A. A. Murakami

A.A.Murakami are an artist duo founded in 2020 by Azusa Murakami (b.1984) and Alexander Groves (b.1983). 
A.A.Murakami are known for their practice that focuses on ephemeral experiences through sensory installations and Web3. The artists’ work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Centre Pompidou, Paris and M+, Hong Kong. A.A. Murakami is represented by Pace Gallery, Superblue and Pearl Lam Galleries. 
A.A.Murakami are founders of the Web3 project Floating World.
==Studio Swine==
A.A.Murakami founded a design practice called Studio Swine in 2011. 
==Ephemeral Tech==
Their sensory installations are an ongoing series of works they term “Ephemeral Tech” in which the boundaries between digital technology and natural forces are dissolved to create unnatural phenomena. Ephemeral Tech looks to a future where technology uses senses to transcend the familiar interfaces beyond the standard visual stimuli of flat screens, projections and LED array and becomes inseparable from both built and natural environments. They explore the concept of Ephemeral Tech in their installations such as New Spring (2017).
==Mataverse==
At the centre of A.A. Murakami’s ongoing exploration with art on the blockchain is what they term the ‘Mataverse’. The Mataverse is an innovative concept created by A.A.Murakami that combines the physical world with the digital world using blockchain technology. The word "Mata" stands for material and states of matter, which represents the idea of combining the tangible and intangible aspects of reality. In the creation of this Mataverse, A.A. Murakami are seeking to integrate NFTs and blockchain technology with multi-sensory, immersive experiences.They have explored the Mataverse concept in their project Floating World (2022-) and the installation The Passage of Ra (2023). 
==Floating World Project==
===Floating World (2022-)===
Floating World Genesis is A.A. Murakami’s inaugural Web3 project.
Launched the generative art platform Artblocks in 2022, A.A. Murakami released a series of 250 unique NFTs of animated scenes produced through generative code. The scenes depict the origins of life as bubbles: a recurring motif for A.A. Murakami that also features in their seminal work, New Spring (2017).
The Floating World Mataverse map outlines the real world experiences —  ‘portals’ to the Mataverse —  that A.A.Murakami have developed on chain.These portals will bring together their expertise in immersive, sensory installations and the new possibilities that blockchain technology offers.
There are currently eight different installations due to be released from the Floating World Mataverse with the first installation introducing their ‘On-Chain / Off Screen’ approach to NFTS unveiled at NFT Paris 2023 in the form of a hybrid NFT and immersive installation entitled The Passage of Ra.
==Installations==
===Bubbles===
======New Spring (2017)======
"New Spring" is an immersive art installation created by Studio Swine supported by COS. The installation consists of a six metre high tree of aluminium that releases mist-filled bubbles that break upon human contact but can be held by visitors with special gloves. Visitors are invited to interact with the bubbles, triggering the release of scent and mist, while experiencing a unique sensory journey.
Shown at Milan design week in 2017, Studio Swine have said the work is inspired by the ephemerality of cherry blossom and re-examines how we can interact with technology through our senses. 
======Silent Fall (2021)======
Silent Fall is an installation that consists of a 6 metre high forest-like sculpture made of aluminium that releases mist-filled bubbles that break upon human contact but can be held by visitors with special gloves. First shown at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2021. It is an evolution on their previous work New Spring (2017).
===Fog===
====Between the Clouds (2021)====
Shown at Museum Kunstpalast in Dusseldorf, A.A. Murakami erected a machine generating fog patches and fragrant rings of fog. Their work references the earth's earliest life-forms, nourished by sulphur springs in the deep seas, and it allows nature and technology to merge into a new, artificially produced entity. The machine creates an atmosphere of more than four trillion years ago in an aesthetic interplay of colour and light. Through the fog, fragrances of fruit, plants, wood and grass emerge. Led by one of our most elementary and emotionally connected sensory perceptions, visitors were invited to stroll through an artificial Garden of Eden. 
====Passage====
A structure that emits rings of steam, installed in the Tube of the LG Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea. Doughnut-shaped fog rings are fired from 8 cannons, offering visitors a special experience.
====Passage of Ra (2023)====
An installation at NFT Paris 2023, The Passage of Ra is a NFT installation by A.A. Murakami that juxtaposes the ephemeral nature of a fleeting moment with the immutable permanence of the blockchain. Proprietary technology developed by A.A.Murakami simultaneously fires physical fog rings and their digital twins toward a digital generative seascape displayed on screens. As the physical rings hit the screens, they dissolved, and their digital twins appeared - rippling the surface of the water in the generative scene before sailing off into the infinite horizon. Much like a camera uses light through a lens to capture a decisive moment, generative code captured the physical phenomenon of the swirling vortex of fog rings.
====Metabolic Metropolis (2023)====
Metabolic Metropolis is a NFT series of 100 generative artworks released as part of Bright Moments’ “Japanese Contemporary Collection.” Collectors were invited to mint these NFTs as part of an immersive in-person showcase presented by Bright Moments in Tokyo from May 5 to May 1, 2023. 
===Plasma===
====Dawn Particles (2022)====
Part of their ephemeral tech series, Dawn Particles explores how technology can manifest in our physical world in multi-sensory installations through materials and states of matter. "The plasma is responsive to your touch and presence, touching the blown glass shapes you can feel it searching a path through the salty sea of your body.'' - A.A. Murakami 'Dawn Particles' was shown at the group exhibition 'Space Symphony' at Paradise Art Space in Seoul, Korea. 
Category:Artists
Category:Musical groups established in 2020