Yoichi Ochiai

Yoichi Ochiai (落合 陽一) is a Japanese academic and media artist. He has a doctorate from the University of Tokyo. He is also an associate professor at the University of Tsukuba Library, as well as an Information and Media Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Digital Nature Development and Research. Specially-appointed professor at Digital Hollywood University, visiting professor at Osaka University of Arts and Kyoto City University of Arts, Visiting Professor at Kanazawa College of Art.

As a media artist
He has been working as a media artist since around 2010. As a media artist, he has several solo and group exhibitions per year, as well as an international communication of Japanese culture.

Ochiai's activities range from research to social implementation and are not limited to the expression of electronic technology. Ochiai states, "The vernacular, popular art and production process for local consumption, using something from the 'natural' environment to create a work of art, has not changed since ancient times, whether it is Japanese or Western painting" and considers media art as "Vernacular Art of Digital Nature".

As a researcher
Engaged in research with a vision of digital nature, he has been running his own 'Digital Nature Laboratory' at the University of Tsukuba since 2015, and has also been the director of the "Digital Nature Development Research Centre" since 2020. He specialises in media arts as well as 'human computer interaction' and applied fields using 'intelligent technology' and 'audio-visual technology'. application areas.

His publications in the laboratory are in the fields of human-computer interaction, virtual reality, aerial displays and spatial graphics, in the field of research on collaboration and co-creation between artificial intelligence and human intelligence, and in the fields of accessibility and diversity. As a researcher, he has received the World Technology Award and the Laval Virtual Award from Laval Virtual, Europe's largest VR festival, five times in four consecutive years.

xDiversity
JST CREST "Social Implementation of Spatial Viewing and Tactile Technology Based on Super AI Infrastructure for a Computational Diversity-enabled Society" xDiversity (cross-diversity) research representative, and as a general incorporated association xDiversity, working on projects to realise a diverse society that embraces the differences in human physical abilities. Projects such as automated wheelchairs, diversity-enabled entertainment (Concerts without Hearing by Ear) and walking with prosthetic legs (Otome Prosthetic Legs Project) and other projects aiming to adapt machine learning techniques to various bodily diversities.

Pixie Dust Technologies
Digital transformation of space and social implementation of university-originated technology company Pixie Dust Technologies was founded for the purpose of "commercialization of innovative products and meta-materials utilizing its proprietary HAGEN wave-control technology." Through research and development of human interface technology and computer simulation technology, the company has developed tactile speaker technology and metamaterial technology, digital transformation of construction sites and social implementation of technology, including BCP solutions for corona protection. Shares in the company are traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York.

Solo exhibitions

 * Image and Matter (Dec. 2016 – Jan. 2017 / Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
 * Imago et Materia (Mar. – Apr. 2017 / Roppongi, Tokyo)
 * Japanese Technium Exhibition (Apr. – May. 2017 / Kioicho, Tokyo)
 * Yoichi Ochiai: Beauty of Natural Resolution End to End Transformation of Material Things Digital Nature (Apr. – Jun. 2018 / Omotesando, Tokyo)
 * Sehnsucht nach Masse 2019 (Jan. 24 – Feb. 6, 2019 / Higashi-Shinagawa, Tokyo)
 * Ruminating with the Spirituality 2019 (Sep. 5 – Oct. 12, 2019 / Tokyo, Ginza Leica Store)
 * Rinkou Suru Reisei (Oct. 5 – Oct. 27, 2019 / Tokyo, The Shop Yohji Yamamoto)
 * Reminiscence of the Unknown, Image and Matter || Digitally Natural, Naturally Digital || Sehnsucht nach Masse (Jul. 23 (Thu) – Aug. 31 (Sun), 2020 / Shibuya Modi, Tokyo)
 * Bukka: Transformation of Material Things (Feb. 5 – Feb. 28, 2021 / Experimental Gallery, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong)
 * Perspective of umwet Time and Space, Digital Nature and Arts (Apr. 28 – May. 30, 2021 / Kitakyushu Museum of Life and Travel)
 * The transformation of material things into a living forest -Digital Nature- Exhibition in Daigoji Temple (Nov. 21 – Dec. 5, 2021 / Kyoto, Daigoji Temple)
 * Special project for the 55th anniversary of the Kusakabe Mingeikan Kick-off event for Yoichi Ochiai's exhibition 'Media and Mingei – Nodal point seen in the post-corona'. (Dec. 13 – Dec. 26, 2021 / Gifu, Kusakabe Folk Museum)
 * Re-Digitalisation of Waves (Jan. 28 – Feb. 13, 2022 / Osaka, Osaka Kansai International Art Festival)
 * Yoichi Ochiai Ubiquitous Existence of Bodies, Interwoven Time and Space – Returning to the Ring, Carbon, Digital, Ideological and Narrative Forms – (Apr.9 – May.22,2022 / Gifu, Kusakabe Mingeikan)
 * Nakedness and Materiality (Apr.16 – May.1, 2022 / Tokyo, Kitamura Photography Studio])
 * "Null soku ze shiki shiki soku ze nuru" (Sep.28 – Oct.11, 2022 / Hankyu Men's Building, Tokyo).
 * Yoichi Ochiai "Hare Tokidoki Leica ── Gyakugyaku-takari-koudou" (Sep.1 – Oct.29, 2023 /Tokyo, Leica Gallery Tokyo)
 * Yoichi Ochiai "Hare Tokidoki Leica ── Shituryou-heno-syoukei, Ramen-wa-kazenoyouni" (Sep.2 – Oct.29, 2023 / Kyoto, Leica Gallery Kyoto)
 * Phantom Resonance: Nocturnal Assembly of Ethereal Beings and Digital Nature（Sep.3 – Oct.15, 2023 / Kyoto, Daigoji Temple）
 * Digital Nature, Existence from null to null: Encoded Eternity, Object-Oriented Primal Vow (Sep.17 – Nov.5, 2023 / Gifu, Kusakabe Folk Museum])
 * From null, all phenomena randomly emerge: As vessels bridge waters, so null becomes form, as light dispels darkness, so reveals digital nature. (Nov.29 – Oct.15, 2023 – Jan. 14, 2024 / Tokyo, Light Seed Gallery)
 * null-an: noise as silence ∽ silence as noise (Jan.13 – Mar.17, 2024 / Tokyo, Azabudai Hills, Gallery & Restaurant Butaiura)
 * Yoichi Ochiai “Phantom Resonance of nulled cherry blossoms” (feb.27 – Mar.24, 2024 / Tokyo, Shibuya Sakura Stage)

Group exhibitions

 * SIGGRAPH Art Gallery 2014 (July, 2014 / Canada, Vancouver)
 * Ars Electronica Festival 2015 (September, 2015 / Austria, Linz)
 * ~ 2016 (September, 2016 / Austria, Linz)
 * ~ 2017 (September, 2017 / Austria, Linz)
 * ~ 2018 (September, 2018 / Austria, Linz)
 * ~ 2019 (September, 2019 / Austria, Linz)
 * ~ 2020 (September, 2020 / online)
 * ~ 2021 (September, 2021 / Austria, Linz)
 * KENPOKU ART 2016 (Sep.17－Nov.20, 2016 / Japan, Ibaraki)
 * Media Ambition Tokyo 2017 (Feb.11 – Mar.12, 2017 / Tokyo)
 * ~ 2018 (Feb.9 – Feb.25, 2018 / Tokyo)
 * ~ 2019 (Feb.23 – Mar.3, 2019 / Tokyo)
 * ~ 2020 (Feb.28 – Mar.8, 2020 / Tokyo)
 * ~ 2021 (Apr.27 – May 23, 2021 / Tokyo)
 * AI More Than Human (May 2019 / London, Barbican Centre)
 * Cherish, your imagination (Jul.18－ Sep.27, 2020 / Japan, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
 * The Material -Its Form and Spirit (November, 2020 / gallery de kasuga)
 * Fluctuation -be with light- (May 14 – Jun.22, 2022 / kōjin kyoto)
 * Sunbeam of null in forest（Sunbeam of null in forest）(Jun.9 – Jul.8, 2022 / Tokyo, Otemachi)
 * Yoichi Ochiai x Shinichi Wakasa, Guwa Guwa Null Null: Circumscribing the Invisible Borderline From the Forest (Sep.1 – Sep.25, 2022 / Tokyo・Commons Tokyo)
 * Fuji Textile Week 2022（Nov.23 – Dec.11, 2022 / Japan, Fujiyoshida-City）
 * Study:Osaka Kansai International Art Festival 2023 (Jan.28 – Feb.13, 2023 / Osaka)
 * elective affinities Part I (Jan.28 – Mar.5, 2023 / Tokyo, agnès b. b.Gallery Boutique)
 * Utsutsu – A Liminalism Of Japanese Contemporary Art (Feb.24 – Apr.30, 2023 / Boston, Pellas Gallery)
 * Harmonics of the Unseen: Phantom Resonance in Higashi-Osaka (Nov.3 – 4, 2023 / Osaka)
 * Akihabara UDX winter illumination 2023 Reflector∞:Resonance of Electrical Echoes (Nov.15, – Dec.25, 2023 / Tokyo・AkihabaraUDX)
 * Craft x Tech Tohoku Project 2024 (with Oitama-Tsumugi) (May 24–25, 2024 / Kudan House, Tokyo)
 * Craft x Tech DESIGN MIAMI.BASEL 2024 (Jun. 10–16, 2024 / Basel, Switzerland)

Performance Art

 * Human Code Ensemble (Nov.3 – 4, 2022 / Kanagawa, Kanagawa Prefectural Music Hall)
 * Yoichi Ochiai and Tsuji. Sculpting the Life with Sound and Light – Sculpture for the Digital Nature and Life – (Nov.5, 2022 / Osaka, Hanazono Rugby Stadium)
 * TAKUHIMATSURI (Nov.18, 2022 / Nigata, Sado)
 * Piano Fes Yoichi Ochiai × Kae Ogawa Keisanki to Kogakki de Kanaderu Ongakkai ~Mirai eno Tuioku~ (May 21, 2023 / Gifu, Salamanca Hall)
 * Digital，Kogakki, Sen no Rikyū. ~Keisanki to Kogakki de Kanaderu Atarashii Ongakkai~ (Mar.30, 2024 / Osaka, Fenice sacay)

Paper

 * Google Scholar Yoichi Ochiai

Single author
From the 'Century of Film' to the 'Century of Magic'. It is more than 70 years since the invention of the computer, prompted by the Second World War. The 'Century of Film', in which people are connected by sharing the reality on the screen, has come to an end, and the 'Century of Magic', in which media integrated into the environment are ubiquitous, has arrived. Yoichi Ochiai, a 28-year-old researcher and media artist who has attracted international attention, brings to light the essence of the decisive changes taking place in the world today, from the perspective of both technology and art. What is the shape of the 'coming future' brought about by computers that have begun to interfere with things outside the screen? ......? A sufficiently advanced computational group is indistinguishable from nature--. Digital Nature, that is the vision and manifesto of the future proposed by Yoichi Ochiai. Postmodernity and Singularity are only one element of this 'new nature'. Human beings and society are undeniably being renewed. It will bring about a redefinition of happiness, of the economy and of democratic politics. The new paradigm starts here: ......! 'We can create a world without 'gates' and 'seams', replace standardisation with diversity, and transcend the obsessions of human nature, such as individual happiness and insecurity, through technology. All we need is a vision and a passion for the future towards which technology is heading." (From the Afterword)
 * MAHONOSEIKI (PLANETS, 2018)
 * digital nature: seitaikei wo nasu hanshinkasita keisanki ni yoru wabi to sabi (PLANETS, 2018)