Manuel Fadat : First, as an artist, what is the relationship you have with « new technologies », in general ?

Rui Sasaki : New technologies give me new ideas and concepts for my work but I do not like being obsessed with them to make my work.

MF : Which new technologies you use, in life, in your works, and why did you choose these new technologies ?

RS : I am not sure that you consider tape LEDs as new technologies but they make my work possible under my ideas, especially for my installation work. I had a problem to use light resources before I started using tape LEDs because I do not want to show light devices in my work without my intention. There are not only a number of colors, sizes, shapes of tape LEDs but also they need a little electric usage and affordable. That gives me more options to think about my installation work. I often use tape LEDs to light up my installation work. Also, I use UV tape LEDs for the process of gluing for my work.

MF : Can we say that new technologies influence the form, the meaning (or they are tools, only) ?

RS : Yes, we can. New technologies guide us new insights of working with material, especially glass. It is important for me to think about process as the same as final products. I am interested in seeing and exploring their process and mechanism of new technologies.

MF : What do you think about the use of new technologies (digital technologies, new media) in glass arts and design ?

RS : There are always good and bad sides. As I said before, new technologies expand possibilities of our ideas. However, it is crucial for us to think carefully how we would like to use them. New technologies easily attract to our attentions to make artworks in general but they might take away and miss what our actual interests are. New technologies might be risky to combine artwork and design sometimes.

MF : What can you say about the impact of new technologies in glass creations and design today ? Do you think that new technologies can enrich the glass creation (aesthetic, artistic, formal, dimensions) ?

RS : The impact of new technologies means a lot towards glass creations and design today. The development of glass creations and new technologies is always next to each other. We will be able to make much bigger size of artwork and design with glass if glass does not need to be annealed with new technologies. We will be able to touch glass with thin gloves like surgery gloves with new technologies if someone invents special gloves using them. On the other hands, we might miss the aspect of nature of glass.

MF : Which are the limits in the use of digital technologies in glass art today ?

RS : Accessibility in terms of price and the size of devices.

MF : May be could you give us some relevant examples of artists, works or experiments ?

RS : Takashi Sasaoka, Kim Harty, Yoshioka Tokujin, Luke Jerram, Random International (team), Roni Horn, Erin Dickson...

Image : Rui Sasaki, Subtle Intimacy, (detail).