Forest and Trees, by Keita Onishi, manages the neat trick of being both mentally stimulating and strangely relaxing. The collection of 12 digital photo frames each shows an active geometric graphic that corresponds with its own gentle tune; taken together, they coordinate to create a soothing electronic symphony that engages the eye as much as the ear, where half the fun is letting your focus gently flit from frame to frame.
Onishi combined his own expertise first with the skills of Flash and C4D for the animation, then Apple Logic’s synthesizer and sampler for the music. “I had to go back and forth between both to match the movements,” he tells Co.Design. The installation was initially presented at last year’s Spiral Independent Creators Festival (SICF12), but Onishi will adapt it for an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, rearranging the contents of the videos as well as taking the frames from the wall to a series of 12 thin stands throughout the space. This versatility gives the work a new identity every time it’s displayed, and the experience is meant to be immersive. “I’d like people to feel and go back and forth between Forest–this combination of the music, animations, and space, and the work as a whole–and Trees–the individual sound and animation,” says Onishi.
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