Yoichi Ochiai

Venue: Omuro Sengen Shrine

Curator’s Text: Title :《The Silk in Motion》

Yoichi OCHIAI is a media artist who wields cutting-edge technology as his paintbrush to bring his unique perspective on reality to life.
Here, he has created a video work that explores the connection between looms and computers and the mechanical principles they share. It centers on a sacred horse depicting the legend of princess Konohanasakuya-hime from Omuro Sengen Shrine, where the work will be exhibited. The horse was rendered with computer software using hi-res scans of kai silk, which were then woven together with images of the legendary flame and shown on a large LED screen installed at Omuro Sengen Shrine. His horse moves in dynamic ways, but the images also reveal the architectural structure of the silk, the details of its fibers, and its alluring and myriad colors. The video works on multiple levels, encompassing the rise of the textile industry in Fujiyoshida and the mythology of the region, as well as leveraging modern technology and visions for the future.
As he continues to explore media, from the latest technologies to time-tested media such as platinum prints and wood carvings that can last for hundreds of years, Ochiai’s creative practice is constantly evolving based on the motif of materialization, transformation, and the longing for mass in the boundary domain.

provision of equipment and technical cooperation by SEIBIDOU
Cooperation：Emohaus inc. , Industrial research of Fujiyoshida

Artist Profile: Yoichi Ochiai
Media artist, born 1987, began working as an artist around 2010. His work is based on the motifs of materialization, transformation and the longing for mass in the boundary realms. Associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba, Visiting Professor at Kyoto City University of Arts, Visiting Professor at Osaka University of Arts, Specially Appointed Professor at Digital Hollywood University, Visiting Professor at Kanazawa College of Art, etc. He has served as a Cultural Envoy of the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2020 and 2021 and as a producer of the theme project for the 2025 Japan EXPO in Osaka and Kansai. His works include the photography collection Longing for Mass (amana, 2019) and the NFT work Re-Digitalization of Waves (foundation, 2021). 2016 Prix Ars Electronica Honor Award, STARTS Prize from the EU, 2019 SXSW Winner of the creative Experience ARROW Awards, Apollo Magazine 40 UNDER 40 ART and TECH, Asia Digital Art Award for Excellence, and many works recommended by the Jury Committee of the Japan Media Arts Festival Art Division.
Major solo exhibitions include Image and Matter (Malaysia, 2016), Longing for Mass (Tokyo, 2019), Ruminating with Emotion (Leica Professional Store Ginza, 2019), Reminiscence of the Unknown (Shibuya Marui MODI, Tokyo, 2020), - Transformation of Material Things- (Hong Kong Arts Center, 2021), Ubiquitous existence of Bodies, Interwoven Time and Space, (Kusakabe Folk Museum, Gifu, 2022), etc. Permanent exhibitions include Naturally Digital and Digitally Natural (Miraikan, Tokyo, 2019) ; other exhibitions include SIGGRAPH Art Gallery, Ars Electronica Festival, Media Ambition Tokyo, AI More Than Human ( Barbican Centre, UK, 2019), Osana Gokoro wo Kimi ni (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan, 2020), ART for SDGs: Kitakyushu Art Festival Imagining Our Future (KITAKYUSHU MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY & HUMAN HISTORY
, Japan, 2021), Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival (Osaka, Japan, 2022) and many others. Executive director of New JapanIslands 2019 and 2020, director of the Yoichi Ochiai x Japan Philharmonic Project and SEKAI NO OWARI at TIMM@ZeppDiverCity Tokyo, and collaborator in a variety of other fields.