NPO Aoyama Design Forum (ADF) presents the exhibition “Phygital World - Beyond Gutenberg” at the Metaverse Virtual Museum “COCO WARP” from September 1 to October 31, 2023. This exhibition focuses on the theme of our physical senses, which are changing along with civilization.

The aim of the exhibition is to reconstruct our relationship with the complex technology of contemporary society from a bird’s eye view. The exhibition encourages us to think about the relationship between the “physical,” which we can perceive as material, and the “digital,” which is difficult to recognize as a single entity, and how they influence each other.Phygital is a term coined primarily in marketing that represents a cross between “physical” and “digital."

Phygital experiences are already deeply embedded in our lives, not as something special, but as something taken for granted: shopping on e-commerce sites, chat apps that allow us to talk to stamps, double-speed television, and remote meetings that have become commonplace in the wake of pandemics, to name a few. These new experiences, which combine both physical and digital elements and are even uncomfortable, immediately update our physical senses. They have a profound impact on our sense of speed and our emotions, be it laughter, sadness or anger.

Since when do we get so frustrated with packages that don’t arrive the next day? In his book, “The Gutenberg’s Galaxy,” Marshall McLuhan, a pioneer of media theory, describes the history of how technology has enabled the technological extension of the body and changed human perception and psyche in interactive ways. From print media to voice calls, email, and television to the end of electronic media turbulence, moving images continue to change us in shorter, faster, and accelerated ways. In a world where Web3 and generative AI, including the Metaverse, have become a complete infrastructure in society, our emotions will be even more different than they are today. Technology will catastrophically transform our existence, not only in terms of our lifestyle, but also in terms of the meaning of life, free will, and intelligence.

The path to “Homo Deus," in which humanity is replaced by God both physically and spiritually through bioengineering and cyborg technology, is a story for a not-too-distant future. Is this a celebration of the gods who have time for poetry, music and wine, or is it the doomed world from Ragnarok? The central theme of the virtual metaverse museum “COCO WARP” is to experience the future of the year 3030 through a digital art exhibition. the year 3030 is closely linked to the behavior of each of us alive today, and one of the possibilities of art is to take a bird’s eye view of our situation.

We hope to share with the artists of this exhibition a vision for a harmonious and sustainable future, even if it is only alarming: A photographer who integrates familiar cities and landscapes to create an immediate impact on the brain with a stylish sense of unease, a musician who challenges the creation of music and live performances as unique works of art, a woodcut artist who beautifully combines Big Data and the ever-changing nature of life into a digital work of art, and an eccentric fashion designer who expresses his ever-changing bodies in cute avatars. We hope you enjoy the imagination of these artists who capture the vast future span of 3030 years, and the extraordinary creativity of these artists who will travel the world in the near future.

We hope you will enjoy the imagination and extraordinary creativity of these artists who will travel the world in the near future.

Takuya Sakamoto

Born in Ehime, he graduated from the art course at Onomichi City University in 2020. Since then, he has been based in Onomichi. While oil painting is the foundation of his work, he also produces poetry, books, and digital works in a fluid field of expression. With the main theme of "What is 'I'? he works on "continuity of consciousness/history" and "otherness in memory/record".

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/takuyasakamoto1996/
Web: http://tkysakamoto.wp-x.jp/

Main Exhibitions
2022 “Setouchi Art Jack 2022” (Kagawa, Japan)
2019 “Shanghai Art Fair 2019 New Japanese Artists Exhibition“, Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Center of International Sourcing, Organized by Shanghai Art Fair Organization, COARTZ, Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation
2019 “Tropical Lab 13: Erase,” Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Brother Joseph McNally Gallery, Praxis Space and Project Space,（LASALLE College of the Arts）
2019 “Future Artist Tokyo -EЯLection of Anonymous-,” Tokyo International Forum, Lobby Gallery

Kenji Agata

In the world of photography, he creates innovative expressions that make full use of catabolic effects. By skillfully transforming familiar cities and landscapes, Agata skillfully and poetically provokes the viewer's perception and sensitivity. Agata's approach takes the primitive activity of walking as its starting point, recording urban and natural landscapes as they are, and integrating people's activities, such as the present, the past, and disparities, in an ambivalent way while paying homage to the spirituality of the place. The world seen through his camera strikes the brain as a moment of stylish discomfort, prompting us to reconstruct contemporary society's fragmented aesthetics and the city's memory.

1991 Born in Kanagawa Prefecture
2016 Completed Master's Course in Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Fine Arts. Currently Part-time Lecturer, Department of Design, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts
2012 Solo exhibition "BLASPOLOSION" at TENGAI GALLERY/Nakameguro
2016 The 64th Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation and Completion Exhibition (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum/Tokyo University of the Arts)
2019 SENJU LAB 2015-2019 "Arting Art and Music" (Sogakudo, Tokyo University of the Arts)
2019 KAMIMIHARADA KABUKI BUTAI 200th Anniversary Festival (KAMIMIHARADA KABUKI BUTAI/Gunma Prefecture)
2020 Solo exhibition "-SCAPES" (TAKU SOMETANI GALLERY/Asakusabashi)
2021 Solo exhibition "SCAPES+" (TAKU SOMETANI GALLERY/Asakusabashi)

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kenji_agata/

Miyu Goto

Composer and pianist. She calls her works "raw arts" and redefines music within the art frame, based on the question, "Can music be a one-of-a-kind art? She creates musical works that appeal to the listener's intuition and instincts and expresses them herself.

She graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Composition, and Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Composition. Upon graduation, she received the Acanthus Music Award from the same university. She received the Symphonic Band Prize from the Symphonic Band Association of Japan and the Jury Prize at the TIAA National Composers' Competition. She won the first prize in the Senzoku Contemporary Music Composition Competition

Compositions and Performances

GUCCI Garden Party
Cartier collection"Les Galaxies de Cartier"
DAKS / LEONARD collection (Takashimaya Osaka)
Rolls-Royce (Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Tokyo)
GINZA SIX X’mas event
Matsuya GINZA
Tokyo Big Sight Music Instruments Fair (YAMAHA)
TEZUKA OSAMU "The 90th Anniversary of the Birth Ceremony"

Miyu Goto Website: http://www.miyu-goto.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goto_miyu/
Tumblr: https://miyugoto.tumblr.com/

mole^3 （mole cubed）

Printmaker and visual artist. She creates many works using open data, images, sounds, and generative art. In addition to coding, she also makes prints, which are physical art. Her flexible intellect, which crosses the border between digital and analog, approaches her subjects with a mathematical approach.

Using computer graphics, she performs creative coding while using various algorithms. The multiple images automatically generated by the algorithm, which adds differences to the same image, are as diverse as the expression of life through genes. The animations created by acquiring data on railroads, rivers, census data, etc., are not mere visualizations of data but paintings of waves and fluctuations hidden within the data. She graduated from the University of Tsukuba, Faculty of Art and Design—and is a part-time lecturer at Musashino Art University's CI Department.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/molecubed

MAHANA

A designer of prodigious talent, he colorfully reflects the Yamato spirit of elegance in a dashing, childlike confidence in the modern age. Inspired by the ancient carvings of the Jomon period and the colorful costumes of Kabuki, his creations carry on the cultural heritage of Japan. At the core of his expression is visualizing the changing human body as an avatar, sometimes sublimated into a lovely, rounded character. His design philosophy relies on open-minded fairness that accepts diversity as it is, and his patchwork, in particular, embodies the coexistence of "everyone is different, and everyone is good. The characteristic fringing process incorporates the shimmer and warmth of nature and blends it with sustainable materials to create his creations.

2019 “Tokyo Independent 2019“
2019 Live Painting "Muroto Nature House" National Muroto Youth Nature House, Kochi, Japan Selected
2019 ACT Art Award novae Selected
2019 The 11th Exhibition of Contemporary Artists in Motion
2019 Group Exhibition, Tokyo University of the Arts, Arts Festival, Tokyo, Japan
2020 Geiiku Exhibition (Ameyoko Center Building, Ueno, Tokyo)
2021 Flesh Exhibition
2022 TWO MAN EXHIBITION 2022 IGAS
2022 smart factory zone Collaboration Collection "Rudder" 100Sneakers100NewMakers
2023 "Journey" exhibition gallery iro see some scene

Brand Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fairenough_official_
Design Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mahana_fe_d/

“COCO WARP" first special exhibition overview
Title "Phygital World - Beyond Gutenberg-“
Period September 1 to October 31, 2023 (tentative)
Venue Virtual Museum "COCO WARP”
URL https://www.cocowarp.com/