‘spring’, by ryuji nakamura and nobuhiro shimura, part of the canon ‘neoreal’ exhibition for milan design week 2012

for the fifth year, canon inc. presents its ‘neoreal‘ exhibition as part of milan design week 2012. titled under the theme of ‘neoreal in the forest’ the immersive installation is composed of two parts: ‘spring’, developed by japanese architect ryuji nakamura and video artists nobuhiro shimura, and ‘fall in pop’, a collaboration between mintdesigns fashion studio and nobuhiro shimura. both seek to express the ‘undeniable connection between the earth and the people who live upon it‘, showcasing the mystery and evolution of nature, under the exhibition direction of hikaru mori.

‘spring’ consists of a structure, measuring 8 meters in width by 5 meters in length and 2 meters tall, composed of latticed piano wire and unto which images depicting ‘the life-force that inhabits the forest’ will be projected. ‘spring’ makes use of WUX400 installation projectors with liquid crystal on silicon technology (LCOS) to display the images, which were taken with canon EOS 7D digital SLR cameras.

canon neoreal in the forest at milan design week 2012 - 2 diagram of latticework of ‘spring’, which comes to serve as a projection screen

canon neoreal in the forest at milan design week 2012 - 3 ‘fall in pop’ concept render, by mintdesigns and nobuhiro shimura for canon ‘neoreal’ at milan design week 2012

‘fall in pop’ comprises a screen structure formed from folded, overlapping cloth, upon which a cascade of colours will be projected. these images were captured with an EOS 7D DSLR camera, projected with canon WUX10 mark II LCOS projectors.

canon neoreal in the forest at milan design week 2012 - 4 concept model

canon neoreal in the forest at milan design week 2012 - 5 detail on concept material for the fabric screen

canon neoreal in the forest at milan design week 2012 - 6 ‘fall in pop’ uses abstracted photographic imagery to present a wash of colour

keep posted to designboom for our coverage of milan design week 2012, including ‘neoreal in the forest’, or see designboom’s features of the canon neoreal exhibition every year since its inception:

2011 – ‘wonder’ by torafu architects + WOW design 2010 – ‘prism liquid’ by akihisa-hirata and kyota takahashi 2009 – ‘animated knot’, ‘acquatic color’, and ‘online’, by akihisa hirata, takahiro matsuo, and hiroyuki fukushima 2008 – ‘passing on heritage’, ‘expanding possibilities’, and ‘the art of technology by tamae hirokawa, junya ishigami, and hikaru mori