Advancing a “mirror world” in collaboration with multiple creators to develop a database for applying wood, stone, and other materials as well as spatial and architectural designs to virtual spaces

Tokyo – Toppan, a global leader in communication, security, packaging, décor materials, and electronics solutions, has launched GEMINI Laboratory, a co-creation project for collaborating with a wide range of players to develop services related to the construction of a “mirror world” that faithfully recreates the real world in virtual spaces.

Toppan supplies décor materials with sophisticated designs that accurately reproduce textures such as woodgrain and stone. This expertise is being leveraged to create a database for applying the textures to virtual spaces such as a “mirror world” and the metaverse. As part of these activities, Toppan has launched GEMINI Laboratory, a project in which it will collaborate with various players, including artists, architects, researchers, and users, to discuss and test ideas for virtual spaces and advance their practical application in society.

The launch of the project will be accompanied by GEMINI Laboratory Media, a piece of owned media introducing the activities of GEMINI Laboratory and trends related to virtual spaces, and the GEMINI Laboratory Kickoff Event, featuring an overview of the project and a discussion on virtual spaces by a diverse panel of experts. In addition, the GEMINI Laboratory Exhibition will showcase experimental work produced with creators based on the project concept.

Background to the launch of GEMINI Laboratory

The amount of time people spend in digital spaces is increasing due to factors including the widespread use of social media driven by the ubiquity of smartphones. It is anticipated that further overlapping of the physical and digital realms will lead to a world in which we see borderless interaction between the real and the virtual. In the GEMINI Laboratory project, this is defined as a “mirror world.” GEMINI Laboratory has been launched to shape a world in which the digital and the real are connected and synchronized by forming a community of diverse players collaborating on research and dialogue on a “mirror world,” the metaverse, and other virtual spaces.

Toppan is advancing the development of a database to enable its woodgrain, stone, and other texture data as well as spatial and architectural designs to be applied to virtual spaces. Through the various activities of the co-creation project, Toppan also aims to provide spaces in which virtual and real spaces play off each other, making virtual worlds more a part of people’s everyday lives.

GEMINI Laboratory Kickoff Event

The GEMINI Laboratory Kickoff Event will explain the full scope of the GEMINI Laboratory project and feature a discussion by a wide range of experts on virtual spaces. In addition to Kevin Kelly, a leading thinker in the technology space, participants will include players at the forefront of diverse fields, including technology, art, and academia. Experts will discuss the possibilities for a “mirror world” that enables borderless interaction between the real and virtual worlds without being confined solely to visual perception. This dialogue will function as a launch pad for co-creation activities going forward.

Overview

-Date & time: October 6, 2022 14:00-18:30
-Offline venue: SHIBUYA QWS
Shibuya Scramble Square (East Building) 15th Floor
Shibuya 2-24-12, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
*By invitation only

-Online venue: YouTube LIVE (Free of charge)
-Details and information on how to apply, etc. : https://event.gemin1.xyz

Participants

Kevin Kelly, Mitsuhiro Takemura, Keisuke Toyoda, Tomoya Mori (Chini), Yasushi Sakai, SUNAKI, exonemo, Kazuki Takakura, Masahiro Yamaguchi, Ou Sugiyama, Natsuyo Chinsho, Keiichiro Hirano, Kyoko Tominaga, Arina Tsukada, Mariko Nishimura, and others (in no specific order)

GEMINI Laboratory Exhibition

The GEMINI Laboratory Exhibition will present works produced and curated by a variety of artists based on the GEMINI Laboratory concept and themed on the psychological and physical sensations resulting from the practical application of a “mirror world.” It will also feature prototype functional materials produced using the latest CAD and 3D printing technologies from Toppan’s IT research sections. GEMINI Laboratory and members of TOPPAN DIGITAL SANDBOX®, a hub for prototyping and experiments aimed at expanding digital transformation business, will demonstrate architectural models where virtual and real spaces come together.

Contributing creators

exonemo
exonemo is an art unit that makes use of anger, laughter, and text editors as they approach their work with a sense of hacking various media. exonemo was formed on the Internet in 1996 by SEMBO Kensuke and AKAIWA Yae. Since 2000 they have expanded their activities to real spaces, flexibly traversing networked and actual environments, and using humorous and fresh perspectives in numerous experimental projects.

Yasushi Sakai
Following work at the Nikken Sekkei Digital Design Lab, Yasushi Sakai is currently a research assistant and PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab. Exploring the relationship between people and technology, his research focuses on “the machines called cities.”

SUNAKI
SUNAKI is a collective led by architect Toshikatsu Kiuchi and designer/programmer Taichi Sunayama. It engages in planning, design, and production centered on architecture and art. SUNAKI’s unique approach is themed on the crossover between the digital and the physical from the perspectives of information and matter. SUNAKI handles a comprehensive range of projects from installation production to architectural design, exhibition planning, and venue composition, as well as from online space design to database construction.

Sputniko!
Sputniko! completed a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science at Imperial College London and a master’s degree in Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art (RCA). Since her time at the RCA, she has created multimedia installation works reflecting the way that humans and society change due to the influence of technologies. Recent major exhibitions in which Sputniko! has participated include Broken Nature (MoMA, New York) in 2020 and Future and The Arts (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo) and the Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial (Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York) in 2019.

Ayumi Kanno
Ayumi Kanno was born in Tokyo in 1994 and is currently in the final stages of a doctorate at the graduate school of Tokyo University of the Arts. She creates installations based on videos and drawings created by piecing together fragmented and seemingly unrelated memories of the same place, and also speculating why people have spun sight-specific folklore and ghost stories there.

misato
misato is a visual artist who studied graphics and art in London and began producing and considering 3D art as a form of artistic expression. misato explores the possibilities of the intersection of expression updated by technology and metaphorical, emotional expression.

Kensho Tambara
Born in Tokyo in 1992, Kensho Tambara is a writer and curator who graduated from Harvard University with a major in art history. After working as a writer in Boston, with his work focusing on performance related to rites of passage and rituals in modern communities, he returned to Japan in 2017 to work as a writer and curator. With his work, he aims to provoke change in the eyes of the viewer, centered on the creation of site-specific pieces and exhibitions.
-Venue: ANB Tokyo
Roppongi 5-2-4, Minato-ku, Tokyo
-Dates: October 14 to 25, 2022
-Opening times: 12:00—20:00
-Admission: Free of charge
-Additional information: The exhibition will be held in compliance with guidelines issued by relevant government authorities and Toppan’s guidelines on preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection.
October 14 18:00—20:00 by invitation only
-Details: https://exhibition.gemin1.xyz 

GEMINI Laboratory Media?
This is owned media for researching and disseminating information on the activities of GEMINI Laboratory and the possibilities of a “mirror world” and other virtual spaces.
https://gemin1.xyz 

Future plans

Through the activities of GEMINI Laboratory, Toppan will advance a “mirror world” enabling borderless interaction between real and virtual spaces and link it to its various metaverse solutions. Toppan will also create diverse technologies and products through co-creation with a variety of players active in multiple fields to drive the development of a database that enables its woodgrain, stone, and other texture data to be applied in virtual spaces. The communities and networks generated by GEMINI Laboratory will be leveraged to contribute to a society in which virtual spaces are a more common element of everyday life.