Qubibi_Curated

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Kazumasa Teshigawara

Have you ever seen a dancing worm?

When I burn white paper, a black border is formed. I am interested in something that can be created without my intention… Film burning, taking care of colors in digital… Raise the contrast and you'll get a crisp image, and eventually, you'll see the boundaries. In developing photos, even Photoshop can reproduce it, gradation, just by increasing the contrast, even though I didn't draw a line in the middle. The shapes are created at a distance from me, the lines are created where I didn't intend. When colors are in conflict with each other, boundaries are created. Boundaries become shapes. Afterimage… Very thin layers of sheets are piled up on top of each other. Time, layers of time. Transparent layers of time then some shapes emerge, forms are created, where there is the distance from me, where I don't intend them to be.

I was surprised to learn that this method is similar to the Japanese lacquerware manufacturing method called Tsugaru-nuri. Paint is inserted and then it is baked in. When baked, a unique pattern emerges. It's very similar to that kind of thing. However, it's a kind of "phenomenon" at this stage. I’m dealing with a phenomenon in the program. It's not my work if it's all phenomena. Then, let's add “time”.

MIMIZU means earthworm in Japanese. I was like a worm store owner who collects beautiful worms from all over the world, and collectors who like unique MIMIZU come to his store. I was working on this project with this vision in my mind. After a year, the project was finished, but the MIMIZU itself is still a theme that lives on in my mind.

At first, I was negative about NFTs... But I'm a super capricious and adapting person, so one day I suddenly felt like taking on a challenge, and I've been up to now. Now I'm positively and comfortably involved in NFTs, and it's refreshing to be witnessing the creation of a new form of ownership. I think that what art is all about is different for each person, but it's useless for me. Useless for what you need. And that useless thing is necessary for me to be human. What will happen as digitalization progresses... This is a desire, but I hope that nothing will change. I want it to be useless and necessary as it is.

Qubibi is a digital art label by Kazumasa Teshigahara. Artist, Web Designer, and Lecturer (Tama Art University Faculty of Art and Design Department of Integrated Design) from Tokyo, Japan. qubibi has used art direction, design, and programming techniques to create various projects with on-screen media, winning numerous awards including D&AD and the Cannes Advertising Prize. In 2017, qubibi held his first solo exhibition, "the Qubibi Exhibition" at MuDA, Zurich. In 2010, qubibi released his video work "hello world", which uses a unique real-time animation algorithm. With its filmic texture and continuous temporal structure, this meditative work provides an innovative take on generative art.