Sputniko! × Eiji Katsura Sputniko!'s Art "Cyber Feminism!"

Dentsu Design Talk #72 (held November 9, 2011) was a collaborative project between Dentsu Design Talk and Tokyo University of the Arts. We invited artist Suputniko!, who has been active since her art college days using social media in her creative practice, and Professor Eishi Katsura from the Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts, whose specialty is media theory. A talk session was held to unravel the thought processes behind Suputniko! 's creative process.

Sputniko!
Artist
Assistant Professor, MIT Media Lab

Hidefumi Katsura
Professor, Graduate School of Film and New Media
Professor, Graduate School of Film and New Media

#Who is Artist "Sputniko!"?

Before the talk session, Suputniko! first introduced her background. Her parents, both mathematicians, are half-Japanese and half-British, coming from a family with generations of scientists. She also majored in mathematics at university, but became interested in "how technology changes human life." Her focus gradually shifted beyond science to areas like film and music. After pursuing activities as a musician, she eventually arrived at art. Incidentally, her artist name originates from the nickname "Sputnik" given to her in high school because her facial features resembled those of a Russian person. After graduating university, she worked as a programmer for two years before enrolling at the Royal College of Art in London. When she posted the video of her graduation project on YouTube, it became a major sensation in Europe and America, making her a figure attracting attention from various fields including contemporary art and media art.

 

#Graduation project video that garnered 100,000 views in one week on YouTube

During the subsequent presentation of his work, he introduced three new pieces (at the time) created for his graduation project. The first was 'Menstruation Machine: Takashi's Case', which simulates the female menstrual experience for men. Drawing on his background as a musician, he explained, "I wasn't satisfied just making the object. I wrote a song about the story surrounding Takashi wearing this machine, shot a music video, and posted it on YouTube." This led to a WIRED editor featuring it on their blog, resulting in over 100,000 views within a week. His reason for uploading the work to YouTube was, "I wanted people from all walks of life, not just those who usually visit galleries to see art, to see it." This sparked various discussions in the comments section that wouldn't have happened with a gallery exhibition alone. The video's attention then led to it being exhibited in a museum.

#Connecting with Technology and Social Issues

　Why create work about menstruation? According to Suputniko!, when the contraceptive pill was developed in 1960, it was technically known that taking it daily could eliminate menstruation. However, doctors at the time did not prescribe it for that purpose. "Fifty years later, despite the development of various technologies, women still menstruate every month. In 2007, a pill to safely stop menstruation was approved in the US, yet Japan was the last among developed nations to approve the contraceptive pill. Viagra was approved in just six months, while the contraceptive pill took nearly ten years. In other words, technology may appear to develop equally for all humanity, but it is actually heavily influenced by social, cultural, and political factors like the power balance between men and women. I believe menstruation and the contraceptive pill particularly vividly illustrate this in women's issues, which is why I created 'The Menstruation Machine: Takashi's Case.'"

 

#A Social Collaboration Team That Leads Through Vision

Meanwhile, Professor Katsura first learned about Sputniko! through her collaborative work with Cesar Harada, titled 'Open_Sailing,' which won The Next Idea Award at Ars Electronica during her student days. When asked what leap occurred between that collaboration and the artist "Sputniko!", he noted, "Sputniko!'s activities were ongoing even then." However, he reflected that 'Open_Sailing'—which aimed to use social media to open-source the utopian and dystopian proposals once conceived by past geniuses, allowing contemporary society to reinterpret them—faced the problem that "When trying to build something open-source, the start is promising, but without a leader, progress stalls." He reflected that the crucial realization was: "I must lead with the vision and leverage the power of the social collaboration team." He stated, "The dream story of amateurs gathering through open-source to create scientific innovation is appealing, but we shouldn't overestimate the idea that everything can be built through consensus."

 

#What matters is the idea; gather the technology as a team

Sputniko!'s second graduation project was 'Crowbot☆Jenny', where Jenny, a girl who struggles with human communication, interacts with crows—birds capable of complex communication among themselves—and then communicates with crows in a crow-human context. Footage was shown of Sputniko!, dressed as Jenny, communicating with crows using actual crow calls researched and collected together with researchers.

 

The third work, 'Sushi Borg☆Yukari', features Yukari, a "cyborg", who modifies her own body to become a killing machine. A five-minute short film introducing this story was also produced simultaneously. Creating three graduation projects was rare even at the Royal College of Art. She attributes her ability to do so to her two years working as a programmer before enrollment, where she handled advertising-related work and learned that forming a team allows for quick production. "The most important thing is the artist's sense and ideas. If someone else has the technical skills to make it happen, you can just ask them," she explained. "I had a clear concept I wanted to execute, so I posted my ideas on Twitter and Facebook, using social media to build a team and create the work," he revealed about his creative process.

#Japanese Technology as a Cultural Universal Code

After the presentation, Professor Katsura remarked, "I think Sputniko!'s work is a gimmick in the best sense," pointing out a characteristic of Japanese technology: "It's interesting how technology, without needing criticism, has become a career path that can go out into the world flatly as a kind of universal cultural code. It's already transcended words as meta-criticism." Sputniko! agreed, saying, "When comparing the UK and Japan, even though both are advanced nations, when British people come to Japan, it looks like a parallel world. In the West, technology is used rationally, but Japanese people like things that lack meaning. There's a sense of going beyond rationality." However, she clarified, "My primary goal across these three works is the conceptual idea itself, more than the technology. Technology is a means to spread ideas; what I find rewarding is proposing the idea itself, not the technology."

 

#Utilizing Programmers' Ideas in Advertising Creation

Regarding his expectations for Sputniko! moving forward, Professor Katsura stated, "I hope she researches the unique pitch (beat) of Japanese 'song' and its relationship with the Japanese language, which has a different origin than in the West, and creates something beyond just a music video." During the final Q&A session, when asked about Japanese media and advertising creation, Sputniko! shared her perspective: "I think Japanese advertising is consistently humorous and of a high standard." However, drawing from her own experience, she added, "People with technical knowledge know what's possible and how to make people go 'Wow!' yet they're rarely invited to creative meetings." "I was programming for ad work too, and I had tons of ideas for expression, but I was never invited to those meetings at all—it pissed me off (laughs). I went to the Royal College of Art because I thought, 'I don't want to die like this!' I hope technical directors start taking on more creative positions," she said, expressing her hopes.

(Planning & Production: Dentsu Inc. HR Department, Aki Kanahara     Article Editing: Sugatsuke Office     Composition Support: Eiji Kobayashi)