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Kazuhiro JO Last modified date:2023.05.29



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Homepage
https://kyushu-u.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/kazuhiro-jo
 Reseacher Profiling Tool Kyushu University Pure
Academic Degree
Ph.D. in Design
Field of Specialization
Media Arts, Personal Fabrication
Outline Activities
With a background in acoustics and interaction design, I’m doing practice-based research based on artistic creation. As an example of “Humanization of Technology”, I’m exploring a raison d'être of expressions beyond tech demos.
Research
Research Interests
  • Media Arts
    keyword : Media Arts, Media Archaeology, Personal Fabrication
    2016.03.
Academic Activities
Presentations
1. Kazuhiro JO, John Smith, “A record without (or with) prior acoustic information” and “Given: 1.Manet, 2.Coil - Oscillation from a minimum unit of speaker”, 5th Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and Acoustical Society of Japan, 2016.11, In this demonstration, we’d like to introduce two of our work, “A record without (or with) prior acoustic information” and “Given: 1.Manet, 2.Coil - Oscillation from a minimum unit of speaker”. The first one is a work in which we computationally draw a groove of a record as a vector graphic (with Adobe Illustrator or other tools) by calculating frequencies with a number of zigzags, and engrave the groove on diverse materials on diverse material include paper, wood, or acrylic with laser cutter or cutting plotter to produce sounds. Through the demonstration, we show a process of making the record with a cutting plotter on the spot. The result and other examples would be played on a standard analog record player. The second one is a work in which we split a unit of a speaker into a magnet and a coil. We demonstrate an example of the work by johnsmith as a cartilage conduction hearing with a set of neodymium magnets and a pair of coils with stereo mini jack. Through the demonstration, people could listen the sound from her/his portable audio player by directly vibrating her/his cartilages. Both of the work would present alternate embodiments of matured audio technologies (i.e. vinyl record and headphone) with a help of later technological developments. The demonstration shows basic principles of how audio technologies work. Through our practices at the intersection of media archeology and personal fabrication, we’d like to reconsider the ordinariness of acoustic media technologies..
2. Kazuhiro JO, A study of “a record without prior acoustic information”, Sound Art Matters 2016, 2016.06, “I have suggested to change the gramophone from a reproductive instrument to a productive one, so that on a record without prior acoustic information, the acoustic information, the acoustic phenomenon itself originates by engraving the necessary Ritchriftreihen (etched grooves).” [Moholy-Nagy, 1923].

In this paper, we'd like to introduce our technique of “a record without (or with) prior acoustic information” to stimulate further understanding of record, recording, and reproduction at the crossing of media archeology and personal fabrication.

The technique is a part of the Re-Inventing the wheel project which I’m co-organizing with colleagues and students at IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences) since 2013. The aim of the project is to embody ”the possible presents” instead of the preferable futures [Dunne and Raby, 2013] nor imaginary media [Kluitenberg, 2007] by re-reading the history with our techniques. By utilizing the literature of media archeology [Hutamo, 2011] as our foothold, we apply our understanding of various media as a technique for diverse aesthetic practices in the era of personal fabrication [Gershenfeld, 2005]. Instead of depicting the future or excavating the past, we try to redefine the reality of our circumstances by producing the alternatives.

In 1923 Bauhaus master László Moholy-Nagy made the above proposal to produce a record without inputting acoustic information. At the time, it was just a provocative idea. However, after 9 decades, I have realized the idea as a technique of “a record without prior acoustic information” on diverse material include paper, wood, or acrylic with the help of mature vinyl audio recording technology and current personal fabrication tools [Jo, 2014].

By using the technique, we produced several objects include “Au Clair de la Lune on Gramophone - For Édouard- Léon Scott and László Moholy-Nagy -(1860/1923/2015)” in which I reproduce a french folk song / the oldest recorded music by Léon Scott [Cowen, 2012], “Au Clair de la Lune”, with a form of record for a gramophone. Instead of using a recording of the music, I computationally draw a waveform with a conventional vector graphics application (i.e. Adobe Illustrator) by calculating frequencies of every note. After a thorough examination of materials to overcome the weight of soundbox of a gramophone, the result is horizontally engraved on a surface of lacquered anodized aluminum plate by a laser cutter. The outcome could be played on ordinary analog record players in 78 rpm include a traditional gramophone..
3. Kazuhiro JO, Re-Inventing the Wheel: To Embody the Possible Presents, CHI 2016 CrossFAB workshop, 2016.05, [URL], Re-Inventing the Wheel is a project, which I’m organizing with colleagues (Ryota Kuwakubo, Akira Segawa, and Shigeru Matsui) and students at IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences) since 2013. The aim of the project is to embody ”the possible presents” instead of the preferable futures [Dunne, Raby, 2013] by re-reading the history with practices. By utilizing the literature of media archeology [Huhtamo, 2011] as our foothold, we firstly deepen our understanding for the role and function of various media, especially in the field of audio and visual, before their stabilization in the history. Then, we apply each acquired notion as a technique for diverse aesthetic practices in the era of personal fabrication [Gershenfeld, 2008]. Instead of depicting the future or excavating the past, we try to redefine the reality of our circumstances by producing the alternatives.
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Membership in Academic Society
  • ACM
  • JSSA
  • ASJ
  • IPSJ
  • ACM
Educational
Educational Activities
- Department of Acoustic Design / Course of Acoustic Desing, School of Design
- Course of CCD, Graduate School of Design