Scan the Beach Workshop

An exposition and an event, scanning beaches at multiple-locations simultaneously
International Art Project Initiated by Masaki Fujihata, Glenn Davidson, and Maki Ueda

Proposal in Progress ver.4
June, 1998
written by Maki Ueda

[Abstract]

"Scan the Beach Workshop" is a multiple-location art workshop taking place simultaneously on the beach and in the gallery. It connects Ireland, Wales UK, and Japan via internet, and is planned for summer 1999. Anybody can take part in the workshop and "scan" the beach with a custom portable scanner. The exposition in the gallery will consist of these images collected from the several beaches in real-time.

This workshop and exposition intends to give people an opportunity to become engaged in an event about art and environment, using media technology.

The year 1998 is the international "The Year of the Ocean". The ocean is something we share without borders. This international project unites artists and visitors to develope their vision on the environment.

[Workshop + Exposition Design]

  • workshop


    • The workshop on the beach is designed to allow participation of a wide public. By the action of "scanning the beach", one can examine the beach with his/her eyes carefully. This scanner will be specially designed to be handy, simple, and easy to work with.

  • exposition


    • The gallery becomes a marine observatory. The exposition at the gallery is designed to enable visitors to render the state of the beach globally with all the collected information. Images scanned at the beach workshop will be printed out and presented next to each other in the gallery. People will also be able to take copies these images home.

    At the same time, satellite images will be shown in parallel. This allows us to observe the beach in reality, at a scanned micro level and at a macro level via the satelite image. 

            macro view---sattellite image (gallery)
                |
                real beach (coast)
                |
        micro view--- beach scanning (gallery)
    Overviews from the other two beaches will also be presented in a special way.

    According to The American Heritage Dictionary, the word "scan" means

    [Participants Background]

    Masaki Fujihata, artist from Japan, and his student Maki Ueda from Keio University have produced "Spilt Oil Swap Exhibition" throughout the year of 1997 in Japan, and this project became the trigger for "Scan the Beach Workshop".

    Glenn Davidson, an artsit from Wales, had the idea to bring the "Spilt Oil Swap Project" to Wales, where the coast had been damaged by an oil spill in 1996. It was not affecting only Wales but also the coast of Ireland facing Wales.

    With this concept of sharing a subject of ocean, Ms.Karyn Dubsky, the International Coordinator of Coastwatch Europe based in Ireland, became interested in helping us to develope our ideas of bringing ecology and visual art together.

    Each participating country, Ireland, Wales UK, and Japan, are geographically surrounded by the ocean. This brought us together to create an international and interdisciplinary open space for dialogue.

    [Workshop and Exposition Planned]

    Summer 1999

    [Location]

  • Ireland:
  • Wales, UK:
  • Japan:
    • [Possibilities]
  • Not only sandy beach but also saltmarsh, rock pools, gravel/boulder/mud etc could be considered.
  • The sound from the beach could be used with the installation at the gallery.
  • To imagine the opposite beach, a network-connected viewer shaped like telescope can also be installed on the beach.
  • Lecture, Symposium will be hold.
  • The form of the workshop and the possibility at the Exhibition as well in Japan and Wales needs to be explored.
  • The span of the exhibition would depends on the workshop type.


    • [Location Image] Beach of Ireland + Wales

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    How we scan the beach:

    Scanned Images

    Experimental images from the beach of Japan

    July 1998 at Koshigoe Beach, Fujisawa, Japan

    [Artistic Goal]

  • Education


    • The goal is not purely to make an exhibition, but also to focus on the process of art development. We intend this workshop to become an open public space for bringing a dialogue to the beach.

  • Media Technology


    • One of our goal in the workshop is to research the way that one can find the faschination of the nature with the media, and that other people can share the fashination as well through the network.

  • Environment


    • We would like to design the workshop that the participants can find one's faschination and the beauty in nature by the artistic way. The form, shape and colour of the creatures on the beach would be one of the subject.

    By viewing remote beaches and people in different cultures, it widens our horizons of the world. The installation creates an attractive site for visitors.

    [Technical Diagram]

    [Estimation] credit:US$ 

    Beach Workshop

color handheld scanner development      10000
mobile PC "Libretto"                    10000
wireless LAN :"BreezeCom" 10mW          10000

tour fee(air)                           2000 x 3 persons = 6000         
accomodation                            100 x 30days x 3 persons = 9000
    Gallery international ISDN 10000 PC server 10000 printer 10000 total 75000

    [Participants] 

    Initiating Member:

Masaki Fujihata
Artist
Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University 
5322 Endoh, Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa-ken, 252-8520, Japan
tel: +81-466-47-5352
fax: +81-466-47-5354
Fujihata Laboratory Homepage

Glenn Davidson
Artist
Artstation
Chapter Arts Market Road, CF5 1QE, Cardiff Wales, UK
tel/fax: +44-(0)1222-226922
Artstation Homepage

Maki Ueda
Artist/Coordinator
Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University

Noriyuki Fujimura
Artist
Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University

Coorporative Member:
Karin Dubsky
COASTWATCH EUROPE International Coordinator
Coastwatch Europe
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin 2, Ireland

Gallery:
Arthouse Multimedia Centre for the Arts
Aoibheann Gibbons(Curator)
Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland
tel: +353-1-605-6500
fax: +353-1-605-6501