From ancient days, Japanese culture viewed beauty as the assimilation of the practical and aesthetics, in other words, technology and art, which is reflected in everyday products. Called Wabi Sabi, it is a sophisticated view of finding beauty in nature through repeated efforts to stabilize the disparity between complexity and simplicity. According to media theory, when TV came into Japanese lives, mass media lulled the viewers into the mediocrity of middle class values, away from the refined perspective on nature. Now, with IoT and AI creating a totally computational and ultra-connected society, a new world that blends the artificial and nature evolves. We will take a look from the 1970’s to the present and present a new theory on nature through the point of view of a redefined Wabi Sabi.

Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.