Project: After / Binary Interpretation

Project: After / Binary Interpretation

Expand the video to full screen.

Go to description.

Pixels, the smallest units of visual information,
are randomly distributed. Then, the original image is reconstructed
using the binary code of these lower-level units.

After / Binary Interpretation
The Plum Garden at Kameido after HIROSHIGE,
after Vincent van Gogh / 3:00 / 2026

After / Binary Interpretation
The Great Wave Mug after HOKUSAI / 3:00 / 2026
Such a Popular Aesthetic Sensibility makes The Great Wave off Kanagawa Mug
One of the World’s Most Iconic Artworks, rather than Art.

After / Binary Interpretation
Sakata Hangoro III & Bando Mitsugoro II
after Sharaku / 4:00 / 2026

After / Binary Interpretation
Lovers in an Upstairs Room. after UTAMARO / 3:00 / 2026

After / Binary Interpretation
AIZEN MYOO (Ragaraja) after Unknown Busshi / 4:00 / 2026

After / Binary Interpretation
Thunder God & Wind God after Tawaraya Sotatsu / 4:00 / 2025

After Paul Gauguin, After Vincent van Gogh in Arles, 1888
/ Four Short Video Compilations / 5:00 / 2026

After / Binary Interpretation
The 108,528 Pixel Colors from Wheatfield with Crows were
Scattered Randomly After Vincent van Gogh / 3:00 / 2026

After / Binary Interpretation
After Vincent van Gogh / A Woman Walks with a Sunflower Tote.
1:00 / 2026
Such a Popular Aesthetic Sensibility makes Van Gogh's Sunflowers Tote.
One of the World’s Most Iconic Artworks, rather than Art.

After / Binary Interpretation
Flag: After Jasper Johns / 5:00 / 2025

After / Binary Interpretation
Pumpkin After Yayoi Kusama / 4:00 / 2026

After Marcel Duchamp
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 / 6:00 / 2026

After / Binary Interpretation / One-Time Pad
Fountain: after Marcel Duchamp / 5:00 / 2025
This work uses the encryption technology of bitwise XOR operations (One-Time Pad).

Podcast: After / Binary Interpretation

Show: Japanese / 日本語

Hide: Japanese / 日本語

Description:
現在全ての情報はバイナリーで記録されます。プロジェクトは、ゴッホの作品タイトルに見られる「After」という概念を、模倣や様式的な引用を超えた視点から探求します。このプロジェクトでは、「After」を、既存のイメージをその根底にある構造へと分解し、独自の視覚言語を通して再構築する操作的な行為として捉えています。そして、この概念を、デジタル時代のアートの視覚化における知覚的かつ構造的なシステムとして考察します。このアプローチは、バイナリコードとアルゴリズムを用いた表現によって実現されます。

AIの登場は視覚芸術を民主化し、匿名ミームの拡散や、誰もが作品を制作できるマス・アプロプリエーション・アートの台頭をもたらしました。プロジェクトは、イメージが通常の視覚として固定化される以前の段階に焦点を当て、意味をその根源的なレベルで探求します。ピクセル分割、ビットレベルでの再構築、アルゴリズム変換、暗号化といったバイナリ演算を用いることで、オリジナルを視覚的なイメージとしてではなく、デジタル情報の構造として解釈します。この批判的な考察は、著作権、オリジナリティ、芸術の民主化、そして貪欲な商業主義の台頭といった問題提起をします。

このプロジェクトは、現代の文脈における固有の思考、知覚、そして物理的な構造の分析に焦点を当てています。古典的な日本美術から現代美術に至るまで、幅広い作品からインスピレーションを得ることで、美術史の連続性を尊重しています。そして、これらのオリジナル作品を「構造、知覚、情報システム」として再解釈しています。これらの作品は、すでに飽和状態にある視覚芸術の世界における「新しさ」という概念に疑問を投げかけ、さらなる探求のための出発点となるという歴史的な役割を果たします。

これらの作品は、クリエイティブ・コモンズ4.0ライセンスの下で無料のデジタルアートワークとして公開されています。

After:
12点の画像テーマのうち、6点は日本の古典絵画、浮世絵版画、仏像からインスピレーションを得ており、残りの画像はポスト印象派と現代アートに基づいています。ゴッホと浮世絵は、小島の作品における「After」というコンセプトに深く結びついており、彼の日本文化への深い造詣を反映しています。小島は特にゴッホのアプローチに惹かれました。それは単なる表面的な視覚描写を超え、被写体の複雑な心理構造に深く踏み込んだものでした。ゴッホが日記や手紙に記しているように、彼の模写は「西洋絵画の文法に翻訳する実験」であり、「自然と一体化した遠近法」を習得するための練習でした。ゴッホの「After」と題された絵画は、オリジナルの単なる模倣ではなく、その根底にある構造を明らかにすることを目的としています。このプロジェクトの作品である「after HIROSHIGE, after Vincent van Gogh」は、表面的なミームを超えたものです。オリジナルの構造を解読することや、美術史の連続性を認識することなど、複雑な要素を含んでいます。

Binary Interpretation::
プロジェクトは、それぞれ1分から5分程度の短い動画12本を掲載したウェブサイトです。このプロジェクトは、すでに飽和状態にある視覚芸術の分野において、「新しさ」という概念を探求するため、広く芸術作品とみなされているデジタル画像を、二進数レベルから出発点として用いています。このプロジェクトは、画像の暗号化というそれ以前のプロジェクトの継続として始められました。12本の動画はプロジェクトの試行錯誤の歴史を含んでいます。

始めに取り上げるアートワークは、「After」というテーマの基盤となった、広重とヴァン・ゴッホの2枚の画像から作成されています。他の10本の動画と同様に、この動画もカラーピクセルをランダムに再配置するアルゴリズムを使用しており、視聴者は元の画像の色彩構造が混沌とした状態から変化していく過程を目にすることになります。各ピクセルは4つの二進数単位で構成されており、すべての二進数データが整列して元の画像が形成されるまで、不整合によるグリッチが発生します。最後の動画デュシャンの「泉」は前のプロジェクトとの繋がりとして、ワンタイムパッドと呼ばれる暗号化技術の動画を置いています。

背景音はすべてRGBカラー値から生成されています。楽器は人間が耳で聞き取ることができる音域の、ほぼ全体をカバーするピアノを使用しています。アルゴリズム、データ、二進数コードといった目に見えないプロセスが、視聴者の知覚の枠組みを変容させ、世界に対する理解を更新します。動画は、このプロセスを時間経過とともに段階的に示し、コンピュータ技術という芸術を通して、意味や感情の根底にある論理が明らかになる瞬間を強調しています。アーティストの小島は、周囲の世界は混沌とした情報で満ちていると考えています。私たちはアルゴリズムや二進数データと同様に、感覚器官というフィルターを通して世界を構築しています。

History:
2023年、AIがビジュアル・アートに急速に影響を及ぼし始めた頃、アーティストの小島健治は、すでにある過去の具象画データを収集するためにAIを利用するだけでない、人間のアートの能力について考え始めました。彼はAIが人間とのコミュニケーションに利用できるものの、まだ活用されていないデータ構造について探究し始めました。アイデアの一つがバイナリデータを基本的な芸術素材として用いる、ワンタイムパッド暗号の使用です。この方法はデータサイズと同じサイズの乱数を用いて、XOR演算でデータを暗号化し、暗号化キーと暗号化データの2つのデータセットに分割します。これらの2つのデータセットを復号化することで画像が生成されます。

これは小島が2013年頃に取り組んでいた、サイファーアート・プロジェクト「Split/Merge AudioVisual」にヒントを得たものです。彼はこれを、ジョルジュ・スーラの点描画のように、視覚体験における色の混合に似ていると考えました。まずスーラの絵画の色を、暗号化と復号化のために2つの部分に分離することから始めました。さらに、点描画の影響を受けたゴッホの絵画にもこのアプローチを拡張し、古典画家レオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチの絵画を符号化する、プロジェクト「ダビンチ・コード」を始めました。

様々なワンタイムパッドを試した後、絵画の暗号化機能によって画面上に生成される色の粒子が、人間の目にはすべて似たような色調に見えることが、気になり始めました。バイナリーを画像の基礎として使用するという概念を維持しながら、絵画のピクセルカラーを画像全体にランダムに散布する方法を考案しました。さらに、人間が理解できる元の画像を再構築する過程で、「グリッチ」の概念を取り入れ、画像データのバイナリーが完全に揃うまで、復元されないようにする技術を採用しました。

Hide: Japanese / 日本語

Description:
Currently, all information is recorded in binary. The project "After / Binary Interpretation" explores the concept of "After (d'après)" in Van Gogh's work titles beyond mere imitation or stylistic quotation. Instead, it presents "After" as a manipulative act that deconstructs existing images into their underlying structures and reconstructs them through a distinct visual language. The project examines this concept as a perceptual and structural system in the digital age of the visualization of art. This approach is realized through expressions that utilize binary code and algorithms.

The advent of AI has democratized visual art, leading to the proliferation of anonymous memes and the rise of mass-appropriated art, where anyone can create works. This project focuses on the stage before images become fixed, exploring meaning at its fundamental level. Using binary operations such as pixel division, bit-level reconstruction, algorithmic transformation, and encryption, it interprets original works not as visual images but as information structures. This critical examination raises questions about copyright, originality, the democratization of art, and the emergence of greedy　commercialism.

This project focuses on analyzing the inherent thought, perception, and physical structures within the current context. It respects the continuity of art history by drawing inspiration from works spanning classical Japanese art to modern and contemporary art. The project reinterprets these original works as "structures, perceptions, and information systems." These works serve a historical role in challenging the notion of "newness" in the already saturated world of visual art, providing a starting point for further exploration. The project's website allows free downloads of authentic works from anywhere in the world.

These works are released as free digital artwork under the Creative Commons 4.0 license.

After:
Among the 12 image themes, 6 are inspired by Japanese classic paintings, Ukiyo-e prints, and a Buddhist statue, while Post-Impressionism and Conceptual Art influence the remaining images. Van Gogh and Ukiyo-e share a deep connection to the "After (d'après)" concept in Kojima's work, reflecting Van Gogh's profound connection to Japanese culture. Kojima was particularly drawn to Van Gogh's approach, which transcended mere superficial visual depiction and delved into the intricate psychological structure of his subjects. As Van Gogh documented in his diaries and letters, his reproductions were an "experiment in translating into the grammar of Western painting" and an exercise in mastering a "perspective integrated with nature." Van Gogh's paintings titled "After" are not mere imitations of the originals; instead, they aim to unveil the underlying structure. The works for the project, titled "after HIROSHIGE, after Vincent van Gogh," go beyond superficial memes. It involves intricate elements, such as deciphering the structure of the original and recognizing the continuity of art history.

Binary Interpretation:
This project is a website featuring 12 short videos, each lasting approximately 1 to 5 minutes. In the already saturated field of visual arts, this project explores the concept of "newness" by using digital images, widely considered works of art, as a starting point at the binary level. It began as a continuation of a previous project involving image encryption. The 12 videos document the project's history of trial and error. The works employ an algorithm that randomly rearranges color pixels, presenting viewers with a process where the color structure of the original image is reconstructed over time at the binary level, gradually revealing the original image from a chaotic state.

Each pixel is composed of four binary units, and glitches occur due to inconsistencies until all the binary data is aligned and the original image is formed. The last video, "Fountain," includes a connection to the previous project, utilizing an encryption technique called a one-time pad. The background sound is generated from RGB color values. The instrument is a piano with a range that covers almost all of the sounds that humans can hear. The invisible processes of algorithms, data, and binary code transform the viewer's perceptual framework and update their understanding of the world. The videos demonstrate this process step by step over time, highlighting moments where the underlying logic of meaning and emotion is revealed through the art of computer technology. Artist Kojima believes that the world around us is filled with chaotic information. We construct the world through the filter of our sensory organs, just as we do with algorithms and binary data.

The "passage of time" in binary units:
Witnessing the passage of time in binary units offers a unique experience. Unlike ordinary digital images optimized for instant human recognition, Kojima's project visualizes time as the "information construction process" itself, transforming the image into a logically organized and meaningful form.

This experience comprises three key elements:
1. Denial of Immediacy:
Traditional computer images are designed for instant human comprehension. However, Kojima's project defies this convention. Instead of immediate image display, viewers witness the "process of time passing in binary units."
2. Fragmented Glitch Animation:
Kojima randomly scatters pixels of an image, replacing the original binary data. Since pixels consist of multiple binary values, the image gradually changes as a fragmented glitch animation, rather than being restored all at once.
3. Waiting for Logical Consistency:
This process employs a method that refuses restoration until the image is completely organized (the binary data is perfectly aligned). By sharing the "waiting time" until a logical structure emerges from chaos, viewers experience the "binary logical structure" that forms the fundamental material of 21st-century art, not as a static image, but as a fluid progression of time.

In essence, witnessing time in binary units allows us to observe the "construction methods behind information" that are often overlooked. It introduces a new aesthetic sense rooted in digital data, offering a profound connection to the underlying processes of information creation.

History:
In 2023, as AI rapidly influenced visual art, artist Kenji Kojima began to contemplate the capabilities of human art, going beyond simply using AI to collect existing data from past figurative paintings. He explored data structures that AI could use for communication with humans, but which are not currently being utilized. One of the ideas that emerged was the use of a one-time pad cipher, employing binary data as the fundamental artistic material. This method encrypts data using an XOR operation with a random number of the same size as the data, splitting it into two datasets: the encryption key and the encrypted data. Decrypting these two datasets generates an image.

This method was inspired by Kojima's cipher art project "Split/Merge AudioVisual," which he worked on around 2013. He compared it to the mixing of colors in visual experience, similar to Georges Seurat's pointillist paintings. He began by separating the colors of Seurat's paintings into two parts for encryption and decryption. He further extended this approach to Van Gogh's paintings, influenced by pointillism, and started the "Da Vinci Code" project to encode the paintings of classical painter Leonardo da Vinci.

After experimenting with various one-time pads, Kojima noticed that the color particles generated on the screen by the painting's encryption function all appeared to have similar tones to the human eye. While maintaining the concept of using binary as the basis for the image, he devised a method to randomly scatter the pixel colors of the painting across the entire image. Furthermore, in the process of reconstructing the original image that humans can understand, he incorporated the concept of "glitch," employing a technique that prevents restoration until the binary data of the image is perfectly aligned.

Show: Kenji Kojima's Biography

Hide: Kenji Kojima's Biography

Kenji Kojima's Biography:
Kenji Kojima was born in Japan. He moved to New York in 1980 and began his artistic career. For the first 10 years in New York City, he painted contemporary egg tempera paintings using medieval art materials and techniques. He was strongly attracted to contemporary art but felt stuck in the future of modern civilization and art with excessive material value. He tried to experience the history of the creation of the European concept of art through actual materials and techniques, that is, the history of art that is not written in literature. He was particularly interested in the basic materials of painting, such as ground, pigment, and medium, rather than the visual theme. He noticed that as society developed, people's minds expanded, materials and tools advanced, and the visual arts changed. Citibank, Hess Oil, and others have collected his egg tempera paintings.

The personal computer improved rapidly during the 1980s. He felt more comfortable with computer art than paintings. Ecologically, he had felt guilty about wasting materials in the name of art. Working on the computer was clean, did not waste material, and made him feel lighter. In the early 1990s, he moved his artwork into the digital arts. He was particularly interested in developing interactive artworks. His early digital works were archived at the New Museum - Rhizome, New York. He studied computer programming himself. In 2007, he developed the computer software "RGB MusicLab" and created an interdisciplinary artwork that explores the relationship between images and music. He developed interactive software for his art but soon ran into a big problem. the software would not run on the new operating systems. He shot the artwork to video while the software ran on the operating system. He started making videos, not only about programming art but also about ecological issues in art by shooting videos. His digital art series has been shown at media art festivals worldwide, including Europe, South America, the Middle East, Asia, and the USA.

After COVID-19, he could not go out to shoot a video, but he found numerous archival artworks online. He launched a new series titled "The Musical Interpretation of Paintings" which transforms classical image data such as paintings, photographs, and films into music. Artist Kojima believes that the sensory organs construct the world by extracting only certain components from the chaos, such as visual and auditory information, like a filter. So we create our world with the "key" of the sensory organs as if we were deciphering a code. In 2023, "Bitwise Splitting and Merging of Pixels" began with the self-question, "With the development of generative AI, can we create visual art that is not an assemblage of past visual data? Currently, all media is recorded in binary form. This fact leads to the manipulation of color pixels using bitwise operations. He developed encryption and decryption projects based on classic paintings, including The Da Vinci Code, as well as a binary interpretation of Van Gogh's and Gauguin's time in Arles. He also started a participatory video art project called "This Planet Is Our Home," which focuses on the Anthropocene and ecology.
Kenji Kojima Resume

Open: Binary as Art Material (2007 - 2021) written by Kenji Kojima

Digital Art Exhibitions:
the USA: 2026-2025 The Wrong Biennale, Online & Offline / 2024 OtoZono at HEART, New York. / 2024 the New Media Art Space at Baruch College, New York. / 2024 All Street, New York / 2023, 2020 Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, USA. / 2023 THE ELASTIC MIND, BROWARD College, Weston, Florida. / 2023 SOJOURNER, New York, NY. / 2022 Asian American International Film Festival, New York, NY. / 2012, 2016 Light Year, Brooklyn, New York. / 2021 UNCG International Sustainability Shorts Film Competition, UNC Greensboro, NC, USA. / 2019 The Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery, New jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ. / 2019, 2016, 2015 Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, New York, NY. / 2018 The Exchange, Bloomsburg, PA. 2018 WhiteBox, New York, NY. / 2015 ACM SIGGRAPH Digital Arts Community. / 2014 MediaNoche, New York, NY. / 2008 AC Institute, New York, NY.

Europe: 2026 Listening Eyes, Flag: After Jasper Jones, Projet Betula, France, Online / 2025 Internationales Digitalkunst Festival 2025, Stuttgart, Germany / 2025 ON SCREEN 2025, Vienna, Austria / 2025 OPEN NIGHTS FESTIVAL Vol.10, Thessaly and Lárisa, Greece / 2025 Selected in the TAA (The Art Association) TAA Open Call Video Competition 2025 Final Candidates (2024 YouTube Exhibition), Geneva, Swiss / 2024 Profusion of Colors, A.E. Corner, Galleria di Tirano, Viale Italia / 2024 Summer of Anthropocene, The New Museum of Networked Art, Cologne, Germany / 2024 DIGITAL VIDEO ART INTERNATIONAL STREAMING FESTIVAL 'The films of the Official Selection 2024', Season 3 & 5, Vienna, Austria / 2024 Technocene Berlin Templehof, Germany. / 2024 Open Media Art, Košice, Slovakia / 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019 Ie Rencontres Internationales Traverse, Toulouse, France. / 2021 FEX comtemporary media art, Cologne, Germany. / 2020 Institut für Alles Mögliche, Stützpunkt Teufelsberg, Belrin, Germany. / 2019 The festival BINNAR, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal. / 2019 MADATAC X New Media Arts Festival, Madrid, Spain. / 2018 Athens Digital Arts Festival, Athen, Greece. / 2018 Mitte Media Festival, Berlin, Germany. / 2017 Simultan Festival, Timisoara, Romania. / 2016 Simultan Festival, Timisoara, Romania. / 2016 Brave New World Beyond the Wall, Berlin, Germany. / 2015, 2013 ESPACIO ENTER, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. / 2014 BRAVE NEW WORLD, Berlin, Germany. / 2011 Jyväskylä Art Museum, Jyväskylä, Finland. / 2010 PROCESS Festival, Berlin, Germany. / 2009 RE-NEW Digital Art Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark. / 2002 Free Manifest, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Brazil: 2025, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2016, 2012, 2011, 2010 FILE (Electronic Language International Festival) São Paulo, Brazil. / 2012 FILE RIO, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. / 2010 FAD (Festival de Arte Digital), Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

the Middle East: 2026 The Ras Al Khaimah Art Festival Biennale, United Arab Emirates / 2020, 2012 Istanbul Contemporary Art Museum, Turkey. / 2020, 2019 Paadmaan Video Event, Isfahan, Iran.

Asia: 2021 Thailand New Music and Arts Symposium, Bangkok, Thailand. / 2020 the 150th Anniversary Gandhi Event, Kolkata, India. / 2019 Capital Normal University College of Cape Cod, Beijing, China & China University of Mining and Technology Yinchuan College, Yinchuan, China. / 2018 Gunung Sunda Festival, Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia. / 2016 CeC 2016, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India. / 2010 Contemporary International New Media Art Invitational, Wuhan University of Technology, China.

Hide: Kenji Kojima's Biography