The 103rd Installment
Thinking about Tools, Workshops, and the Body

by Junichi Kanebako,
Assistant Professor, Master Program of Innovation for Design and Engineering

I joined this university in the spring, and I was blessed with an opportunity to hold a workshop not long after.

In the workshop, entitled "Clap Detection Light Drawing Workshop," we used clap detection lights, which generate energy from claps and light up LEDs, and clapped in front of cameras in order to print photos of the light.

What made me think of (or, rather, made me notice) this tool was a random comment from someone to the effect that "wouldn't it be neat if we could see a clap even in darkness" when I was doing research into music and the hard of hearing, which I am still engaged in now.

I didn't know what he was talking about at first, but when I started thinking about the environment at concerts, there is often a spotlight on the performers and the audience is in darkness. This makes it difficult to see and hear the audience clapping, making it hard for the performers to know if people are into the rhythm.

After wondering for a moment how I managed to never notice that, I immediately got to work on making a prototype device.

I first thought about a mechanism for generating energy from claps.

Entering "impact energy power generation" in an online search field, pressing enter, and clicking a few times will got me right to the principle I needed.

Once I learned that it's apparently possible to use piezoelectric elements to convert striking energy to electrical energy, I made a beeline to Akihabara.

I bought some piezoelectric elements and the LEDs at an electrical parts store and wasted no time finding a dimly-lit alley to test it out. I imagine it was quite the rare scene for passersby.

And wouldn't you know it, pressing the LED leads against the piezoelectric elements and bending them actually produced light.

Wanting to get my hands on LED lights, next I dashed off to the ¥100 store.

I rifled through all sorts of things and came upon a small hairband that would fit on my finger.

After getting home, I took a hot glue gun and unskillfully glued the LEDs and piezoelectric elements to the hairband. I then put the hairband on my finger and tried hitting it against my other hand.

Nice, I thought. The LEDs light up when I clap and don't come off of my finger because of the hairband.

This is how the clap detection light got started.

I then started taking steps to get the tool produced. After numerous revisions, it is now being used for cheering on people concerts, wedding venues, public sports games, and other such events, putting smiles on many faces.

The clap detection light was finished in 2011, and in that same year Japan was hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

I was making artworks that used projectors and other components at the time, and I remember feeling how vulnerable media art was when society's lifelines were suddenly interrupted.

I wondered if there was a way to make pieces without relying on such lifelines, and resolved to make a statement with the clap light.

Many people in the past had come up with drawings that used light, but I saw what I was doing—making pieces using energy from people’s claps—as something new, and by exploring this further I would showcase the possibilities for a new kind of drawing.

Clapping is known around the world as an expression of positive emotion used when cheering for or praising something. My idea for the workshop, which would involve using one's own willpower and body movements to imprint positive emotions onto a photo, would have participants practice a method of expression different from existing drawings.

I chose Ishinomaki as the venue for the first ever Clap Detection Light Drawing Workshop. At the risk of tooting my own horn, here is an excerpt from the Ishinomaki Clap Drawing Project concept.

"Since March 11, 2011, we have begun rethinking the connection between people and electrical energy. With media art having come to rely on electrical energy as a lifeline, I believe we must now think about the energy problem through the lens of art.

I chose Ishinomaki as the venue for the workshop held in 2012. The children living in Ishinomaki understand the "uncertainty" of the lifelines that were interrupted in an instant—lifelines that they had previously taken for granted. The energy that we can see beyond that uncertainty—the life energy that sustains each of us—will forever shine as we continue to clap. Use your own body to make art, and think again about the connection between people and electrical energy."

This workshop makes a person think about the many things they can learn using their body.

People will spend 30 seconds taking a single photo. The process involves leaving the camera shutter open and taking photos using a method called long exposure. Clapping meaninglessly in front of a camera is pretty amusing and fun. Clapping without any reason seems to somehow cheer a person up after they do it a while.

After the photos are taken, everyone looks at the one photograph and says things like "Hey, that's your light!" or "That's me in the upper right —I know because there's lots of blue lights." The photo stimulates conversation. This gives people a chance to reflect on the cause and effect relationship between how one moves their body and what shows up in a photo. Once you understand the relationship, you can start using strategies that involve different ways of moving one's body while clapping. This workshop lets people communicate with their bodies, sharing and enjoying the results with others. You can do it over and over and discover new things every time, and in the process find new bodily movements and visual expressions. The experience makes you consider that people think about things not with their head but with their bodies. Thinking about how to create art through the skillful use of a tool known as a clap light ends up changing how the body moves.

I look to create tools and environments that make people do certain things without realizing it, and that is the focus of my everyday R&D work. Although I work for the university as a faculty member, I gain a great many things from my students. Those things then inspire me to create new things. Make, touch, and think—these keywords form the core of the kind of manufacturing education I want to provide at this university.