The chronophotograhic series of humans and animals in motion by Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) have inspired a significant number of 20th century experimental artists, beginning with figures like Marcel Duchamp and Umberto Boccioni, and including prominent filmmakers (Dziga Veyrov, Jean-Luc Godard) and videomakers (George Snow, Gabor Body). This "muybrigian" tradition has mostly been connected with modernist avantage, with its urge to stop the "mystifing" flow of images, and to establish a new "frozen" space for distanciation and analysis. The remarkable CD-ROM artwork Biomorph Encyclopedia by Nobuhiro Shibayama clearly stands out from this tradition. Shibayama's goal is less the deconstruction of movement in itself than the re-creation of a new synthetic experience. He combines elements from different cultural sources, including the creative use of contemporary morphing software.The result is surreal and bizarre. The user is invited to make choices from inventories of Muybridge's still images.
Reviewed by Erkki Huhtamo Professor of media studies, University of Lapland (Rovaniemi, Finland)
"Bio-Morph Encyclopediaは新しいテクノロジーによって可能になった新しい可能性を探る美しく魅力的な作品のCD-ROMである。" (レオナルド エレクトロニック アルマナック VOL.2 NO.12より)ステファンウィルソン
"Bio-Morph Encyclopedia is a beautiful and provocative work for CD-ROM that explores some new art possibilties made possible by new tecnologies." Stephen Wilson, San Francisco, CA (Leonardo Electronic Almanac Vol.2 NO.12)