Special Contribution

Science and Art Today
Norimichi Hirakawa
Limits of Imagination
Considering that one of the functions of modern
art is rediscovering or extending the world basedon the concept of beauty or sublimity, it is hard toimagine that the conventional method, in which
artists have been creating something by themselves
based on their own imaginations, is still effective.
This is because the picture of the world presented
by science is unusual and goes against common
sense to the extent that it goes beyond the scope ofartistsʼ imagination.

Programming as a Technique of Expression
Artists have always been working withtechnology. Needless to say, technology includes apencil, a brush, and a sheet of white paper. Digitaltechnology is a remarkable modern technology.
There are a number of techniques of expression
utilizing digital environments. However, drawing

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a picture on the screen with a computer mouse―though it is an analogy of reality―cannot beconsidered a technique utilizing the essential natureof the computer as computing machinery, forinstance. An effective method to extract the powerof a computer as a piece of computing machinery
is computer programming. As far as we rely on GUI(graphical user interface) we cannot create what
exceed our physical abilities, but writing computercode makes it possible to exploit the computerʼs
computing power with its amazing velocity andaccuracy that far exceed our abilities for creating
something.

Computation as a Technology
What is the most fundamental technology
involved when we represent something by writinga program? Considering that a single algorithm canbe expressed by multiple programming languages,

we understand that programming itself is not anessential technology. A truly essential technology
must be computation itself. I think it is the mostprimitive technology created by human beings whocan handle symbols.

as a result of computation and then executing themodified program. I think this is one of the purposesof creating representations by computer technology
̶to discover beauty or sublimity that surpasses
human imagination.

Does Computation Create Artwork
beyond Imagination?

Artist-in-Residence at the Kavli IPMU

What is the crucial difference between creating
something by letting the computer compute andthat by our own hands based on imagination? I
think, ultimately, it is whether or not the createdresult is what we expected. As long as humanbeings create something with their hands, they
have images of final drawings no matter how crude
they may be, and these final drawings are drawn byimagination. On the other hand, when we create
something through programming, we can think ofa sequence of operations such as for all the pixels
of a given digital image data, divide the green value
by the red value, and substitute the result for theblue value, but it is difficult to predict the result.
However, it is possible to write an entire program
without knowing the result, based on the logicalsystem of a programming language. If the entire
program is logically consistent, it is executable.
Upon looking at the result of the executed program,then, there emerges a feedback structure whichbecomes key to going beyond imagination increating artwork. It is an infinite loop of modifying
the initial values or the algorithm of the program

During my residency at the Kavli IPMU, I spent time
thinking about what to create by how to compute
what, with a hint of the concept of dimension. As aresult, I managed to formulate one idea. It is the ideaof considering a digital image as a set of points in
5-dimensional Euclidean space, by interpreting thefive numbers that each pixel has―coordinates X andY, representing the position on the image, and R ,G, and B (red, green, and blue), representing pixelʼscolor―as the coordinates of a point in 5-dimensional
Euclidean space, and to observe a different aspectof the image by rotating it in this 5-dimensional
Euclidean space. Mathematically, rotation conserves
the distance between any two pixels, and of course
inverse rotation restores the original image. In otherwords, it is something like watching a sculpture as
you are walking around it. Mathematically, this isa feasible idea, but, again, it was not possible forme to imagine what kind of image was obtainedby rotation. However, while I was addressing thisprogram during my residency, it was possible forme to empirically learn which plane of rotation
corresponds to what kind of change on the image.

Work created during the residency: sunset [(from left to right)
gradation, complexity, spot] 2016,
digital C type print series, 680 ×680 (mm).
These images are outputs from different input data (photographsof sunsets) with arbitrary parameter values of 5-dimensional rotation(see below). It is assumed that the beauty of the sunset unconsciously
felt by us can be represented by the following three factors or theircombinations:
1. Color gradation of the sky as compared to the ground,
2. Complexity of the shape and shadow of the cloud, and3. The sun itself, felt as a white bright circle.

SpecialContribution

Considering digital pixels as 5-dimensional points (XY+RGB), theshape and the color gradation can be interchanged. Using this fact, I
searched for the beauty of the sunset, which can be felt even if thesunset itself cannot be recognized as a result of the rotation.

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(Upper left) A workshop was held for Kavli IPMU scientists. First, participantsevaluated artworks of 14 media artists based on 10 items such as simplicity.
This way, they understood the viewpoints for evaluating artworks. They
then thought out ideas of installation artworks. Four scientists (astronomer,theoretical physicist, mathematician, etc.) participated the workshop andenjoyed the discussion.
(Upper right) An occasion of showing how the artist was working in the office
to Kavli IPMU scientists. The artist explained his theme and progress of thework at this residency, using projected images.
(Left) A total of about 2800 people visited Open Campus Kashiwa 2016. On
this occasion, the outcomes of residency were exhibited. Through two daysof Open Campus, the artist explained his artworks to visitors. According toquestionnaire from visitors, this exhibition gained a very good reputation withimpressions such as Fantastic! and Interesting though difficult.

Art & Science
Art & Science, or Art-Science collaboration, may
be taken as something good, but I think it is actually
very difficult, or rather almost impossible. First of all,science and art are different systems, each describing
the world using a different language. This inevitably
leads to the situation that the more they deepen, themore mutual understanding becomes difficult andthe less they need each other. At the present time,science does not need art; it is a system that has

Artist Interview(by Kavli IPMU Public Relations staff)
What pieces of artwork are you
creating?
Mostly I create installation artworks
using images obtained using computer
programming. While combining
various materials such as algorithms
and real photographed images, I am
thinking, for example, about how I

22developed in this way. On the other hand, art does
not need to understand cutting-edge science, andpainting has developed by sharpening subjectivity
rather than objective realism since appearance of thecamera. The meaning of Art & Science is not selfevident. However, it is obvious that the motivating
power of some scientists and artists comes fromsuch common fundamental questions as What is
the world made of? What is time? and Where
do we come from? I wonder what it does mean.

can create what cannot be producedby human hands only, or whether it
is possible to represent something bycontinuing the computing processitself.
How did you find creating artwork
under the condition of residency at
the Kavli IPMU?
As there were a variety of scientists,
it was possible for me to ask some ofKavli IPMU News No. 36 December 2016

them questions as needed in trying analgorithm that I had not tried before.
So, expecting that the algorithm itself
would change while it was developed,
I intentionally tried to think and create
something without setting goals asmuch as possible. In the end, I wasadvised on how the same algorithm
can be used rather than changing it,
and to what motif I should apply it toexpect interesting results.

Also, I think it was one of theconditions to, as much as possible,
create something as an accumulationof processes that can be logicallyexplained, without an artistic jump or
a connection of thought. I think it was
not intentionally imposed, but rather
it occurred spontaneously owing
to the environment of residency at
the Kavli IPMU, a research institutein fundamental science. After theresidency, now I think it was veryconstrained. However, we rarelyexperience this kind of thing in theworld of art and artists only. WhenI returned to everyday life, suddenly
memories of experiences at theresidency came back, and the way of
thinking I had learned there showed
itself as pieces of work after a longtime. I would say that these are theoutcomes of the residence.
You are highly recognized forhuge video installation pieces,which somehow conceptually or
philosophically examine and present
the laws that control nature, byusing the computerʼs computing
function, and you are regarded asa young leader of media art in thecontemporary art world. How do you
evaluate your pieces sunset createdfrom the viewpoint of a programmer
who designs computing, and from theviewpoint of an artist who completes
the computed results as pieces ofwork?
As a programmer who designs
computing, I evaluate sunset as
follows. It is a program dealing witha five-dimensional digital image
data having spacial coordinates X
and Y and color coordinates R, G,and B, but I have developed it as aprogram applicable to any dimensions
depending on the computing resource.

In fact, I have already created andexhibited the piece datum bydealing with image data pixels as
digital points in six-dimensional
Euclidean space. I would say that it
is a success in the sense that it wasdesigned and developed as a generalprogram which, in principle, can deal
with Euclidean space of any dimension.
Regarding your second question withrespect to the level of completion of
my work, I could see that a curve inthe spatial coordinate system appears
as gradation in the color coordinate
system and vice versa, as a result of
five-dimensional rotation which mixes
spatial and color coordinates. However,I have to say that it is insufficient torefer to whether these two are alsointerchangeable to the human eye
which recognizes beauty. Further, I
think that while it would be possible
to see if they are interchangeable bymeans of a method which is somehow
similar to scientific one, a jump ofsubjective thinking would be needed
to make pieces of work as art basedon these observations. So, it is likelythat this would become somethingthat takes a very long time, like my lifework.
You obtain the image data ofthree primary colors in the twodimensional plane by taking certain
four-dimensional space-time picturesin this world by means of an optical
instrument (camera), and reconstructthem by regarding these data as aset of points in the five-dimensional
Euclidean space. Was it possible foryou to get some clues about therelation between things and truth(the laws of physics or beauty) while
you were having the experience oftransforming several hundred times
the familiar outputs of three primarycolors in the two-dimensional plane
into the outputs obtained throughrotations in the five-dimensional space,of which humans cannot recognize all
the directions at the same time?
While I have been repeating mywork, at a certain point it came tome that I could expect − though
not completely, but to some extent−the image that can be obtainedby rotating the original one in thecoordinate system which combined
the color coordinates and spatial
coordinates, both visible in myeyesight. Then I felt how the potentialof human brains is constrained by thephenomena occurring in the world
which we are looking at and appealing
to our senses. If phenomena occurring
before our eyes are sufficiently rich,human brains can sense somethingfrom them and learn their pattern.
Conversely, I have come to feel as if
the real phenomena we can observeat the respective places in this universe
are very restrictive, and this constrains
the potential of the human brain. I
feel that there are visual experiences
which never result from observation ofnatural phenomena before our eyes,
but which bear logically explainable
beauty; namely, there exists beautyor sublimity beyond the universe as a
totality of the nature that is observableby the mankind.
What is your plan for the future?
As for a big plan, I will hold apersonal exhibition in Breslau, Polandin March, 2017, so I am preparing forthat. It will be a big opportunity topresent the outcomes of my residency
at the Kavli IPMU as a package ofartworks.

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SpecialContribution