- A.A.Murakami's "The Moon Underwater" at the Mori Art Museum is a technically ambitious art installation using fleeting states of matter like bubbles, fog, and plasma. It creates a nocturnal garden inspired by the Japanese tradition of appreciating the moon's reflection in water.
- The project heavily relies on AI, referred to as "Claude," which acts as an autonomous technician and scientific expert. Claude manages system entropy and provides deep insights into the physics and chemistry behind the natural phenomena used.
- Ultimately, the artwork explores themes of impermanence and the integration of technology with nature. It aims to evoke a sense of presence while experiencing its transient beauty.
A.A.Murakami's The Moon Underwater
- A.A.Murakami's "The Moon Underwater" is a new art installation at the Mori Art Museum in central Tokyo.
- The installation's "interfaces" are natural phenomena like bubbles, fog rings, and plasma, rather than traditional screens or projections.
- It is inspired by the Japanese tradition of moon-viewing, where the moon is most beautiful when seen reflected in water, manifesting as a "nocturnal garden."
- The project demands autonomous systems because entropy introduces unpredictability, requiring constant management of the delicate elements.
- An AI named "Claude" functions as an autonomous "technician" to silently maintain the installation's harmony and operational consistency.
- Claude also serves as an expert, offering deep understanding of the physics and chemistry behind phenomena (e.g., why bubbles bounce on water), which enables deeper artistic exploration.
- The artwork emphasizes impermanence and the concept of technology returning to the realm of nature, encouraging a heightened sense of presence.
installation — An art piece or exhibit set up in a specific space, often large-scale and immersive.
fleeting states of matter — Forms of matter (like certain gases, liquids, or plasma) that are temporary, ephemeral, or rapidly changing.
technology interfaces — The points of interaction between a user and a technological system, such as screens, projections, or physical controls.
nocturnal garden — An environment, often artistic or landscaped, designed to be experienced or appreciated primarily at night.
autonomously — Operating independently without constant human intervention or control.
entropy — A measure of disorder or randomness in a system; in this context, the natural tendency for systems to degrade or become unpredictable over time.
plasma — One of the four fundamental states of matter, consisting of an ionized gas where electrons are stripped from atoms.
impermanence — The state or fact of lasting for only a limited period of time; transience.
physics — The natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force.
chemistry — The branch of science concerned with the substances of which matter is composed, the investigation of their properties and reactions, and the use of such reactions to form new substances.
We are A.A.Murakami and we are launching a new installation called The Moon Underwater at the Mori Art Museum in central Tokyo. The Moon Underwater is the most technically ambitious project we've attempted to date. We work with fleeting states of matter, so where you meet the work isn't through technology interfaces, like screens or projections, but in fact it's through bubbles and fog rings and plasma. For this piece we were inspired by the Japanese tradition of moon-viewing, which is the appreciation of the moon and how it is considered to be the most beautiful when it's seen in reflection in water. So we wanted to create this kind of nocturnal garden to capture this feeling. What people don't see is actually behind the surface. We need the systems to operate autonomously, but entropy still creeps in. Systems will run smoothly until they encounter the unpredictable. And so we're able to really work with Claude to become the technician that we leave behind. We see it like a garden and you're not really aware of the gardener that's silently keeping this whole harmony working. When you start talking to Claude, you see the world in a completely different way. Claude's read every science paper that is about bubbles, or it seems that way, and so we can talk to Claude about why are the bubbles bouncing on water, why aren't they just joining the water? And once we understand the physics and the chemistry behind that, we're able to go much further with the work and much deeper, because it's like having an expert there on hand in the studio. So it very much feels like a team member in that sense. In the end, The Moon Underwater is about impermanence, a reminder that nothing lasts forever. This is technology returning to the realm of nature. Alive, fleeting, and full of mystery. An art of disappearing that makes us feel more present while it lasts.
TL;DR
- A.A.Murakami's "The Moon Underwater" at the Mori Art Museum is a technically ambitious art installation using fleeting states of matter like bubbles, fog, and plasma. It creates a nocturnal garden inspired by the Japanese tradition of appreciating the moon's reflection in water.
- The project heavily relies on AI, referred to as "Claude," which acts as an autonomous technician and scientific expert. Claude manages system entropy and provides deep insights into the physics and chemistry behind the natural phenomena used.
- Ultimately, the artwork explores themes of impermanence and the integration of technology with nature. It aims to evoke a sense of presence while experiencing its transient beauty.
Takeaways
- A.A.Murakami's "The Moon Underwater" is a new art installation at the Mori Art Museum in central Tokyo.
- The installation's "interfaces" are natural phenomena like bubbles, fog rings, and plasma, rather than traditional screens or projections.
- It is inspired by the Japanese tradition of moon-viewing, where the moon is most beautiful when seen reflected in water, manifesting as a "nocturnal garden."
- The project demands autonomous systems because entropy introduces unpredictability, requiring constant management of the delicate elements.
- An AI named "Claude" functions as an autonomous "technician" to silently maintain the installation's harmony and operational consistency.
- Claude also serves as an expert, offering deep understanding of the physics and chemistry behind phenomena (e.g., why bubbles bounce on water), which enables deeper artistic exploration.
- The artwork emphasizes impermanence and the concept of technology returning to the realm of nature, encouraging a heightened sense of presence.
Vocabulary
installation — An art piece or exhibit set up in a specific space, often large-scale and immersive.
fleeting states of matter — Forms of matter (like certain gases, liquids, or plasma) that are temporary, ephemeral, or rapidly changing.
technology interfaces — The points of interaction between a user and a technological system, such as screens, projections, or physical controls.
nocturnal garden — An environment, often artistic or landscaped, designed to be experienced or appreciated primarily at night.
autonomously — Operating independently without constant human intervention or control.
entropy — A measure of disorder or randomness in a system; in this context, the natural tendency for systems to degrade or become unpredictable over time.
plasma — One of the four fundamental states of matter, consisting of an ionized gas where electrons are stripped from atoms.
impermanence — The state or fact of lasting for only a limited period of time; transience.
physics — The natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force.
chemistry — The branch of science concerned with the substances of which matter is composed, the investigation of their properties and reactions, and the use of such reactions to form new substances.
Transcript
We are A.A.Murakami and we are launching a new installation called The Moon Underwater at the Mori Art Museum in central Tokyo. The Moon Underwater is the most technically ambitious project we've attempted to date. We work with fleeting states of matter, so where you meet the work isn't through technology interfaces, like screens or projections, but in fact it's through bubbles and fog rings and plasma. For this piece we were inspired by the Japanese tradition of moon-viewing, which is the appreciation of the moon and how it is considered to be the most beautiful when it's seen in reflection in water. So we wanted to create this kind of nocturnal garden to capture this feeling. What people don't see is actually behind the surface. We need the systems to operate autonomously, but entropy still creeps in. Systems will run smoothly until they encounter the unpredictable. And so we're able to really work with Claude to become the technician that we leave behind. We see it like a garden and you're not really aware of the gardener that's silently keeping this whole harmony working. When you start talking to Claude, you see the world in a completely different way. Claude's read every science paper that is about bubbles, or it seems that way, and so we can talk to Claude about why are the bubbles bouncing on water, why aren't they just joining the water? And once we understand the physics and the chemistry behind that, we're able to go much further with the work and much deeper, because it's like having an expert there on hand in the studio. So it very much feels like a team member in that sense. In the end, The Moon Underwater is about impermanence, a reminder that nothing lasts forever. This is technology returning to the realm of nature. Alive, fleeting, and full of mystery. An art of disappearing that makes us feel more present while it lasts.