"PASSFINDER" Akiko Yamamori April 2016th - April 4nd, 18

The exhibition "PASSFINDER" will be held.
Venue: Art Gallery T+
Date: April 2016th - April 4nd, 18
Exhibitor: Akiko Yamamori (2nd year arts student)
　　　　Ruriko Iida (2nd year, Art)
　　　　Ayami Suzuki (2nd year, Knowledge and Information Library)　
　　　　Ippei Suzuki (1st year, Information Media Creation)　

This media art exhibit offers the experience of riding a "time-traveling bicycle" and traveling from the beginning to the end of the world, sometimes going back in time and observing it.

T+review

Unlike usual, the gallery seen from the outside was covered with a black curtain, making it impossible to see what was going on inside. As I put my hand on the sliding door, I noticed a piece of paper with a worn finish stuck to the door.

-How to use the PASSFINDER
This is a tool for traveling.
Anyone who wishes has equal rights to use it.
If you want to explore, hop on it and pedal away.
Is it space that you travel through? Or time? Or...

When you open the door and enter the gallery, you will find a bicycle standing there in the darkness. It shines dully under the orange spotlight, and it looks lonely as if it has been left behind by someone. Bicycles are very familiar vehicles to us. However, this bicycle is not like that. The body of the bicycle is equipped with old mechanical parts such as chains, compasses, tanks, and tubes, and the elements of steampunk can be seen. Steampunk is a type of science fiction genre, and many works are set in Victorian England or the American Wild West. These works have a sense of bottomless expectations for the future due to the technological innovations of the Industrial Revolution, and although they are fiction, they are realistic, and although they are retro, they also have a sense of newness. This bicycle is based on a typical city bicycle, but there is a mysterious charm to it that makes you feel a sense of expectation.
　
"If you want to explore, climb on it and paddle."
To straddle this bicycle and pedal, or not? The decision is left to the viewer. I was prompted and started pedaling. Suddenly, a roar echoed through the gallery. A gurgling sound like air escaping underwater. A splash like rain. A splash like waves crashing against the rocks. A whoosh like seabirds chirping. In this dark space, isolated from the outside world, I was riding this bicycle through pouring rain, on the ocean floor, and along the shore.
　If you think about it, the sea is the beginning of everything. Primitive life was born from the sea, came onto land, and gave birth to civilization. Later, it made great progress by crossing the sea. Pedalling this bike is the creation of the world. At this very moment, I have become a god and am creating the world.

When I stopped pedaling, the sound that had been ringing out also stopped. A sudden silence came over me. In the silence, the only sound that echoed in vain was the rattling of the bicycle tires. (Oyabu Saki)