Project: After Marcel Duchamp


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 Marcel Duchamp
The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even
6:00 / 2026




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




After Marcel Duchamp
Fountain / One-Time Pad
5:00 / 2025




Show: Japanese / 日本語
Hide: Japanese / 日本語

Description:
このビデオは、アーティスト小島健治のニューメディア・シリーズ「After Marcel Duchamp」です。あらゆる視覚情報がバイナリ形式で保存・処理される現代において、このプロジェクトはバイナリコードを単なる技術的基盤としてではなく、根源的な芸術的媒体として提示します。小島は、歴史的な様式を模倣したり、表面的な流用を行ったりするのではなく、画像そのものの構造的基盤を解体しようと試みます。彼はバイナリロジックを、美術史の次の段階への思想的かつ物質的な繋がりとして位置づけています。

21世紀において、画像の本質的な素材はもはや顔料やキャンバスではなく、バイナリロジックによって構造化されたデータです。現代のAIシステムは、膨大な既存の視覚データアーカイブを再結合することで画像を生成しますが、小島は異なるアプローチを採用します。デジタル・アプリケーションや生成AIを用いて画像を組み立てるのではなく、彼は視覚情報を計算の最も基本的な要素であるバイナリ単位に分解し、そのレベルで画像がどのように構築されるかを探求します。このアプローチは、表現から構造へ、視覚的な外観から情報アーキテクチャへと、関心を移していきます。

このプロジェクトは、断片化と再構築のプロセスを通して、この探求を視覚化します。小島は画像のピクセルを画面全体にランダムに散りばめ、色情報を分散させてから元のデータを2値単位で戻して行きます。各ピクセルはRGBAなどの複数の2値で構成されているので、画像は瞬時には表示されません。代わりに、断片的でグリッチのようなアニメーションとして徐々に現れます。2値データが完全に置き換わるまで、修復は意図的に遅らせられます。こうすることで、この作品は、多くのデジタル画像に見られる瞬時の認識という慣習を否定し、鑑賞者に2値単位で測られた時間の経過を体験させます。

この時間的次元こそが、この作品の核心です。即座に理解できるように最適化された完成画像を提示するのではなく、この映像は「情報の構築プロセス」そのものを明らかにします。鑑賞者は、散在したデータから一貫した形へと変容していく過程を目の当たりにし、混沌から論理的な一貫性が生まれるまでの時間を共に待ちます。そして、時間は情報プロセスとして可視化されるのです。

このビデオでは、この手法をマルセル・デュシャンの絵画「階段を降りる裸体」、「大ガラス」、そして「噴水(ワンタイムパッド)」に適用しています。同時に、サウンドコンポーネントは視覚データを音楽へと変換します。各ピクセルの赤、緑、青の値は12音階に変換され、MIDIピアノ曲として演奏されます。このように、画像と音はどちらもデジタルデータ構造から直接派生しており、このプロジェクトが素材としてのバイナリーに焦点を当てていることを改めて強調しています。

このアプローチの概念的な起源は、小島が以前に手がけたプロジェクト「Split/Merge AudioVisual」(2013年頃)に遡り、2023年頃の視覚芸術における人工知能の急速な発展を受けてさらに発展しました。AIは主に既存の画像を再結合しますが、小島は人間と機械のコミュニケーションを仲介する可能性のある、十分に活用されていないデータ構造を探求します。重要なインスピレーションの一つは、ワンタイムパッド暗号のロジックでした。ジョルジュ・スーラの点描画における色の混合に喩え、彼は絵画の色彩データを暗号化された情報と復号鍵という二つのグループに分けました。暗号化機能は論理的に有効な結果を生み出しますが、人間の目には最初は均一な、あるいは判読不能な色面として認識されます。正しい二値化によってのみ、認識可能なイメージが再び浮かび上がります。この手法は「噴水(ワンタイムパッド)」で適用されています。

この体験は三つの原則に基づいて構成されています。第一に、即時性を否定します。画像は即座に表示されるのではなく、一時的に保持されます。第二に、断片化を受け入れます。画面上に散在するピクセルは、滑らかな復元ではなく、グリッチのような遷移を生み出します。第三に、論理的な完結性を求めます。画像は二値化の一貫性が達成された場合にのみ再構成されます。このプロセスを通して、鑑賞者は現代の視覚文化の根底にある二値論理構造に遭遇します。それは抽象的な概念ではなく、知覚可能な時間的出来事としてです。

最終的に、時間を二値単位で観察することで、このプロジェクトはデータそのものに根ざした新たなデジタル美学を提示します。情報の背後に隠された構築方法に対するより深い認識を促し、人工知能時代の主要な芸術素材としてバイナリロジックを提案します。


Hide: Japanese / 日本語


Description:
The Digital Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Marcel Duchamp

This video is the artist Kenji Kojima's new media series, "After Marcel Duchamp." In an era where all visual information is stored and processed in binary format, this project presents binary code not merely as a technological foundation but as a fundamental artistic medium. Instead of imitating or superficially appropriating historical styles, Kojima aims to deconstruct the structural foundations of the image itself. He positions binary logic as an ideological and material connection to the next stage in art history.

In the 21st century, the essential material of an image is no longer pigment or canvas, but data structured by binary logic. While contemporary AI systems generate images by recombining vast archives of existing visual data, Kojima takes a different approach. Instead of assembling images using digital applications or generative AI, he decomposes visual information into binary units—the most basic elements of computation—and explores how images are constructed at that level. This approach shifts attention from representation to structure, from visual appearance to information architecture.

This project visualizes this exploration through a process of fragmentation and reconstruction. Kojima randomly scatters image pixels across the screen, dispersing color information before restoring the original data in binary units. Since each pixel is composed of multiple binary values, such as RGBA, the image does not appear instantaneously. Instead, it gradually appears as a fragmented, glitch-like animation. The restoration is intentionally delayed until the binary data is completely replaced. In this way, the work defies the convention of instant recognition common to many digital images and instead forces the viewer to experience the passage of time measured in binary units.

This temporal dimension is the core of the work. Instead of presenting a finished image optimized for immediate comprehension, the video reveals the "process of information construction" itself. The viewer witnesses the transformation of scattered data into a coherent form and participates in the time it takes for logical consistency to emerge from chaos. Time is thus visualized as an information process.

In this video, Kojima applies this technique to Marcel Duchamp's paintings "Nude Descending a Staircase," "The Large Glass," and "Fountain (One-Time Pad)." Simultaneously, a sound component transforms the visual data into music. The red, green, and blue values of each pixel are converted into a 12-tone scale and played as a MIDI piano piece. This way, both image and sound are directly derived from digital data structures, reinforcing the project's focus on binary as a material.

The conceptual origins of this approach date back to Kojima's previous project, "Split/Merge AudioVisual" (c. 2013), and were further developed in response to the rapid development of artificial intelligence in the visual arts, around 2023. While AI primarily recombines existing images, Kojima explores underutilized data structures that could potentially mediate human-machine communication. One key inspiration was the logic of one-time pad encryption. Drawing on the blending of colors in Georges Seurat's pointillist paintings, he separated the painting's color data into two groups: encrypted information and a decryption key. While the encryption function produces a logically valid result, the human eye initially perceives it as a uniform or indecipherable color field. Only through proper binarization can a recognizable image emerge again. This technique is applied in "Fountain (One-Time Pad)."

This experience is based on three fundamental principles. First, it rejects immediacy. Images are not displayed instantaneously but are temporarily held. Second, it embraces fragmentation. Scattered pixels across the screen create glitch-like transitions instead of smooth restoration. Third, it strives for logical completeness. Images can only be reconstructed once the consistency of binarization is achieved. Through this process, viewers encounter the binary logical structure underlying contemporary visual culture—not as an abstract concept but as a perceptible temporal event.

Ultimately, by observing time in binary units, this project proposes a novel digital aesthetic rooted in data itself. It fosters a deeper awareness of the hidden constructions behind information and positions binary logic as a primary artistic material in the era of artificial intelligence.


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: 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


The videos are free to share
and download without permission.

You can show it without permission. If you appreciate the video as art, you can donate any amount from $1.00 to the artist. Even if you don't approve, you can keep it. However, as you've already determined, it lacks artistic value.


After Marcel Duchamp / Downlaod
The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even / 6:00 / 2026
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 / 6:00 / 2026
Fountain / One-Time Pad / 5:00 / 2025


Creative Commons License   This site's videos are licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Credit must be given to the creator.


Please Click and Support Kenji Kojima's Artworks.

Scan and Donate.

日本からのドネーションはここをクリック。
日本から任意の金額のドネーションはできません。




https://kenjikojima.com/
Email: index@kenjikojima.com