10 Questions with Akane Akamidget
THE ORIGINAL ISSUE10 Art Magazine | Featured Artist
Akane, also known as akamidget, is a visual artist whose background lies in video games. Throughout her career, she's worked on numerous video game trailers. From there on, she expanded into the commercial realm through online media as well as in terrestrial TV adverts. She will be exhibiting her work in Vienna and Lecce in Italy in March 2022.
akamidget.com | @akamidget
Akane - Portrait
ARTIST STATEMENT
The digital world has come to play a much more integral mediating role in how we see each other and ourselves. Not only will it shape our view of the world, but through digital bio-enhancements, alterations to our physical bodies will generate new forms of interactions. The mind linked to a computer chip can become a powerful tool but exploring what makes us human will become more pressing for artists and thinkers. How we, from our electronic realm, relate to our primordial ancestors at the root of humanity's multi-layered narrative is a question that will continue to drive the artist's work.
Sylph I © Akane Akamidget
INTERVIEW
As stated in your biography, your background lies in video games. How did you get involved with art, and what influenced you to follow this path?
I have always had an interest in abstract art, and I used to create my own pieces combining different materials. Working in digital media opened the door to new ways of expressing concepts. I had been working in a commercial setting, but I wanted to express my own ideas on the themes that fascinated me. To be honest, I'm not much of a gamer!
How much does your background influence your current work?
Probably more than what I think it does. The video games industry is where you see the emergence of the latest technology. Gaming has become an evermore immersive experience, and I think this is definitely one direction in which I would like to see my own art grow.
Phalanx II © Akane Akamidget
Your work mixes "digital and organic realities" and heavily relies on digital mediums. How do you blend and combine those different aspects of your production?
I am interested in the cycles of civilization, as expressed in "Last and First Men" by Olaf Stapledon, a novel from the early 20th century which explores the evolution of mankind through the ages, through catastrophic turmoil, and near extinction events. From the earliest moments of prehistory, our evolutionary story has been inextricably linked to technology development. We develop technology, but technology also changes us. That is an incredibly complex relationship that I try to depict. I try to examine the convergence of man and machine, the conflict between the soul and the circuit, between man's primordial instinct and machine intelligence. These pressure points are represented by the glitches and imperfections we see in those depictions. What may seem grotesque or bizarre to us now may become the norm at some point in the future. But I wanted to capture an essence of our humanity that transcends whatever alterations we undergo in the future.
Where do you find inspiration for your work? Do you have any artist or movement you look up to, or is your inspiration more organic, coming from everyday life?
Of course, there are a lot of popular entertainment sources that explore this relationship between man's evolution and technology; movies, video games, and novels, like I mentioned before. However, I find scientific theory just as captivating. It often poses deep philosophical questions that drive our thinking about the nature of our reality. For example, Nick Bostrom's 2003 Simulation Hypothesis suggests that our entire reality might result from a simulation being run by an advanced civilization. While this goes beyond scientific speculation, imagine the possibility of that for a second. How do we know that we don't already live within a simulation? It's an incredibly unsettling concept, and unlike The Matrix, you can't jack in or leave at will. Yet I find absorbing parallels between this concept and the ideas ancient civilizations had about the gods, particularly the Greeks, who saw themselves as playthings of wrathful and vindictive gods. That's why you can find numerous references to ancient mythology in my works. Mythology has been so fundamental to the growth of human civilization that even today, we find new ways to pose the same questions about who we are and what we are all doing here.
Metamophosis I © Akane Akamidget
Metamophosis III © Akane Akamidget
We are witnessing significant changes in our approach to digital technologies. Some mere dreams are coming into reality, like the Metaverse. What do you think of these changes? How will they influence the art world?
Firstly, there is an undeniable social factor in how digital technologies have influenced the world of art. They have been instrumental in eliminating physical barriers to experiencing art, allowing millions of people not just to see art but to become creators themselves, engaging them in an ever-evolving dialogue of human expression. Organizations that fail to grasp the significance of this change risk becoming obsolete. I think that's why we've seen institutions like Christie's, The British Museum, and even firms like Goldman Sachs adopt digital technologies in the form of NFTs and Metaverse establishments. Of course, this paradigm shift will also present some major challenges for creators. How can we bring order and structure to conversation streams, which we are all a part of, without it just becoming a torrent of noise in which no one gets heard? We are still at the very early stages of this revolution. Still, I believe the answer lies at the heart of our innate sense of community and our ability to replicate that electronically. At the same time, there is not only a shift towards new platforms for creating, sharing and experiencing art, but towards new forms of art in themselves. Up to now, with 2D visual arts and 3D sculpture, we've appreciated art as a static product of our own creativity. But what happens when we create art that we can interact with and immerse ourselves in? What happens when a person experiences that work of art not just as a 2D image or 3D object in front of them, but immerses themselves in a shifting environment, which they can use all their senses to alter and interact with? We are no longer talking about passive consumers of art but of interlocutors who also give shape to artistic creations. What was previously a silent, internalized dialogue within the viewer is now transformed into multiple interactions between viewer and creator. We will never stop telling stories. These new technologies that incorporate 3D environments, sounds, kinetic or haptic feedback, and temperature changes will enable us to continue telling the ultimate story of who we are and what we are doing here.
How important are new technologies and innovations for your work? And how do you keep up to date with the latest developments?
I have been using software packages for several years. Although I had previously explored other traditional art forms, like Japanese calligraphy and pottery, the potential for 2D and 3D software to reimagine the world around us is extremely powerful. You're right to say that the fast-changing nature of this technology makes keeping up to date a real challenge. There are new applications and updates launched all the time. It takes time and effort to keep on top of technical innovation, but I try to stay focused and choose the ones I need to grow as an artist.
Narcissus I © Akane Akamidget
What are you working on right now? Do you have any new projects or series you are developing at the moment?
I'm making a series of works based on the concept of multiverses. It's incredible to imagine there are other versions of yourself existing in other branches of reality at this very moment in time. This, for me, is a mind-boggling concept that is extremely hard to grasp. Imagine your life captured in a still image, then putting numerous snapshots of your life together. As you put more images together, you begin to approximate the results from the famous double-slit experiment from quantum physics, where physical particles started to behave like a wave. How can we as artists depict our own lives as a wave of infinite possibilities on an infinite number of timelines? How can we get away from the notion that our lives are just a multitude of snapshots of unrelated and randomised events? Of course, I don't know what the answers are, but it's an area that I will be exploring.
Covid-19 has deeply impacted the art world. With fewer exhibitions and art fairs, artists and galleries had to find other ways to showcase their work. Did you find different ways to show yours over the past year?
To be honest, it is only recently that I got into the world of art. The pandemic provided me the space to express the concepts that fascinate me and the time to discover a common thread between these themes. Galleries and museums were forced to adapt to virtual exhibitions and even VR technology. Now they are opening up again, and I am honoured to be featuring in Lecce and Venice very soon. But it will be interesting to see how galleries accommodate the changing face of digital art and future immersive and interactive technologies that are an important element of it.
Sylph I © Akane Akamidget
Sylph III © Akane Akamidget
As we are at the beginning of 2022, what do you hope to accomplish this year, both in terms of career goals and personal life?
As a newcomer to the art world, I am looking to establish links with other like-minded (and not so like-minded) individuals. I would be hugely interested to see how other people respond to these ideas, how they find threads of commonality between our shared past, our story, and our future destinations. Engaging with people, whether in art exhibitions in Venice and Lecce or through outlets like Al-Tiba9, will be a big source of inspiration for me. Creation doesn't happen in a vacuum, so these forms of discourse will play a big role in what I do next. And of course, another major source of inspiration has always been travel. In the past, I have always been lucky enough to experience snapshots of life in so many places around the world. It has been over 2 years without travelling anywhere, so I'm looking forward to reconnecting with the rest of the world in a physical, non-virtual sense.
Finally, where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
I see myself and others creating art with mind power. It sounds like a sci-fi novel, but there are moves by games publishers and developers to introduce technology that can respond to people's thoughts. This would once again push the boundaries of how we create art, and also how we experience art even further. Of course, the challenge for artists will be to create art that provokes a deep emotional response from people, uncertain, intangible elements within ourselves that have marked humanity since the beginning. We have had hundreds of years of practice with the paintbrush to enable us to do this. Our ancestors did this thousands of years ago on the inside of their cave dwellings. We must show the same levels of respect to the skills required to manipulate new technologies to create experiences that leave lasting impressions on people.
