Yielding

Colors in the Haze / Yumi Nishihara, Yasuaki Kakehi - Photo: Yumi Nishihara

Yielding

Flow, Form, Flux

Yasuaki Kakehi Lab., The University of Tokyo (JP)

This exhibition presents three installations that center on the act of yielding—not as an assertion, but as a quiet gesture expressed through the behavior and relationships of driven fluids. Using liquid as a perpetually transforming medium, the works explore the entanglement of three interwoven states: Flow, Form, and Flux.
Flow is a smooth movement accompanied by order.
Form is a structure or contour that emerges briefly within the continuity of change.
Flux is the unending process in which such forms waver, dissolve, and return to transformation.

Colors in the Haze is a kinetic work where materials bend with water vapor while also shifting its color. The colors are not fixed but emerges from the interplay between material, light, and the environment—each motion revealing a quiet, momentary narrative.

Entangled Liquidities shows colored liquids flowing silently through twisted tubes, driven by electrohydrodynamic (EHD) pumps. Subtle, entangled rhythms arise, where stillness and motion meet.

Living Lens features droplets moving like living creatures under the control of electrowetting. Light is shone through the droplets’ ever-changing shapes, revealing a delicate play between fluidity and control.

Rather than depicting chaos, the exhibition offers a quiet invitation to yield—to embrace transformation. Visitors are invited to stand among these fluid forms and gently sense their own shifting states.

  • Colors in the Haze

    Yumi Nishihara (JP), Yasuaki Kakehi (JP)

    In this work, materials slowly shift their form with the flow of water vapor, causing its color to change depending on its bent angle. This work treats color not as a fixed attribute, but as a phenomenon that arises through the relationship between material, light, and the environment.

  • Entangled Liquidities

    Takafumi Morita (JP), Tomoka Kurosawa (JP), Yumi Nishihara (JP), Yasuaki Kakehi (JP)

    In this kinetic installation, liquid flows silently up and down through intricately twisted and interwoven tubes. Segments of colored liquid trace subtle variations shaped by layered channels. Viewers encounter behaviors born from the interplay of entangled pathways and the silent motion.

  • Living Lens

    Mai Ohira (JP), Takafumi Morita (JP), Yasuaki Kakehi (JP)

    This work is a kinetic and lighting installation in which droplets of water silently and continuously glide, never maintaining a fixed shape. The interplay between precise control and the inherent materiality of water reveals the textures that emerge in the space between technology and fluid.

Credits

Exhibition Director: Yasuaki Kakehi I Artists: Colors in the Haze: Yumi Nishihara, Yasuaki Kakehi I Entangled Liquidities: Takafumi Morita, Tomoka Kurosawa, Yumi Nishihara, Yasuaki Kakehi I Living Lens: Mai Ohira, Masanobu Kanazawa, Takafumi Morita, Yasuaki Kakehi I Special Thanks: Eiji Iwase, Shingo Maeda, Yu Kuwajima Supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Number JP24H00708) and JST ACT-X Grant Number JPMJAX22KI.

Please note: The program for the Ars Electronica Festival 2025 is still in progress.
We are currently preparing all the information for the website and plan to put the full program online in the coming days – stay tuned!