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Seiko Mikami (
Kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
:; 1961 – January 2, 2015) was a Japanese artist known for her large-scale
interactive art Interactive art is a form of art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose. Some interactive art installations achieve this by letting the observer walk through, over or around them; others ask the artist ...
installations. Mikami was born in
Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain was a feudal domain under the Tok ...
,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, in 1961, and she stepped into the art scene in the mid-1980s with large-scale art that studied
information society An information society is a society or subculture where the usage, Content creation, creation, information distribution, distribution, manipulation and information integration, integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drive ...
and the human body. After moving to the United States in 1991, she studied computer science at the
New York Institute of Technology The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a Private university, private research university, research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York (state), New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long I ...
, which lead her art to focus on the interaction between electronics and the human perception. She became a professor in the Department of Information Design at
Tama University is a private university in Tama, Tokyo, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the ...
in 2000. Mikami died from cancer on January 2, 2015.


Gravicells

Unveiled in 2004, a collaboration between Mikami and the architect Sota Ichikawa resulted in ''Gravicells'', an interactive installation originally housed at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM). The piece serves as a means for encountering the existence of
gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...
in a manner one could not experience in his or her daily life, and how the world, our bodies, and our perception are all influenced by gravity in complex and almost delicate ways. When the space is encountered by multiple participants, the visual interactions of the projection between them helps the users achieve a sense of each other. This artwork thus functions as almost an external human sensory function, encouraging awareness of ourselves and others in ways not previously approached. In the center of the installation space rests a six-by-six-meter paneled floor; these panels are laced with sensors that can detect your weight, tilt, and velocity. This information is continuously collected and analyzed, and is then translated into deformations in the lines projected on the floor near the visitor.
GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...
data of the location in which the installation is housed also affects the projected environment and the lines will change according to shifts in the location's gravity.


''Desire of Codes''

One of Mikami's most notable works, ''Desire of Codes'', was commissioned by and created at YCAM. Exploring the individual's existence in public and in private, ''Desire of Codes'' emphasizes the increasingly less blurred line between the individual as defined by information and the individual as flesh and blood. Housed in a space normally devoted to theatrical performances, this interactive piece consists of three parts: # 90 Wriggling Wall Units: Ninety tentacle-like devices that rotate towards the passerby are placed across a large wall. These devices each have their own camera and microphone, and the data they record is sent to the work's
database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
, and this information is eventually used in part 3. # 6 Multiperspective Search Arms: Six 'search arms' with cameras and projectors hang from the ceiling and follow the movement of the visitors. These arms also record information about the visitors and upload this to the database. Eventually the arms may project enlarged images of the visitor on the floor near visitor themselves. # Compound Eye Detector Screen: Many hexagonal facets are projected onto a circular screen, and each facet contains either one of the video recordings made by a wall unit or surveillance footage taken from various public places around the world. In addition to these main three parts, the
soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term, originally coined by Michael Southworth, was popularized by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...
of the area in which the work resides is also altered: the noise generated by visitors as well as the artwork's own mechanical sounds are mixed and played back, which further emphasizes the indistinction between one's own encoded existence and physical reality.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikami, Seiko 1961 births 2015 deaths Interactive artists Japanese women artists Artists from Shizuoka Prefecture New York Institute of Technology alumni