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# Japanese "Device Art" exhibition captures playful interactions with hardware
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/japanese-device-art-exhibition-captures-playful-interactions-hardware/
- Published: 2014-08-14T11:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-07-26T10:35:57.000Z
- Description: If you had a chance to check MoMA’s last design exhibition Talk to Me, you might have noticed several devices such as Sputniko!’s Menstruation Machine which mimics the pain of, well, menstruation. Or Kate Hartman’s Talk to Yourself Hat which transmits sounds from one’s mouth directly into one’s ears
- Author: Jamin Warren
- Tags: News, Ars Electronica, Device Art, Japan, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

If you had a chance to check MoMA’s last design exhibition *Talk to Me*, you might have noticed several devices such as Sputniko!’s [Menstruation Machine](http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/objects/142590/?ref=killscreen.com) which mimics the pain of, well, menstruation. Or Kate Hartman’s [Talk to Yourself Hat](http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/objects/146356/?ref=killscreen.com) which transmits sounds from one’s mouth directly into one’s ears via a conspicuous, trunk-like tube. Technology can be gloriously strange.

[The new “Device Art” exhibition](http://www.aec.at/center/en/2014/06/23/opening-device-art/?ref=killscreen.com) that kicks off at the [Ars Electronica Center](http://www.aec.at/?ref=killscreen.com) in Linz, Austria, captures playfully creative design, but from their encounter with ancient Japanese traditions. The Device Art movement emerged ten years ago. Hiroo Iwata, a professor at [Tsukuba University](http://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/?ref=killscreen.com) in Japan, and one of those who was present at the birth of Device Art, [explains its origins](http://www.aec.at/aeblog/en/2014/08/12/device-art/?ref=killscreen.com):

> Device Art evolved from a background of manufacturing traditions and a Japanese aesthetic. In traditional Japanese culture there are crafts in which technology and art meld in an indistinct combination, and it is possible to view Device Art as a new art form for the digital age. Unlike Western art, which is generally viewed in galleries and museums, in Japan artworks have been something to be enjoyed as a part of everyday life. A typical example of this is a [tea ceremony](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese%5Ftea%5Fceremony?ref=killscreen.com) room, which abounds with works of art—tea utensils, flower vases, etc.

Some of the pieces that are showing are utterly surreal such as [Touchy](http://touchtouchy.com/concept/?ref=killscreen.com) (above), a wearable device that literally transforms a human being into a functioning camera, and [Mr. Knocky](http://item.rakuten.co.jp/keitaistrap/355-121319/?ref=killscreen.com) (below) which can play drums without the aid of electricity. There’s also [Food Simulator](http://intron.kz.tsukuba.ac.jp/HI/food.html?ref=killscreen.com) (below) which generates force according to the captured force of real food. No doubt there are a wealth of videogame controllers that would fit in with the exhibition. [Donkey Kong Bongos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DK%5FBongos?ref=killscreen.com), I’m looking at you.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/device_art_touchy.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/14827515976_94e98187aa_k_big.jpg)