Sonic Vibrations From Japan Turn Boring Liquids Into Magic

Still from Sound of IKEBANA: Four Seasons, Winter

In 1936, MIT professor Harold "Doc" Edgerton captured the first ‘high speed’ image of the phenomenon he named a “Milk Drop Coronet.” Suddenly the world realized how much beauty was living in those split seconds that we miss every day (and probably in that morning coffee). While Edgerton’s iconic photography needed a little help from a strobe light, artists today can continue the tradition of exploring this liquid beauty with true high-speed technology.

One of Harold Edgerton’s‘Milk Drop Coronets,’ this one from 1957

A continued fascination with the shapes formed by surface tension has led artists to continue to explore the possibilities that liquids hold for art making. Today we’re sighing over Naoko Tosa’s Sound of IKEBANA series--a dynamic burst of spring color is definitely what we need in this week’s stretch of endless slush.

Still from Sound of IKEBANA: Four Seasons, Spring

Still from Sound of IKEBANA: Four Seasons, Summer

Tosa draws her inspiration from the Japanese art of Ikebana--a minimalist and disciplined form of flower arranging. Ikebana techniques focus on the whole form of the plant and carefully consider line and overall form. Tosa’s videos propose a modern era of Ikebana practice using new techniques and materials. She explains:

"Sound of IKEBANA" is a collection of new types of video artworks which are created by shooting Ikebana-like shaping, generated by giving sound vibration to liquid such as pastel color, oil, etc., by a high-speed camera. This new type of ikebana…is created by capturing beauty of a physical phenomenon by shooting it with a high-speed camera of 2000 frames/second.“

Still from Sound of IKEBANA: Four Seasons, Autumn

Each frame is full of motion, yet surprisingly still and calm. The forms bring to mind stretching branches, blossoms, snow, leaves, and cherry trees.

Check out the hypnotic video for Sound of IKEBANA: Four Seasons, Spring below:

Still from Sound of IKEBANA: Four Seasons, Spring

Still from Sound of IKEBANA: Four Seasons, Summer

Still from Sound of IKEBANA: Four Seasons, Spring

Still from Sound of IKEBANA: Four Seasons, Spring

Here’s Sound of IKEBANA projected onto the exterior of Singapore’s blossom-shaped Art Science Museum in January 2014:

While most of the sound-based splashing we’ve been experiencing lately has been plunging into calf-deep sinkholes of city dirt/ice/saltwater while taxis honk at us, now we’ll try to imagine the tiny trees forming inside each terrible step. If you can’t get enough of liquids blooming into floral gorgeousness (and who could blame you), check out our recent chats with artists Fabian Oefner and Jack Long.

All images are courtesy of the artist and can be found at the Sound of IKEBANA website.