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California lemon sings a song Kaoru Motomiya TRANZ <> TECH: TORONTO INTERNATIONAL MEDIA ART BIENNIAL October 9 - 12, 2003

"Electronic Arts usually need plug-in sockets. But this piece does not need them because the work itself can generate electricity. When I face electronic arts, I consider power generation, not just electricity consumption. Also, I think foods in an ecosystem are like joints of a circulatory system. Thus recently I have been paying attention to food culture and use local foods for my art works." Kaoru Motomiya Kaoru Motomiya's "California lemon sings a song" is a deceptively uncomplicated sound installation. Closer scrutiny reveals solid conceptual considerations, an awareness of the local context, a purposeful installation arrangement and highly developed aesthetics. Through her personal alchemy, each of these visible and invisible elements contributes to a captivating, elegant work of art. The lemons might sing a quiet song, but it is wise to listen as beyond the generated sound, Motomiya surveys and contemplates a wide range of issues such as electrical networks, power, biology, food, and ecosystems. In our spectacular high technology-art warehouse venue at ISEA2002 in Nagoya, Japan or the storefront of Videomedeja, Novi Sad, Serbia she has received the highest merit: the best audience favoured work of each event. Nina Czegledy I think foods in ecosystem are joints of circulatory system. Thus recently I have been paying attention to food culture and use local foods for my art works. When I worked in California, I thought: Let lemons whisper a song using their acid as battery. I found Japanese characters "Export Japan special" on the box of lemons, which I brought there. When we ingest foods from remote areas, our body may assimilate, switch, mediate with unknown culture, in different phases from those of politics or economy. Local farm products tell me a lot about the places, such as clime and history. Outside - people often misunderstand local information but it sometimes can lead to a deeper understanding. It looks the same in TV commercials of such famous company Sunkist amplify the fictional Californian image among Japanese People. But a Californian said to me: "The best lemons are Floridian." Bio Born in 1963, Tokyo-based visual artist Kaoru Motomiya graduated in printmaking from Musashino Art University. She has had numerous exhibitions worldwide and has participated in and lectured at symposiums. She is a member of the Japan Society of Medical History and has collaborated with scientists at the Medical Museum of Tokyo University. She has been involved with artist-in-residence programs in Japan, Canada, USA, Canada and Australia. After receiving her Bunkacho grant, Motomiya spent September 2002 to August 2003 as artist-in-residence at the Newhouse Centre for Contemporary Art in Snug Harbour, New York. Video work from her residency was exhibited at the Centre from June to August 2003. Motomiya has won several art awards, including the Philip Morris Art Award at the Tokyo International Forum 1998, and recently, the video installation award at the Video Medeja 2003 in Serbia/Montenegro. Her latest work focuses on environments that examine issues of extinct animal species and deforestation. Nina Czegledy is an independent media artist, curator and writer who has collaborated on international projects, been producing digital works, and leading and participating in international workshops, forums and festivals for the last decade. Digitalized Bodies, Virtual Spectacles, developed by Czegledy, centers on the changing perceptions of the human body and was presented as a series of on-line and on-site events in Canada, Hungary and Slovenia (2000- 2003). She is the Canadian curator for Points of Entry, the first Canadian/Australian/New Zealand digital arts collaboration currently touring Australia. Czegledy has curated over 20 media art/video programs presented in over 30 countries, and has published widely both in Europe and North America.