a new microcosm and space created by textures

This article introduces the NEWVIEW AWARDS 2020 finalist work “New reality – my studio”.

It is a drawing work and studio created by artist Akiko Nakayama. I will introduce some points to appreciate the work, focusing on the textures and images depicted in it.

About AKIKO NAKAYAMA

AKIKO NAKAYAMA

Painter. She performs a performance called “Alive Painting” in which she paints by mutually reacting various materials from liquid to solid. All kinds of phenomena based on scientific and physical laws and colors that appear are vividly depicted in her works as metaphors for living things and relationships. In her solo work, she treats sound as “transparent paint” and touches space and emotion through painting. In recent years, she has participated in TEDxHaneda, DLECTRICITY ART FESTIVAL 2017 (Detroit, USA), New Ars Electronica opening performance 2019 (Linz, Austria), Biennale Nemo 2018 (Paris, France), MUTEK Montreal, etc. MUTEK Montreal, etc.

【Akiko Nakayama OFFICIAL】
≪Akiko Nakayama Website≫ http://akiko.co.jp
≪Twitter≫ https://twitter.com/akikonkym
≪Instagram≫ https://www.instagram.com/akikonkym/
≪facebook≫ https://www.facebook.com/akikonakayamaweb/

( All profiles and artist photos are taken from Akiko Nakayama’s website: http://akiko.co.jp )

Akiko Nakayama usually creates works using real materials instead of XR expressions.

last night @ArsElectronica pic.twitter.com/gAd2YAIsuH

— Akiko Nakayama 中山晃子 (@akikonkym) May 28, 2019

Akiko Nakayama’s work is based on the simulation of liquids and other materials, and is presented in the form of videos and drawings.

In “New reality – my studio,” Nakayama used her real-life drawings as textures for 3D models, and presented them as VR works.

In “New reality – my studio”, Nakayama’s real-life drawings were used as textures for 3D models and presented as VR works.

New reality – my studio

Purity through minimal objects

When the scene begins, there are three objects floating in the air.

A tunnel-shaped 3D model, a sphere-shaped texture animation, and a snow leopard. The skybox and the floor are covered with textures of drawings created by Ms. Nakayama.

And rain is falling in the space.

 

XR works tend to have an excessive amount of information in constructing the space.

This is because we usually perceive “space” with “real space” as our reference.

However, real space is overflowing with information.

For example, the following are the “room and furniture” assets that are released for free in the Unity Asset Store.

 

Just to build an image of a room and its furniture, we need a sofa, a chest of drawers, a window, a wooden floor, a closet, a TV, and so on. So many objects are needed.

The more objects you have, the easier it is to recognize what the space is. But at the same time, the more objects you have, the more solid your image becomes, and the more blank space for imagination is erased.

New Reality – my studio is constructed with a minimum number of objects, so that there is plenty of room for imagination.

By viewing the work, we can appreciate the “blank space” that Ms. Nakayama has created.

In the expression of XR, which tends to be overloaded with information, the creation of margins allows us to appreciate Ms. Nakayama’s own expression of drawing more purely.

Spaces created by textures

There are more than just objects. It is the texture of the huge drawings that cover this space that immerses us in it and forces us to imagine it strongly.

As a skybox, the entire space is covered with red and white drawings.

The view looks like a galaxy.

 

Unlike ordinary monitors, VR allows you to enter the space and enjoy the space itself. Being able to experience a drawing at this size is a way of viewing that is unique to VR.

Ms. Nakayama’s space made me feel like I was observing the universe, such an experience.

Based on this, this work can also be tied to the fact that it is an “open studio” of Ms. Nakayama.

Ms. Nakayama introduces this work as follows.

3D space as an open studio

In a blank space, objects are placed as if drawing a mind map as a new mental base. There are not so many things needed for a mental landscape. A colorful sky and earth, moving and non-moving objects. Straight lines and curves. Freedom to change rotation, size, and position. Simple shapes with variable meanings that are not confined to nouns, pasted images and shapes that are ungrounded and homogenous. Eerie fun! The strange poetic sentiment felt due to the incompatibility is also interesting.

This spring, when I was restricted from visiting my studio by With Corona, I felt that I could breathe more easily creating a space with STYLY than opening the front door.

I applied for this opportunity as a new drawing, a psychological open studio.

( Taken from NEWVIEW AWARDS 2020 HP: https://newview.design/works/new-reality-my-studio/ )

This work is an experience of entering the artist’s studio as well as enjoying the space work like a universe.

It is a psychological open studio of Ms. Nakayama, in other words, it is an experience to enter into her mental image. It can be taken as an attempt to observe the unobservable.

The act of immersing oneself in this work is an act of confronting Ms. Nakayama, or in other words, an act of confronting the microcosm.

If the universe outside this earth is the “macrocosm,” then we human beings ourselves are the “microcosm,” and the very thing that forms the world of beauty and philosophy is itself the “microcosm.

The act of immersion through the medium of VR is an act of immersion in the world of the person “Akiko Nakayama”, or microcosm.

That’s how I felt when I confronted this work.

In closing

When viewing this work, I recommend that you also view “my studio,” the video that introduces this work.

It may give you some idea of how Akiko Nakayama is approaching this work.

Scene

This work can be experienced from a web browser or mobile phone, but if you have a HMD, I highly recommend experiencing it in VR.

Let’s experience this microcosm with the strong physicality of immersing yourself in space.

 

• Experience it from your smartphone

  Download STYLY Mobile and start up a scene. For instructions on how to download, please refer to the following article.

 

• Experience the scene from PC / VR

  Click on the image below to access the scene’s page in the STYLY GALLERY. Select a device and experience it.
  

Introduction to NEWVIEW SCHOOL ONLINE

NEWVIEW SCHOOL ONLINE is now open! Learn the basics of Unity and PlayMaker, necessary for creating VR/AR content, and learn the process (and creation techniques) for developing attractive content available on STYLY.

 

• Create VR/AR content without writing any programming code.
• Professionally supervised Unity courses available.
• Explore additional elements, such as photogrammetric production methods and content lightening.
• Learn the concept of creating VR/AR content.