Kenji Kojima
Japanese artist
biography
Interview – 10 questions
2 June 2022
1. Tell me something about your life and your educational background
I was born in Japan and have lived in New York since 1980. I had doubts about the direction of contemporary art. I studied medieval painting techniques and materials by myself. My artistic career was started as a contemporary egg tempera artist. I had thought the material lust of modern civilization was going in the wrong direction. I felt handling physical art materials was uncomfortable. The material named art will contaminate the earth. In the early ’90th, I studied computer programing by myself and switched my artwork to digital. It was light and clean on my mind.
2. When, how, and why started are you filming?
I programmed many interactive application arts. Soon I had a big problem that they did not work on the new operating system and new browsers. Shooting screen videos when my digital works worked was the solution. I mixed my algorithmic art and shot videos.
3. What kind of subjects have your videos/films?
I am interested in the relations between visual and sound. All media is resolved and recorded to binary in the 21st century. Visual and sound data can be exchanged in formats at the binary level. That meant you could make music from visual data. Binary is physically empty but binary is the most fundamental art material.
4. How do you develop your videos/films, do you follow certain principles, styles, etc?
I develop a computer application for the project. It has many parameters. The material of a plain video file is set into the application, and some parameters are set. The application plays the video file. It creates music from visual data and shows the processing of the algorithm works, and is recorded by the screenshot application.
5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.
The computer language is LiveCode. ScreenFlow is for screenshots and editors.
6. What are the chances of new media for the genre videos/films in general and you personally?
I am not sure. But we have a huge amount of movie files, the video format will survive as one of the digital media formats.
7. How do you finance your films?
Myself.
8. Do you work individually as a video artist/filmmaker or do you work in a team? if you have experience in both, what is the difference, and what do you prefer?
I do not think I am a video artist or a filmmaker. So far video is a recording tool like a paper is a writing tool for me.
9. Who or what has a lasting influence on your film/video making?
I named the project application to “Luce”. The name was taken from Russian composer Alexander Scriabin who wrote the score of the symphony Prometheus with the additional instrument, the part Luce (light in Italian). If you don’t know Scriabin’s Prometheus: Poem of Fire https://youtu.be/V3B7uQ5K0IU
10. What are your future plans or dreams as a film/video maker?
No plans and dreams as a film/video maker