A project of Yoichi Ochiai, who leads a research team of University of Tsukuba researching technology of expression “Digital Nature” which appeals to human consciousness, at school in the mountains, reminded people the excitement which they feel during childhood.

Colloidal Display　and others, Yoichi Ochiai, 2012/2016　Courtesy of KENPOKU ART Executive Committee

In the darkness over the curtain in science lab, there’s “monadology” covered by countless bubbles lightened by an electronic flash and on the monitor, which projects a video on a thin film of the bubbles about butterflies. Their expression using physical phenomena looked attractive in the mountain school.

WOODSTOCK, magma, 2016

The excitement of school is well expressed by installations of magma full of electronic craftsmanship. In the room of president, a wood-curved teacher excitingly turns a light on and off, and instructs and reminds viewer’s kids’ mind. In the classroom, the illumination and music excite them and the sound sets are resemble in a radio-cassette player and stereo set are really cool. This mountain school reminds us for the school which “we want to go” when we were teenagers.

Blank project #3 – a corner of the cosmos, Soichiro Mihara, 2013-2016

“Bio-art” the latest expression using biotechnology is introduced as a way to express nature and science. This is one of the cultures that especially focused on in this art festival. Soichiro Mihara tried to make art of the touch of nature by using technology to generate electricity from microorganisms living in the soil. He made spheres by moss of this region and created a piece that the spheres unexpectedly start to roll by the new energy.