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Binary Interpretation of Early Development Photography:
Inspired by Early Development Photography, Kenji Kojima delves into the concept of interpreting images in binary terms—an idea deeply ingrained in our contemporary era of digital expression. The roots of photographic technology can be traced back to the Renaissance with the camera obscura. However, it was not until the 19th century that techniques like the daguerreotype, ambrotype, and tintype emerged, enabling the fixation of images and profoundly shaping visual culture.
This project reinterprets early photographic techniques through the lens of digital technology. By employing processes such as particle decomposition, random reconstruction, and digital glitches, He challenges conventional notions of "truth" and "originality" in visual art. The video screen is divided into vertical sections, each presenting distinct modes of transformation. In one section, a cryptographic method known as the one-time pad encrypts the color data of the image by applying a bitwise XOR operation with random numbers, effectively separating the image into two parts: the code and the key required for its decryption. Other sections showcase gradual visual transitions where photographic images are broken down into color particles, randomly rearranged, and recomposed into a unified field of visual noise and order.
Digital glitches arise from the misalignment of binary overlays—layers of "0"s and "1"s—disrupting the smooth surface of the image. Simultaneously, sound is generated directly from the image's color data, creating an interplay between visual and auditory perception.
Drawing inspiration from Georges Seurat's pointillism, the project juxtaposes organic and algorithmic processes. In the 21st century, all information exists within a binary framework. This work bridges the gap between 19th-century photographic practices and contemporary digital technologies, inviting reflection on themes of visual memory, authorship, and the evolving nature of artistic creation in the age of AI and algorithms.
Digital art stands out for its limitless reproducibility, a feature that sets it apart from traditional art forms. This video, for instance, can be freely shared and disseminated, highlighting the potential of digital art in a world where physical artworks can be endlessly duplicated. In such a scenario, the market-driven monetary value of physical artworks may diminish. By eliminating these constraints, digital art offers fresh possibilities, redirecting the focus from ownership and capital to the experiential and conceptual aspects of art itself.
The motivation for this project came from the old photograph of Billy the Kid. There's a film, "The Left Handed Gun" (1958), directed by Arthur Penn and starring Paul Newman. It depicts the life of Billy the Kid. In a famous photo of Billy the Kid, he's holding a gun in his left hip, which led to the widespread belief that he was left-handed. However, this theory was later revised to say that he was right-handed. The theory goes that the photographer turned the glass negative upside down, reversing the image. But the photo that remains isn't a glass negative; it's an early photographic technique called a tintype. Tintype involves applying a photosensitive material to a thin steel plate (not a tin plate). Unlike regular photography, a positive type is created directly, similar to a Polaroid. Only one photograph is produced, and the left and right sides are reversed. Tintypes were often taken by traveling photographers rather than studio photographers. They were very popular in the pioneer days of America because they were inexpensive and easy to mail. When viewed in the context of modern media art, they can be considered the precursors to today's social media and image sharing.
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
Digital Art Exhibitions:
the USA: 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 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: 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.
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