[Critique by work category] Interactive arts

In general, interactive art means "an art form that gives rise to interactions between the audience and the work via input devices such as sensors." The latest popular trend is a combination of a video projector and a computer. While a projector can easily produce a "space," a computer excels at linking a sensor with images. As there are so many works that adopt this procedure too easily, some really sensitive artists are already getting fed up with this simplistic scheme of "media arts = projection arts." Despite such a trend, we received many high-quality works with true originality in terms of both content and techniques. The work by Ryota Kuwakubo that won the Grand Prize conveyed the most novel possibility. His work is not application art that simply combines existing technologies, but is based on his high-level technological skills that allowed him to assemble machines that were all handmade from scratch. While it takes the form of a toy or a game, it contains, different from functionalistic commercial products, a somewhat nostalgic artistry with irony as well as uniqueness. Arts that also fit well in the living space of daily life are media in themselves. This type of art, common to the grand prize works of last year, is a new current in the technological art of today's world. Media arts, which are not stately arts that challenge social taboos but are entertaining arts full of light and enjoyable touches, may be a forte of "Made in Japan."