"Tearoom Earth" by five "Tangible Earth" is exhibited in G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit International Media Center (IMC) Environmental Showcase (July 5-10, 2008).
This lounge is our "hospitality" space, consisting of 5 digital "Tangible Earth" globes, which visualize present condition on our planet, such as climate change or population explosion --- both major themes for this G8 summit ---, with the beautiful Japanese tea room.
If mankind is like a tiny existence, say fleas on the back of this huge elephant called planet earth, then our work as scientists is like piecing together disparate fragments of information, to monitor the subtle changes in the health and metabolism of our host. These 5 globes are self-portraits of this planet, which express the human spirit of a new global age, when we finally started to realize the awesome value of this planet's environment.
In Japanese culture, the tea room was originally a medium which edited environmental information such as the changes of the four seasons (via the manner or expression of tea utensils or artistic scrolls), and at the same time an intellectual device through which to experience existential truths. In keeping with this original concept, this space depicts these planetary self- portraits in real-time, using the latest technology, and is therefore called the "Global Tea Room". It is my hope that this space will be a mirror to show not only the dangers confronting mankind in our natural environment, but also a hope for a new future for human society, which shares this kind of self-realization.
"Tearoom" director : Shin-ichi Takemura
In this Tea Room Earth, these five "Tangible Earth" globes will play a select program beginning each hour, and half hour. Following the High Resolution Digital image reel of "Earth Rise / Earth Set from the moon", and as though the image of the planet had been impregnated, five globes light up and together begin spinning. This "synchronized spinning" is in fact five separate and unique dances. Some of them begin with the perspective of north or south poles, others present the flows of the oceans or seismic activity. From space, of course, the earth's north is irrelevant. And in this sense, we discard dead conceptions of cartography such as the Mercator projection, for a living, breathing apprehension of the Globe. You could call it a world view for our times.
Then, once the synchronized spinning is finished, updates featuring the latest (near-realtime) climate data is displayed, followed by undulating numbers: counters estimating of the numbers of new births and passing lives, indicating a monitor of the population explosion and mutability of life raging on our planet; providing a visceral way of apprehending the shifting nature of "now" on the earth.
 design: SHIGERU UCHIDA (Uchida Design Inc.) |
The concept of "Wabi" is a mentality forming an important basis in the traditional teaceremony, expressing "the beauty of simplicity." Heart-toheart spiritual communication does not require any fancy decorations or material luxury. Listening to Nature with aclear and tranquil mind, old Japanese people found profound beauty in a simple and honeststate where there were no boundaries between Nature and humans. Even with shabby tools andin a makeshift place, human beings are able to share luxuriant times of life by a sharing of a bowl of tea. There, hidden away is a part of typical Japanese culture. In a sense, it gives us a chance to reflect on the material civilization and at the same time, shows us the reality of current world conditions we are facing as well as an indication on how to live life for the future. Such concepts of the traditional tea ceremony are materialized here in a temporary tea room. In order to enrich this encounter that might only be once in a life time.
"Chanoyu" or tea ceremony is an art to communicate the spirit of hospitality and service in Japanese culture. Such aesthetic values are called "wabi" and even if only shabby tools are available for tea, the philosophy of the tea ceremony exists through the simple activity such as sharing a bowl of tea, it is possible to create the time and space for a rich heart-to-heart communication. This teaches us what living and communicating with eachother essentially means, even in modern society like today, when we face crisis of global environmental change or collapse in communication. Living in the present time, the originality of the culture of the tea ceremony, which removes all superficialities and converts simplicity into beauty, is a very important way that exists in the depths of Japanese culture, a very valuable method to explore the true nature of the pleasure and sympathy of human feelings. I hope people from all over the world can take this opportunity to experience a part of it.
This globe is the first interactive digital globe. You can spin it freely with your hands, you can use a magnifying glass pointer to observe any region of the planet, and search through local information. (Regrettably, the magnifying glass function has been disabled in this presentation.) The globe's circumference, 1.28m, is 1/10 millionth scale of the planet, so for example, the atmosphere (the 10,000m troposphere) presents as 1mm thick. Given that the distance from the Earth to the Moon is 380,000km, one can imagine that a basketball floating some 38m away and experience the Earth in a cosmic context. It is in this sense that we use the word "tangible" for this medium.
Its workings consist of a projector fitted with fish-eye lens to deform the images appropriately, as well as pressure sensors to detect the movements of hands spinning the globe, which are constantly rendered by a computer to project on its transparent surface. In this way, this "tangibility" is a synthesis of analog and digital elements. It's near real-time aspects are provided through the Internet, seeking and updating the latest weather data, including cloud movements and such hourly. This "Tangible Earth" was first released in prototype in 2002, and exhibited to great acclaim in 2005 at the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. Just as Buckminster Fuller predicted the necessity a half-century ago, for a computer system capable of monitoring the planet in real-time, suggesting that it would change the nature of the political process in nations and international organizations which facilitate cooperation between them, this kind of informational-centered political vision is actually quite close to realization.
The "Tangible Earth" is of course interesting in a stand-alone configuration, but could also function as synchronized terminals, sharing data from servers on a network. In such an application "Tangible Earth" networks could be installed across the planet to be used for global education programs, or as we find here, could be used to communicate meteorological conditions around the planet, or be made to dance in synchronized spinning.
"A globe connected around the planet, turned together by brothers and sisters educating each other" is the vision that inspires the "Tangible Earth". We want to surpass the idea of just being a near real-time interactive tool for studying the Earth's environment, and function as a public platform for developing planetary sensibilities, in an era that where such understandings are nothing if not critical.
References
Tangible Earth Demo Moviehttp://www.elp.or.jp/video/tangibleEarth/index.html
[Tearoom Earth] Cooperation:
NPO GAIA INITIATIVE / Earth Literacy Program /
GK Tech Inc. / Uchida Design Inc.
[Tangible Eath]
Producer: Shin-ichi TAKEMURA ( Earth Literacy Program )
Production: GK Tech Inc.
"Tangible Earth" WEB: http://www.tangible-earth.com/
for Tearoom Earth
E-mail: info[at]gaiainitiative.org
for Tangible Earth
E-mail: te-info[at]elp.or.jp
Relation Link
G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit International Media Center (IMC) Environmental Showcase WEB Site
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