Released as part of “MIDTOWN CHRISTMAS 2023,” held at Tokyo Midtown from Thursday, November 16 to Monday, December 25, 2023. WOW was responsible for planning, directing, and producing “some snow scenes,” an installation that captured delicate winter scenes in the atrium of Galleria. The countless spheres evoking lightly floating snow were composed of approximately 3,400 objects (white balls, crystals, and acrylic pieces) suspended from a height of 15 meters by about 250 lines. In sync with music composed by Fumitake Ezaki and performed automatically on stage, the coordinated laser projection and lighting created a spatial installation where light and sound overlapped. In addition to the regular presentation, this work featured four special sequences every 15 minutes. At times, it poetically depicted various winter scenes, like snow falling deeply and quietly; at others, like a cold blizzard swirling through the air.

I am responsible for the MV’s initial concept draft and direction.

Responsible for the planning and design of “Reflective tree,” a Christmas installation placed at the entrance of Roppongi Hills West Walk. The approximately 7-meter-tall tree is composed of a column with 10 layers, about 500 branches, and leaves made from approximately 2,700 mirror-finish materials. As the layers rotate, sometimes simultaneously and sometimes alternately, the leaves, lit by colored illumination, reflect and diffuse the light, creating a variety of sparkling expressions. By allowing the brilliance of the tree itself and the leaves wrapped in layers of light to illuminate the space, the installation was designed to evoke the fantastical atmosphere unique to the Christmas season, day and night.

Responsible for the planning, direction, and production of the three main contents inside “DMM Kariyushi Aquarium,” a new kind of entertainment aquarium in Okinawa that blends visual expression with spatial design. A story of “water” and “life” projected on a multi-screen large display A large-scale video content experience through which visitors first encounter the “beauty of Okinawa” (approximately 12 m wide by 4 m high, with 6 m of depth on both sides). It takes visitors on a virtual flight across Okinawa’s rich natural scenery, including its distinctive sea, sky, and the Yanbaru forest, as well as historical structures such as Shuri Castle. The Shuri Castle featured in the work was filmed with permission from the Okinawa Commemorative National Government Park Office. A 3D model was created using photogrammetry. A giant diorama space recreating Okinawa’s skies and coastlines Okinawa’s beautiful sea reveals different faces throughout the day. This space was designed so visitors can experience that appeal firsthand. On the faux rockwork surrounding an approximately 18-meter-wide tank, lighting and video work in sync to create colors and shadows that recreate the changing states of the “sky,” “sea,” and “shoreline.” In this space, which shifts from daytime to dusk and then into night, visitors can experience the scenery of each moment. In addition to realistic landscape depiction, the installation also reflects the emotional image of “the Okinawa sea that everyone envisions,” expressing a view that invites people to gaze at it and lose track of time. A fantastical space woven from light and jellyfish A space filled with cylindrical tanks stretching from floor to ceiling. Jellyfish drift gently, illuminated by pillars of light that emit vivid gradients. The space, adorned by the jellyfish and the pillars of light, was designed to evoke a dreamlike, extraordinary atmosphere through repeated transparency and reflection. The tank lighting, the visuals of the light pillars, and the music are all synchronized as part of the production.

WOW was responsible for producing the year-round environmental visuals broadcast on the large outdoor vision installed at Shibuya Scramble Square (approximately 623.2 m² on the north side and 156.2 m² on the east side). Drawing inspiration from the many charms of the city as if drawing them up like a tree, the visuals were created around the theme of “accumulation, fusion, and dissemination.” They concretely express the appeal of the transformations that arise as people, buildings, and city lights intersect while rising upward. In addition to spring, summer, autumn, and winter, visuals were also produced for the Halloween and Christmas seasons.

An iOS app featuring works created with AR (augmented reality) and motion graphics. It was developed and produced with the goal of turning any environment into an art installation. In the first release, the following three motion graphics works were made available. 1: EVERYDAY Everyday motifs are presented with extraordinary animation and dynamics. By viewing them overlaid onto reality in AR, the piece creates a landscape in which reality and unreality intermingle and the boundary between them becomes blurred. 2: Betweener A dancer moving between reality and virtuality. The work portrays today’s digitally native people who seamlessly move back and forth between the real world and the virtual world online, enjoying both. 3: Loop of Life A phenakistoscope, said to be a predecessor of animation. By combining one of the oldest technologies with modern technology, this work depicts the various activities of life that continue to repeat unchanged across eras.

About the Work Shibuya Stream, which opened on September 13, 2018, is a large-scale mixed-use complex built on the former platform and track site of the long-disused Tokyu Toyoko Line Shibuya Station, as well as the surrounding land. The project was launched with the concept of sharing to the world the new things and new experiences born from encounters, exchanges, and challenges here, and of creating a new current for the next era as a “sacred place for creative workers.” This project aims to foster new cultural creation in Shibuya and revitalize the area south of Shibuya Station. Targeting “creative people,” it was designed as a place where inspiration arises in everyday life. WOW was responsible for the environmental design and experiential design of the giant video wall installed at the entrance to the 100-meter-long second-floor through passage directly connected to Shibuya Station, as well as the large staircase leading toward Meiji-dori Avenue. Design Intent This facility, developed through public-private collaboration and also contributing to the restoration of the Shibuya River, serves as an icon for the area south of Shibuya Station, while taking care not to impose creativity or trends. In the second-floor through passage, an acoustic environment creates a “gentle boundary” that softens outside noise, and within that setting, a pseudo-natural environment formed by phenomenological visuals is intended to draw out the inner imagination of both daily users and visitors passing through. The overall design concept is called “INNER STREAM,” and it comprises three environmental installations. 1. Invisible Stream | Giant video wall installed at the second-floor entrance of Shibuya Stream The thinking process of creative workers, from their first idea to the final finish, is visualized as a flow: Invisible Stream. Centered on the theme of “Stream,” the work presents final visuals inspired by phenomenological motifs such as water, rivers, mist, and light, while also exhibiting various study processes in CG and programmable expression. By linking these elements to the viewer’s own imagination, the installation was designed to allow each person to experience a different visual encounter. 2. Fall Stream | Staircase space toward Meiji-dori Avenue with embedded video installation A visual composition in which sound seems to pour from a vortex of sound into the grand staircase. By using phenomenological motifs such as waterfalls and water, the work seeks to create a sense of unity with the Shibuya River and offer visitors a soothing spatial experience. 3. Barrier Stream | Acoustic environment of the second-floor through passage and grand staircase The acoustic environment was realized through a collaboration with evala [See by Your Ears], a musician and sound artist with the concept of “Sound Architecture.” The concept took inspiration from the Shibuya Stream space, where wind blowing through is especially striking. Sounds were devised to harmonize with this place, where outside sounds such as trains and cars can also be heard. Water sounds field-recorded at the Shibuya River were blended in throughout, and like a natural phenomenon in which trees sway and waves rise when the wind blows, new melodies are continuously generated so that no two moments are ever the same. By using speakers placed along the connecting passageways, the program blocks urban noise and creates an environment that enhances inner creativity.

About the Work This work took on the challenge of reimagining “enjoying coolness in the height of midsummer heat” as a contemporary art experience, as an homage to traditional methods nurtured by Japanese sensibilities. In the past, Japanese people made use of the full range of their five senses to enjoy summers without air conditioning. Elements such as the setting sun, Japanese gardens, engawa (verandas), sprinkling water to cool the ground, and the refreshing breeze are all part of the original landscape of summer in Japan. By connecting these elements to the context of TOKYO MIDTOWN—“we want to be the most pleasant place in the center of Tokyo”—and adding dynamism and entertainment value, this work was created. People immersed themselves in a space where “nostalgia” and “freshness” merged in the middle of the city, and delighted in a uniquely Japanese sensory experience of “coolness” that soaked into their entire being, not just through the actual temperature. This work was created by Hakuten, WOW, and TOKYO LIGHTING DESIGN, a creative company specializing in experiential work in physical spaces. WOW was responsible for creative direction and production. About the Exhibition It was presented as part of “MIDTOWN LOVES SUMMER 2018,” held at Tokyo Midtown from Friday, July 13 to Sunday, August 26, 2018. For this exhibition, under the theme of “coolness in a Japanese summer,” a new way to enjoy summer was sought in Roppongi, a district in the center of Tokyo, bustling with a diverse crowd and constantly filled with activity. Our approach drew from the rich sensitivity inherent to Japanese people, who have long embraced even the heat of summer as part of its charm. Sitting on an engawa*1 facing a garden, listening to the sound of insects, admiring fireworks, and enjoying summer nights with close companions. This was an attempt to reconstruct, in a contemporary form, the nostalgic summer landscape of Japan, rich in sensibility, and to create a new summer scene. The space was composed of a vast 2,000㎡ lawn plaza in the heart of the city, a massive 20m × 40m engawa that served both as a stage and a frame, mist that changed moment by moment to create a one-of-a-kind atmosphere, and images of “digital fireworks” that controlled approximately 6,000 LED lights to color the space. Visitors stood on the engawa and enjoyed images of Japanese summer spread out at their feet, experiencing coolness firsthand. The ever-changing, primitive forms of mist—never repeating the same expression twice—and the digitally rendered glow of fireworks created a space one could watch without growing tired of it. Blending with summer nights, this work became an experience that cooled both body and spirit of those who came, together with the heat. *1: An engawa is a distinctive architectural feature of traditional Japanese houses—a threshold-like space between indoors and outdoors—where one can sit and enjoy the scenery outside or chat with family, symbolizing a rich and comfortable way of life.

This installation was created in collaboration with SHISEIDO’s Team 101 to express the world of SHISEIDO’s new skin care series, inspired by “neuroscience,” which stimulates the senses and awakens one’s own potential. “NEURO_SURGE” is a large monument approximately 9 meters tall, made with a new type of fiber, whose expression of light changes as it spans the atrium from the first to the second floor of the SHISEIDO Ginza Building. “INTERACTIVE WALL” is a 9-meter-wide, 5-meter-high stretch screen that expresses the image of activating oneself by touching and pushing inward. These works delicately and boldly depict a situation in which various forms of information, human relationships, social structures, infrastructure, and everything else are intricately intertwined, visualizing the way sensory nerves in the lives of people, exposed daily to joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure, transmit information.