Akiyoshi Kitaoka

The majority of the members of the Screening Committee have concurred that the gold prize should go to the work of Prof. A. Kitaoka, Department of Psychology, College of Letters, Ritsumeikan University, who believes that a visual illusion lies behind every beauty. Normally the optical illusion means misperception. However, a visual illusion is a phenomenon whereby the gap between "reality" and "perception" causes the whirl of the brain. As soon as we visit the website of Prof. Kitaoka, we are greeted with "Rotating snakes" illusions which make us dizzy. We are indeed overwhelmed by his magic. There, you can find a wealth of the artistic work on this IT page and really enjoy yourself.

Prof. Kitaoka has produced artwork from his visual illusions which differ completely from such classic illusions and created a world of magic quite removed from previous illusory phenomena. The "Rotating snakes," to which I have referred in the above, is the most fascinating illusion in that concentric snake patterns, which would never normally move, start moving all of a sudden. Inspired by the Fraser-Wilcox illusion, Prof. Kitaoka created this illusion by adjusting form, brightness and color.

Prof. Kitaoka dealt with the relationship between color and the work of illusions as follows: he carried out a detailed analysis of the impact made by the complementary basic elements of the combinations of yellow and blue and red and green respectively on the "Rotating snakes" illusion and came to the following conclusions: i) color raised the effect of illusions, ii) the yellow-blue combination was more effective, but iii) the difference in brightness was more significant than the effect of complementary color. (This means the rotation effect works also for colorblind persons.)

His profile

Francesca Casadio, Richard P. Van Duyne and Alyson V. Whitney

The prize winning piece is a product created by one expert from the realm of art and two experts from the realm of science.

Dr. Francesca Casadio started her spectroscopic analysis of pigments employed in old artifacts at the Art Institute of Chicago. This fact indicates that her encounter with Prof. Van Duyne meant a great deal to her career. Prof. Van Duyne is a well-known scholar in the forefront of the field of spectroscopy, particularly Raman spectroscopy. The Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) technique, which has enhanced sensitivity and which was used in this work, is originally based upon his idea. Without this technique, it would have been impossible to carry out an ultra-microanalysis of old pigments as proposed in this work.

Visible spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray spectroscopy and neutron spectroscopy are the traditional techniques used in analyzing coloring materials of old paintings. Which spectroscopic technique should be used depends upon whether the coloring materials are pigments (inorganic substances) or dyestuffs (organic substances). In either case the mission is to complete such analysis while minimizing any damage to old artifacts. In that sense, nondestructive analysis or ultra trace elemental analysis is required. Nondestructive analysis of robust pigments was relatively easy. However, generally speaking, it was difficult on organic dyestuffs because they were prone to be destroyed when subjected to light or X-ray. Another difficulty of dye analysis lay in the fact that color rapidly faded with light or acidification, making it nearly impossible to identify color, let alone a coloring material, in some cases.

The Raman scattering technique has attracted significant attention as a way to solve these issues for some time in that it includes a significant number of fingerprint peaks and surpasses other techniques in terms of its capabilities to identify organic substances. There were two difficult problems, however: low sensitivity and the deterrent factor of spontaneously measured fluorescence. These two problems have been solved in this piece of work. Firstly, a minute quantity of dyestuff collected from the surface of an artifact was placed on a glass plate, to which silver particles were applied with an electron beam evaporation technique. Subsequently, the process of Raman scattering was administered under the microscope. This represents, in fact, the application of SERS, which is the specialty of Prof. Van Duyne, and has proven that the two abovementioned problems can be admirably solved. Consequently, they succeeded in the analysis of dyestuffs, in particular, red dyestuffs produced from lacquer, cochineal and madder and the ultra trace elemental analysis of dyestuffs such as alizarin, purprin, carmacic acid, carminic acid, lacchaic and brazilane with very high levels of accuracy and sensitivity.

We expect this technique to enliven the analysis of colors used in old paintings like a breath of fresh air

Their profiles

Kenji Kohiyama, Masahiko Morita and Tatsuya Saito

This piece of work is a proposal made for the total system of the three-dimensional shooting method and representation method of insects. This system is active on the Micro Archiving website, where anyone can play with the 3D images of insects interactively through an information technique. A long-horned beetle (Xylotrechus chinensis) in vivid brown and red colors looks as if it is flying out of the screen. Such an image reminds us of the progress actually attained in our era.

Nowadays color photographs of insects are widely available. Why was the "Micro Archiving" work supported by the Screening Committee? As a matter of fact, it is absolutely impossible to take a photograph resembling the above-stated deformed image of an insect with a normal camera. If an insect is photographed at very close distance, there is no focal point from the head to the tail. Prof. Kohiyama has solved this problem with multi-focused image capturing. In other words, an insect is cut longitudinally along the vertebrate axis from the head to the tail and reconstructed into a three-dimensional representation. Metaphorically, this may be called an image of a slice of an insect. When this data are available, a deformed insect image can be represented on a two-dimensional print by focusing all points, choosing an angle and adjusting the enlargement ratio based upon the data. In fact, this piece of work has enabled us to discover that a two-dimensional image can create a 3D-like image, depending upon how the deformation is made.

Their profiles

Go Inaba, Jun Tamaoki and Masahiro Nakamura

Three graduate students from Arts and Design and Information and Engineering System at the University of Tsukuba constructed a device which automatically blows out soap bubbles, which are then used as screens to project images. We are told that because smoke is encapsulated in the soap bubble, it is easier to track the position of the bubble with a camera and an image also becomes clearer when the bubble is used as a screen. What this device can do is to enable people to engage in dialogue with soap bubbles. In other words, they have added an ingenious contrivance that catches the movement of a person extending his/her hand and changing the form and color of the image. In particular, it is very entertaining to watch the instant when a person pricks a bubble. In fact, rainbows are projected in tune with the spread of smoke, which doubles our astonishment.

All people, men and women, young and old, will be able to have a great time in the world of soap bubbles which change color. It is an entertaining device that allows all to have a charming time.

Their profiles