Nina Fradet

Xavier Prevot

Yuri Urano . ウラノ　ユリ

Keiji Okushima . 奥島圭二

Matter’s 

whisper

French-Japanese collective exhibition 

//crafts and digital arts

Temple Daigo-Ji, Kyoto

November 9th - December 3rd 2023

Matter’s whisper is an immersive exhibition project forming a dialogue between Japanese and French cultures through the valorization of ancestral know-how through the use of digital arts. 

The exhibition took place at Daigo-Ji Temple, following a two-month artistic residency. During this period, Nina Fradet and Xavier Prevot created the elements of the exhibition while sharing the daily life of the monks. 

༜
↖

Matter’s whisper, or the murmur of matter, crystallizes in our eyes the essence of our approach. How could matter express itself? How to perceive the sensitive character of an inert subject? It is by naming this paradox that the project begins, in the way of an enigma to guide the visitor towards an encounter with the matter. 

With a view to imbuing the exhibition with resonances between French and Japanese cultures, Matter's Whisper project has been nourished by the work of several Japanese artistic collaborators. The participation of other artists in the project enriched the fields of the sensory universe established. This grouping of distinct creative fields is part of a desire to move towards a synthesis of the arts.

-Extract from Matter’s Whisper manifesto. Nina and Xavier

 

>> Press kit

/Samples

⬤ growth_#1

⬤ microtopia_#1

⬤ underwater_#1

⬤ underwater_#2

⬤ underwater_#3

⬤ underwater_#4

/Contribution

Xavier Prevot, creator of the video media shown during the exhibition, works on different processes of animation and procedural image diffused on monitors and in video mapping, as well as on a creation at the heart of Matter's whisper visitors' wanderings, which will be the basis of the Microcosmos project. This work consists of a process of capturing macroscopic images generated in real time at the very heart of the installation. He engages in several performances to enable visitors to witness the image-creation process up close, blurring the scales of perception between the macroscopic and the infinitesimal. He also works with Nina to create the immersive set design for the exhibition.

Through the tools employed, the video medium materializes abstract organic forms in constant evolution, echoing the materials and weaving processes used in the installation's sculptures. The images broadcast by the video medium are generated in real time using two complementary processes. A space is created to capture live macroscopic images via a camera filming a series of materials, objects and light reflections on water or glass. A program for generating synthetic images in real time is added in parallel to the camera images, playing with superimpositions and overlaps. Without ever repeating itself, this evolutionary process allows the video to appear as a constantly fluctuating composition, influenced by the image coming from the camera, the music or the movements of the visitors.

Performances

The exhibition at Daigo-ji Temple is punctuated by a series of sound and visual performances based on the themes of Matter's whisper. As an extension of the installation, these performances enable visitors to experience them on specific evenings, witnessing the composition of the video images in real time, in an exchange with Yuri Urano's live musical creation.

>> About

/Nina Fradet

For the Matter's whisper project, Nina focuses on the creation of large sculptural volumes in solid wood, woven using traditional Japanese bamboo basketry techniques. The interweaving of the wood's lines creates a dialogue with the immateriality of light and video through the projected shadows that emerge.

 

/Yuri Urano

The collaboration with Yuri harmonizes the entire installation by creating a soundscape in keeping with the positioning of Matter's whisper. The experience of ambient electronic music guides visitors on their wanderings, bringing with it that emotional imagination that only music creates when it infiltrates us. As well as composing music, Yuri creates real-time performances at evening events, interacting with Xavier's video performances in an instinctive exchange around the abstraction of matter.

 

/Keiji Okushima

The collaboration with Keiji nourishes the installation with another form of traditional know-how while finding a new way of working with materials. Blown, hand-formed or enameled glass, his works enhance the woven sculptures and video projections through the diffraction of light rays that pass through them.

/Partners

Daigo-JI Temple

Office of Design, Fashion and Crafts _ Paris

French-Japanese Sasakawa Foundation

Pivoto Workshop - Wood craftsmanship in Kyoto, attached to GENETO Tokyo-Kyoto architecture firm

French Institute of Japan - Kansai/Kyoto

Japan Legacy - Cultural mediation - international coordination

↖
༜

.

French-Japanese collective exhibition 

//crafts and digital arts

Temple Daigo-Ji, Kyoto

November 9th - December 3rd 2023

Nina Fradet

Xavier Prevot

Yuri Urano . ウラノ　ユリ

Keiji Okushima . 奥島圭二

Matter’s whisper

Matter’s whisper is an immersive exhibition project forming a dialogue between Japanese and French cultures through the valorization of ancestral know-how through the use of digital arts. 

The exhibition took place at Daigo-Ji Temple, following a two-month artistic residency. During this period, Nina Fradet and Xavier Prevot created the elements of the exhibition while sharing the daily life of the monks. 

Matter’s whisper, or the murmur of matter, crystallizes in our eyes the essence of our approach. How could matter express itself? How to perceive the sensitive character of an inert subject? It is by naming this paradox that the project begins, in the way of an enigma to guide the visitor towards an encounter with the matter. 

With a view to imbuing the exhibition with resonances between French and Japanese cultures, Matter's Whisper project has been nourished by the work of several Japanese artistic collaborators. The participation of other artists in the project enriched the fields of the sensory universe established. This grouping of distinct creative fields is part of a desire to move towards a synthesis of the arts.

-Extract from Matter’s Whisper manifesto.

Nina and Xavier

 

>> Press kit

/Samples

⬤ growth_#1

⬤ microtopia_#1

⬤ underwater_#1

⬤ underwater_#2

⬤ underwater_#3

⬤ underwater_#4

/Contribution

Xavier Prevot, creator of the video media shown during the exhibition, works on different processes of animation and procedural image diffused on monitors and in video mapping, as well as on a creation at the heart of Matter's whisper visitors' wanderings, which will be the basis of the Microcosmos project. This work consists of a process of capturing macroscopic images generated in real time at the very heart of the installation. He engages in several performances to enable visitors to witness the image-creation process up close, blurring the scales of perception between the macroscopic and the infinitesimal. He also works with Nina to create the immersive set design for the exhibition.

Through the tools employed, the video medium materializes abstract organic forms in constant evolution, echoing the materials and weaving processes used in the installation's sculptures. The images broadcast by the video medium are generated in real time using two complementary processes. A space is created to capture live macroscopic images via a camera filming a series of materials, objects and light reflections on water or glass. A program for generating synthetic images in real time is added in parallel to the camera images, playing with superimpositions and overlaps. Without ever repeating itself, this evolutionary process allows the video to appear as a constantly fluctuating composition, influenced by the image coming from the camera, the music or the movements of the visitors.

Performances

The exhibition at Daigo-ji Temple is punctuated by a series of sound and visual performances based on the themes of Matter's whisper. As an extension of the installation, these performances enable visitors to experience them on specific evenings, witnessing the composition of the video images in real time, in an exchange with Yuri Urano's live musical creation.

>> About

/Nina Fradet

For the Matter's whisper project, Nina focuses on the creation of large sculptural volumes in solid wood, woven using traditional Japanese bamboo basketry techniques. The interweaving of the wood's lines creates a dialogue with the immateriality of light and video through the projected shadows that emerge.

 

/Yuri Urano

The collaboration with Yuri harmonizes the entire installation by creating a soundscape in keeping with the positioning of Matter's whisper. The experience of ambient electronic music guides visitors on their wanderings, bringing with it that emotional imagination that only music creates when it infiltrates us. As well as composing music, Yuri creates real-time performances at evening events, interacting with Xavier's video performances in an instinctive exchange around the abstraction of matter.

 

/Keiji Okushima

The collaboration with Keiji nourishes the installation with another form of traditional know-how while finding a new way of working with materials. Blown, hand-formed or enameled glass, his works enhance the woven sculptures and video projections through the diffraction of light rays that pass through them.

/Partners

Daigo-JI Temple

Office of Design, Fashion and Crafts _ Paris

French-Japanese Sasakawa Foundation

Pivoto Workshop - Wood craftsmanship in Kyoto, attached to GENETO Tokyo-Kyoto architecture firm

French Institute of Japan - Kansai/Kyoto

Japan Legacy - Cultural mediation - international coordination