Humanized Clock
Humanized Clock(2023)
Visitors are greeted by Humanized Clock, a roughly three-meter clock-shaped installation. For visitors, it is like they are in a waiting room, staring at a clock and waiting for the performance to begin. But they then hear music and narration, and the hands of the clock suddenly start to dance. The song is by Kenmochi Hidefumi, a sound producer and trackmaker. The song, “Midnight Television,” was actually the original inspiration for the work. When he heard the song, Fujimoto Minoru felt how impossible it would be to dance to music that plays at such a high speed and rhythm. When he analyzed the song, he realized the sounds were playing at 160 beats per minute or every 0.094 seconds. It led him to wonder that if we could watch a robot dancing at the speed of 10 movements per second, would we be able to discover new kinds of human movement? Fujimoto conceived this work in order to visualize movements that the human body might be able to do. With the direction, positions, and speeds of the second and minute hands as well as the pauses set to an ultra-high definition of four motions per beat, he choreographed the clock with humanlike movements. The massive clock hands both astonish the viewer and at times entertain vi a comic dance that resembles human steps and arm movements. And now the performance is about to begin.
MPLUSPLUS “Embodiment++” Dates: September 16-November 19, 2023 Organizers: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT] (Arts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)
https://ccbt.rekibun.or.jp/events/mplusplus-embodiment
Cooperator in robot mechanism development is MUSCLE Corporation.
Concept & Art Direction : Minoru Fujimoto(MPLUSPLUS)
Robotic Development : MUSCLE CORPORATION
Software Design : Ono Keisuke(MPLUSPLUS)
Mechanical Engineer : Takeuchi Yukako(MPLUSPLUS)
Sound Design : Kenmochi Hidefumi
Narration : Edward Sweeney
Robot Motion Programming : Minoru Fujimoto(MPLUSPLUS)
Product Design : Miake Nobu
Photo: Kabe Sohei
Photo courtesy Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT]
