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ARTWORKS

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Artwork

Main artwork

The Big Flat Now

📍 BONUS TRACK (Parking)

Originating from Japanese mobile phone culture in 1999, emoji have evolved into a global language that transcends linguistic and national boundaries. Among them, the "tears of joy" emoji has been the most widely used worldwide over the past decade; in 2015, it became the first non-word to be named the Oxford Dictionaries "Word of the Year." By physically manifesting this symbol—which normally occupies only a few pixels on a screen—as an object standing approximately eight meters tall, the work explores the intersection of the digital and the physical, information and matter, and online emotion and the human body. At the venue, visitors can use an AR filter to transform their own faces into the "tears of joy" expression and post the result to Instagram. The artwork is not merely viewed; it flows back into the digital screen, making the process of circulation itself an integral part of the piece. The title points to a world where the internet has flattened all distances and boundaries.

Artist

Shoei Matsuda

A contemporary artist based in Tokyo. They materialize symbols circulating on smartphone screens—such as emojis, hashtags, and verification badges—into sculptures and installations. Much like Pop Art once brought advertising and consumer products into the museum, the artist elevates the shared language of the post-internet and AI era to the subject of art, poetically and critically re-examining the nature of emotion, communication, and perception as they are transformed by the digital environment. Recent exhibitions include "Dopamine" at Le Cube Garges (France), "The Big Flat Now" at Festival City Mall (Dubai), and "DXP: Towards the Next Interface" at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. Major awards include the Currents Art Award and the Prix Ars Electronica.

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📍 BONUS TRACK(隣接駐車場)