Kodama
InterAccess is pleased to present KODAMA, an interactive sound installation by Japanese artist Hisako K. Yamakawa that imagines "voice" as a physical object by illustrating how it floats through space. In the exhibition, Hisako has created a virtual forest inhabited by tree fairies that capture and play with the viewer's voice. KODAMA is presented in association with the 19th Annual Images Festival, April 13-22, 2006. For more information about the festival please visit http://www.imagesfestival.com.
Please join us for a special opening reception on Saturday April 15, 2-5 pm at InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, 9 Ossington Avenue. Artist Hisako K. Yamakawa will be present.
"KODAMA" are tree fairies that live in the forest and are invisible to the human eye. They quietly listen to voices, trapping them in bubbles of air and storing them; when a member of the audience talks and puts out a "voice", it becomes a mass of air and is inhaled by the forest. "KODAMA" remain silent until there is no human noise or movement in the gallery, at which point they play with the voices that have been captured. These "echoes" are the mischievous way that the forest fairies manipulate sounds.
About the piece Hisako states, "Human voices are invisible and easy to forget, yet I often have the feeling that voices are tactile and occupy a certain space that I want to artistically represent as various volumes or solid shapes. I created KODAMA to demonstrate my sensation of solidified human voices in conversation".
Hisako K. Yamakawa graduated from the Fine Arts department at the Kyoto City University of Art with a degree in Sculpture in 2001 and received her Master's in Development of Media Creation from the International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences (Japan) in 2004. Hisako�s artworks explore the "trifling cause", taking mundane elements of the everyday and expressing the tactile qualities that make them things of beauty. A North American premiere, KODAMA combines her background in sculpture with a newly found interest in digital technologies.
KODAMA is presented by InterAccess in partnership with the Images Festival. Travel expenses for the artist have been graciously provided by THE ASAHI SHIMBUN FOUNDATION. InterAccess gratefully thanks the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Media Contact: (416) 599-7206 or email programming@interaccess.or

Past exhibition
Mar 2 - Apr 23, 2022
Ełexiìtǫ ; Ehts’ǫǫ̀ / Connected ; Apart From Each Other―Casey Koyczan
An installation that communicates the journey of accessing one’s culture through distance education and research, presenting new technologies as viable tools for learning language, tradition, stories, and spiritual beliefs.
More

Past exhibition
Dec 8, 2021 - Feb 5, 2022
Sculpted in Our Image, Forged in Our Minds―Curated by Tristan Sauer
A virtual exhibition curated by IA Current Curator Tristan Sauer exploring the dreams and simulations of the computer age, digital co-existence, and the possibilities of more equitable, diverse, and safe futures online.
More

Past exhibition
Nov 3 - Dec 4, 2021
Behind These Strange Sensations are Hidden Structures―Max Lester
InterAccess is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Max Lester, the recipient of the 2020 InterAccess Media Arts Prize. For over twenty years this award has been granted annually to a graduating Integrated Media student at OCAD University whose work exhibits excellence and innovation in new media practice.