Information
NAOKO TOSA
Title: The Art of ZEN (Projection view)
Year: 2002~2010
Medium: Screen, Rock garden, calligraphy, 2 Computer, Speaker, Mixer
Dimensions (cm): W600 x H300 x D400
Sponsored by MIT, JST, France Telecom R&D
NAOKO TOSA product for iPhone apps (Landscape Painting in Chinese ink style Sansui) » Link
ZENetic Computer is an interactive system which I developed while staying at MIT CAVS as an artist fellow and with which people can experience San-sui Zen in an interactive way. I was inspired by Sesshu’s San-sui artwork and discovered that San-sui is not a landscape of this world, but a kind of landscape of Shangri-La, and was obsessed with it. As an introduction to Zen, the audience draws digital landscapes by themselves, then enters the world of 3D landscapes that they have drawn and takes a walk. They can exchange various Zen dialogues with computer monk. There is no right answer, and the aim of the interaction is for the audience to gradually awaken to themselves through interaction. The system was exhibited at various places including MIT Museum, Japanese ZEN temples, etc. The development of the system was also sponsored by France Telecom and was exhibited at its laboratory. Picure 6 shows an article of TechTalk introducing the exhibition at MIT museum. The reference shows a paper published in Leonard by MIT Press.
ZENetic Computer
MITのCAVSにアーティストフェローとして滞在していた時に制作したコンピュータに
よる山水禅
雪舟の山水の作品をきっかけに、山水のこの世の風景ではなく、一種の桃源郷の風景
という魅力にとりつかれて、禅を知る。
観客は、禅入門として、デジタル山水を描き、自分が描いた3D山水の世界に入って散
策する。川に近づけば瓢鮎図の禅問答、老人に近づけば、達磨安心、花に近づけば拈
華微笑、木に近づけば隻手の音場などの禅問答をコンピュータ禅僧とインタラクショ
ンする。システムに答えはなく、インタラクションをしているとだんだん自分が目覚
めてくる。
Reference
ZENetic Computer Survey Responses by Generation
MIT News – Zen and the art of computers