There is a group of artists that creates totally different machines every once six months in Cologne. Since the idea behind those machines is too unconventional, the group has cannot get going on the business scene. That led to “//////////fur////” It received the excellence prize at the interactive section.

The prize-winning work is called “His Master’s Voice”. A ball-shaped robot reacts to a singing voice and it is pulled by a singer. However, the machine they presented at “artdemo” was different. They introduced their works through a video work.

A work that hides its title. People who tumble and toss with a fighting game machine made with massive steel featuring heavy metal music. Get The Pain, PainStation. The reason why they hide the title was that they were invited to Japan, where Sony was born, and they received the prize from the Agency For Cultural Affairs that has the festival’s copyright. Sony complained about this name in Germany and word spread around the world.

With this machine, we can enjoy the masterpiece game “Pong”. If you lose your point, you will feel an electric shock from the machine. This action reminded me the world famous Japanese comedy programme “Takeshi’s Comedy Ultra Quiz”. The one who moves his hand first is a loser. Someone told me that it is a very dangerous machine. Ryota Kuwakubo had an injury on the back of this hand which will take a week to heal completely at Ars Electronica last year.

The next work they presented was the one approved to the world cup held in Japan and Korea last year. If you connect a unit to Playstation2’s USP port, FIFA World Cup Official Soccer game starts. Then, if you fall to the ground or make a foul play, you will feel a strong electronic shock from the unit on your legs. There was another work that makes a sound like you punch a sandbag as well. Their latest work, remote controlled chainsaw robot “Learn how to use it and cut off the legs of boss’s chair!”, presented at the international furniture fair at Colongne, was also introduced.

Their video work was excellent because they showed stories around the works. Also, the videos gave rise to public censure. They demonstrated their works without any stop so that we could not reach the secrets of the works.

//////////fur//// is a unit of four people who are postgraduate students at a media art university and graduate students. Some of them are assistants of the university and others are working as a freelance information designer. They usually work at a rented　house and this house is not only a studio, but also is an office and a shop. I guess they are selling Maywadenki goods they bought during their stay in Japan.

Roman Kirschner and Volker Morawe participated in the ceremony and were looking after the ball robot. During their stay, they visited a family running The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art in Harajuku. As Carsten Nicolai had a half year long exhibition last year, many artists made histories in this museum. And one person who was laughing at their video work at a cafe was curator Koichi Watari. “It’s good. They seriously made them, didn’t they? I want to show this attitude to youngsters and it would be nice if they could feel it,” he said. However, according to him, “but //////////fur//// does not have a name value yet so that if they hold an exhibition at my museum, it won’t be successful.” “Like Joshua Davis you took before, they are the people who want to show power or their attitude to their works to young artists in Tokyo. But just coming here and staying is not an easy job in the current art system. I hope we will have a format that allows us to have a workshop without difficulties soon,” he continued. That’s right. The gap between Japan and Europe must be there where nobody has an exchange as accepted. “Let’s make a change, invite and ask them to make something in Japan.” Including //////////fur////, who finally came to Tokyo (that was there wish for ages), Mr Watari said to all of them to keep hope in each heart.