At the end of September, the 9th edition of Ibrida – International Festival of Intermedia Arts ended at Fabbrica delle Candele in Forlì. This flagship event dedicated to experimental audiovisuals owes its international reputation, in addition to being at the center of a dense network of similar events throughout Europe, to the annual call that solicits, through a special section, the participation of artists from all over the world. From the hundreds of proposals received from more or less well-known video artists, the committee selected sixty-five videos, all participating in the competition, which were projected in a loop on large screens during the festival. The jury, composed of Kika Nicolela, Hernando Urrutia and Veronica D’Auria, decreed the winning works of the International Forlì Ibrida Festival Prize and the Prize for Italian Video Art, which will be acquired by the prestigious international collection of the Brazilian patron Alfredo Hertzog. The Prize for Italian Video Art went to “Binary Blues” by Francesca Fini, simultaneously the protagonist of the exhibition “BODY (S)CUL(P)TURE” in the spaces of the Dino Zoli Foundation in Forlì, open until 13 October 2024.
Yoshihisa Kitamura, Ibrida Festival 2024 awards ceremony, photo George Matei, courtesy Ibrida Festival
The international awarded went to “Metamorphose” (2024) by Japanese Yoshihisa Kitamura for «having turned a simple yet highly metaphorical event into an audiovisual inspiring spectacle. The aquatic element, in its transformation, becomes emblematic of natural metamorphosis and draws attention to the processes and changes that are fundamental to life. The captivating phenomenon is enriched by the colors of lights that permeate the matter, and by the creative use of sound, with technical and aesthetic precision». The video, lasting 2 minutes and 45 seconds, was created as a graduation project at the Seian University of Art and Design in Ōtsu (Japan) and shows the slow melting of some ice blocks in a soft purple light that makes the surprising transformation of matter from solid to liquid even more suggestive. The artist’s close-up gaze brings together macro and micro universes in an engaging mental landscape, in which the reliability of scientific experience seamlessly passes into a hypothesis of bio-existentialist meditative practice. Intrigued by this original commission and by the very young talent that is already so multifaceted, we decided to ask Yoshihisa Kitamura a few questions.
Yoshihisa Kitamura, “Metamorphose”, video, 2 min. 45 sec., still frame, courtesy of the artist
Emanuela Zanon: How did the idea for “Metamorphose” come about and how did it develop during the creation process?
Yoshihisa Kitamura: I entered the Seian University of Art and Design, Media Design Department, Film and Video Course in Shiga Prefecture in 2020, where I studied film making in 2020. In 2022, during a four-month-long documentary filmmaking assignment in my third year, I had chosen the melting process of ice as the subject of observation in order to learn the importance of observation as a basis for expression. When I looked through a close-up lens at the ice I was used to seeing every day, I discovered changes I had never known before. However, the finished work was a record of an experiment, and I was unable to express that I could share my impressions with others. In my fourth year of university, when planning my graduation project, I decided to make an improved version of my third-year ice work. In order to make it an expression rather than a record, I filmed the changes in the ice from different camera positions. I also improved the lighting to clearly show the texture and volume of the ice. I spent nine months shooting these steps by trial and error. At the end I selected 34 high quality shots from the approximately 200 I shot during this period.
Yoshihisa Kitamura, “Metamorphose”, video, 2 min. 45 sec., still frame, courtesy of the artist
Was the delicate balance between scientific documentation and poetic connotation that makes this video so special planned or was it an unexpected result?
I didn’t plan it. However, in this work I tried to express the beauty of melting ice that we don’t usually notice by observing the transformations of ice. I think the poetic impression of this work came from the concept of the work.
Yoshihisa Kitamura, “Metamorphose”, video, 2 min. 45 sec., still frame, courtesy of the artist
What technology was used to create the images and sounds?
By using video through a close-up lens, I discovered air bubbles and refraction of light like lens phenomena that are usually unnoticed during the melting process of the ice. By using editing software to play back these slow phenomena at 20 times the speed, I made impressive videos that move as quickly like living creatures. Furthermore, I was able to discover smaller phenomena because the editing software could digitally zoom in on material shot at high resolution in 4K. I could discover an unknown world through the eyes of a machine via digital technology. If it had not been for this technology, I would not have discovered it. I projected the light from below the ice, which was placed in a transparent case in order to capture the ice in transmitted light.Transmitted light can emphasise the texture of the ice. I also used different coloured lights, red and blue, on the left and right sides of the ice to create a three-dimensional look of the ice and to make a colour separation between the two sides of the ice. By using these colours, I was able to capture the light patterns caused by light refraction without hiding them in the background. I also made a metal stand to change the angle of the motif in order to get the best angle of view of the ice. For the sound, I used ready-made sound effects for the drama, not realistic sounds of melting ice. Not only ice and water related sound effects, I intentionally used sound effects unrelated to ice, such as rock falls and building collapses. Using these sound effects created an unrealistic, but I believe I created a reality based on my real experience in my mind.
Yoshihisa Kitamura, “Metamorphose”, work in progress, courtesy of the artist
What direction will your artistic research take in the future from an aesthetic and thematic point of view?
It is important to discover the unknown beauty in everyday life. I want to discover and share surprises and beauty from everyday events and motifs that we usually ignore or consider valueless. I think that there are still undiscovered, beautiful, ‘’gold nugget‘’ phenomena buried in the ice melt, and I may continue my search for them.
Info:
Graduated in art history at DAMS in Bologna, city where she continued to live and work, she specialized in Siena with Enrico Crispolti. Curious and attentive to the becoming of the contemporary, she believes in the power of art to make life more interesting and she loves to explore its latest trends through dialogue with artists, curators and gallery owners. She considers writing a form of reasoning and analysis that reconstructs the connection between the artist’s creative path and the surrounding context.
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