hyperLOG

aaploit presents hyperLOG, a group exhibition curated by OKOSHI Madoka, on view from May 9 through May 25, 2025. This is the first exhibition at aaploit in which an artist serves as curator—an important attempt to question the relationship between preservation and technological innovation in media art.

"The Desire to Preserve" — hyperLOG

Media art has continued to transform within the development of technology and capitalism. Diverse expressions and debates have emerged from this condition, and we continue to witness their unfolding. At the same time, the expressive media that shift with technological innovation and market expectations raise questions about the preservation, restoration, and reproducibility of media art. This extends beyond "preserving the work" to connect directly with value formation in the art market.

As technology develops, media art also transforms the meaning and function of the work itself. Among works created using technology and works that employ technology as medium, media art practitioners must think about their work self-referentially. Within ongoing technological innovation, we wish to re-examine the essence of technology and media art, and their criticality.

This exhibition provides an occasion to consider the mediality, production process, and expressive value of media art. Comprising artists with diverse backgrounds in fine art, engineering, and sociology, the exhibition is positioned as a contemporary art exhibition while maintaining a natural-historical perspective. Through the commonalities and differences of the technologies that surface, we explore the essence and criticality of media art.

"Hyper," part of the exhibition title, is a word used in acts of linking multiple files and pages on the internet—hypertext, hyperlink. This exhibition comprises five artists and collectives. Their five endeavors will combine with one another, inscribing new value. Accordingly, we title this exhibition hyperLOG.

References

Kubota Akihiro, Hatanaka Minoru. Media Art: Principles — What on Earth Are You Searching For? First edition. Film Art, Inc., 2018.

Lev Manovich. The Language of New Media. Translated by Hori Jun'ichi. First edition. Misuzu Shobo, 2013.

For inquiries regarding the exhibition, please contact info@aaploit.com.

Artists

IWASAKI Hiromasa — Approaching environments and landscapes from non-human perspectives. Works include the series Printing Landscapes onto What Was Once Part of the Landscape, in which landscapes are printed onto insect specimens, and LANDSCAPER, photographs taken with pinhole cameras made from bark holes created by emerging insects. Published NO-RECORD-FOUND CERTIFICATE – 759 Insects –, an insect encyclopedia as a new home for specimens with nowhere to go. B.F.A. and M.F.A., Tokyo University of the Arts.

EGUCHI Tomoyuki — From a background in museums, Eguchi is interested in the dynamics carried by the word "art." Conducts research and production on the privilege and public interest of art. B.F.A., Tama Art University; M.F.A., Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media.

nisetexture — An art team formed in 2024 with the aim of covering over and inverting the simple, tedious, repetitive acts and tasks of daily life through nisetexture (fake texture, touch, and surface quality of things and events). Members: Ota Sora and Kobayashi Reina. Primary activity: walking through a city all night after drinking. Hobby: confirming whether wood found in the city is real.

HISAYAMA Midori — "On one hand there are images that stimulate my sensibility; on the other, images that do not. I want to know what the difference is. These paintings exist as a typology of my own sensibility." B.F.A., Tama Art University.

MORITA Mari — Using accessible digital technologies such as electronic fabrication and 3D scanning, Morita explores new relationships with her own body, others, and surrounding objects. Through genre-crossing, hands-on experimentation, she discovers latent possibilities in technology and attempts expressions that unsettle familiar sensations. B.S. and M.S., Waseda University, Department of Intermedia Art and Science.

Curator: OKOSHI Madoka — Primarily practices art that addresses the transformation of human perception and society through smartphones. Themes include changes in how digital images are viewed and shifts in perspective since the advent of the smartphone, explored through xR technology, iOS applications, and various smartphone sensors. B.F.A., Akita University of Art; M.F.A., IAMAS; currently enrolled in doctoral program, Nagoya University.