Chris Meigh-Andrews

Jody Boehnert, Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Dr. Saba Hinrichs presenting some of the ideas developed in our discussions back to the main group

Thursday and Friday this week I attended a fascinating two-day conversational conference Making Visible the Invisible: Art, Design and Science in Data Visualisation, devised and hosted by Dr Michael Hohl at the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield. The format of this conference was  experimental,  attempting to try out the potential for a different model to the conventional conference format. Instead of the traditional presentation of papers, the participants were facilitated to engage in a series of conversations and discussions- sharing ideas, knowledge and learning through debate and group interaction. I found this format both demanding and rewarding as it gave me an opportunity to listen and engage with a wide range of individual researchers- scientists, artists and designers, all of whom shared a common set of interests and aspirations, and as a result it prompted me reflect on my own ideas and concerns from a fresh perspective.

Xtea: A video Projection installation and web-based project: 2009-10

Link to Xtea

Recently retrieved photos and documents have shed some light on a previously mysterious period in my Grandfather’s early life. After leaving the army he traveled to Canada to find work in 1922 and planned to establish himself there before sending for his wife and young son (my Uncle Jack- now 89!), but after several years rejoined them in England, having been unable to persuade his wife to cross the Atlantic. It seems he spent some of this period based in Calgary, Alberta working on the Canadian Pacific Railway, and then several years in Kenora, Ontario working for the Keewatin Lumber Company, before returning home to Colchester.

On Monday, Oct 18th I visited Down House to discuss my on-going project to produce a time-lapse web-based installation at Charles Darwin’s former home in rural Kent. I met with Rowan Blaik, head gardener at Down House to discuss the next phase of the project. We have agreed that I will install some cameras to produce test sequences in my preferred locations to produce time-lapse sequences of the ancient mulberry tree at the rear of the house.

It’s my last day in Japan and after breakfast at my hotel I took the subway to Roppongi to visit the National Art Center- an imposing and spacious building designed by Kisho Kurokawa. I viewed an exhibition entitled Shadows, which featured works from the collections of the Japanese national museums by Japanese, European and American artists working in a variety of media-but predominantly photography and painting. I was familiar with most of the Western artists represented, but there were a number of Japanese artists whom I did not know, including Miho Akioka and Jiro Takamatsu. I was also happy to see Krzysztof Wodiczko’s four-channel video projection installation If You See Something… which I first saw at the Venice Biennale several years ago.

After lunch I met and interviewed Itsuo Sakane, pioneering electronic media writer, curator and educator, who has been deeply engaged in ideas about the relationship between technology and art and actively involved in the media art scene both in Japan and internationally since the late 1960’s and has been instrumental in bringing it to the attention of a wider public.

This morning I visited NTT’s InterCommunication Center (ICC) in Shinjuku to see the exhibition Open Space 2010, which featured a number of stunning new works by Japanese media artists. I was particularly impressed by The Tenth Sentiment, a beautiful and engaging  (although unfortunately unphotographable!) installation by Ryota Kuwakubo,  Morel’s Panorama, by Masaki Fujihata and a circular structure for the internal observer by Norimichi Hirakawa.

After lunch I met with and interviewed video pioneer, animateur and artist Michael Goldberg, who is considered by many in Japan to be the “father” of Japanese video art.

Yesterday afternoon I made a presentation about my early videotape and installation work to artists and art students at the National Film Center, with the help of Tokyo-based video artist Masayuki Kawai, who kindly provided an excellent live translation. After the presentation, I was able to meet a number of other video artists based in Tokyo including Kentaro Taki, Ryoji Shibata, Ota Yo, Tetsuro Hatano and Kunitoshi Okuno.