JPTCA Japan Traffic Culture Association has released a behind-the-scenes video of ELEMENTS OF FUTURE, the ceramic relief mural designed and supervision by Katsuhiro Otomo and created by CREARE Atami-Yugawara Studio that was installed last december at "Hisao & Hiroko Taki Plaza" on the Ookayama Campus of Tokyo Institute of Technology (東京工業大学 大岡山キャンパス).
Otomo's Comments
I came up with the concept of elements. They create things. The idea was to express them in a new, modern way. Fire, water, air you know the five elements, But today's new creative elements should be students, the city that surrounds them, science or IT. Those new elements will create new generations.
I didn't want to create a goal, hence the empty space at the center. So instead of saying, "This must be your goal" or "this is how things must be", I created something that was abstract, like space. I wanted to say, "The rest is up to you."
Jiro Tanimoto's (谷本二郎) comments
It's an incredibly complex drawing, but it's also exciting. It's going to be a challenge. Mr. Otomo's picking fights with everybody. Like he keeps saying, "Can you do it?" But of course nobody says no.
This mural is about 7 meters to the top, so we needed different tricks to show things that were way up there. Such as making the top parts larger or thicker. We did things like that and assembled the pieces into a mural. It's three dimensional, so it looks different depending on where you stand or if it's day or night. There are lots of ways to enjoy it.
Atsuo Suzumura's (鈴村 敦夫) comments
What I love about glazing is that... the result always exceeds my expectations. The possibilities are infinite. It's like alchemy. We prepared 118 glazes for this single artwork. And each piece had 2 or 3 layers for complexity. Colors change depending on thickness, where they're placed in the kiln or if it's electric or gas. There are endless possibilities. Once the firing starts,I'm anxious until the pieces come out. It's the result of the balance between all the pieces. The overall result is good.That's the best aspect of this work.
