Art exhibit fuses traditional Japanese theater with digital media
The colorful, fluid digital exhibit by Naoko Tosa, curated by UH Hilo Professor of Art Jean Ippolito, re-conceptualizes traditional culture from ancient Japanʻs performance art and literature.
By Susan Enright.
In collaboration with the humanities division and the art department at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, the East Hawai‘i Cultural Center is featuring an art installation by Naoko Tosa, a media artist based in Kyoto, Japan.
The exhibit, “Naoko Tosa’s New Media Art: Reconceptualizing Traditional Japanese Theater,” began in early December and runs through January 26.
As an artist, Tosa worked with video art in the 1980s and interactive computer art in the 1990s. She obtained her doctoral degree in engineering at Tokyo University in order to further her research in art, science, and technology.
Tosa is a pioneer in the field of “cultural computing,” a form of media that encapsulates the creativity of culture, the unconscious, and software. All of the works in the show reflect Tosa’s ideas about cultural computing, showcasing unique cultural characteristics and sensitivities of humanity through projected digital media, using the medium as the conduit of the message.
“Cultural computing endeavors to transform previously unquantifiable aspects of the human experience, such as subjectivity, sensibility, emotion, culture, and ethnicity, by discovering and incorporating the unique patterns inherent to each culture,” explains Tosa.
Inspiration
The work on view is inspired by traditional Japanese visual and performing arts, including Sansui (ink monochrome painting), Rimpa (decorative painting of the 17th and 18th centuries), Noh (classical theater of the imperial and samurai classes, typically refined and austere) and Kabuki (a more emotive style of drama featuring extravagant costumes, props, and expressiveness).
Curator of the exhibit is art historian Jean Ippolito, a professor of art at UH Hilo and art historian with a specialization in Asian art, specifically Japanese and Chinese new media art, meaning digital and electronic media.
With a grant from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, Ippolito has planned and organized two visiting artists to UH Hilo over the past couple of years.
The first visiting artist was Tosa, who delivered lectures via Zoom during the pandemic, and then came in person in 2022, which led to connecting with the East Hawai‘i Cultural Center and creating the current exhibition. (The second visiting artist, Hung Keung from Hong Kong, exhibited his 3D video installation, visited with students, and delivered a lecture in Oct of 2022.)
Ippolito explains the curating process of Tosa’s current exhibit in Hilo.
“I chose to focus on the works by Naoko Tosa that re-conceptualized traditional culture from ancient Japanʻs performance and literature,” says Ippolito. The three works chosen were the Noh Play piece entitled “Izutsu,” the Kabuki play piece entitled “Renjishi,” and a work based on the opening line from a 13th century volume of stories entitled “The Tale of Heike.”
“The first two were the subject of discussion in the UH Hilo Performing Arts Center lobby during Naoko Tosaʻs visiting artist residency, and proved to be quite profound in an academic way,” says Ippolito. “The latter piece was based on literature that is often the inspiration for the script of Noh plays since the Muromachi period in Japan.”
Tosa says she brings these historically resonant traditions to the intersection of art and science. “I am interested in the relationship between media and the body, in particular between voice and image,” says Tosa in a media release.
Tosa’s exploration of this relationship can be seen in “Zeami Noh: Izutsu,” a four-part video installation on view that uses the latest technology to express the sense of impermanence, sadness, joy and compassion that humans feel from the transitions of life. The installation features frenetic dancing and four images displayed using the movements of masked Shite and Ikebana flower arrangements.
Projectors, software, action!
Many people helped pull the exhibit together.
“Arranging such a technologically complex installation required the collaboration between UH Hilo and the EHCC,” says Ippolito. “The gallery space at the East Hawai‘i Cultural Center is superb; there are three distinct galleries radiating out from the central gallery, accessed from the main entrance. There are movable walls, and track lighting, which are necessary components of a customizable exhibition space.”
EHCC owns one very strong high resolution projector, but more were needed for Tosaʻs exhibit.
Ippolito explains that technical support came from a consultation with UH Hiloʻs distance learning technologist Matt Baldwin about the needed projectors and software. The purchase of four projectors was arranged using UH Hilo College of Arts and Scienceʻs faculty engagement funds, and three Viewsonic projectors were reserved from UH Hilo’s Mookini Library. Altogether, there are eight projectors in use for Tosa’s exhibit.
Baldwin also found an affordable software program that allows multiple film clips to be sent to the projectors for each gallery from single central processing units, allowing for modifications of imagery size to custom fit on the gallery walls and to continuously loop the works throughout the day. Funding for the software was contributed by the art department and humanities division of UH Hilo.
“Under Matt’s guidance, staff at the East Hawai‘i Cultural Center have successfully persevered in maintaining and troubleshooting the equipment throughout the exhibition, which continues to be on display until January 26, 2024,” says Ippolito.
Hours to view exhibit
The East Hawai‘i Cultural Center is located at 141 Kalākaua Street in Hilo.
Hours of operation for the gallery are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The main office is open Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
