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YUIKO RÁYKA

SELFVERSE

ARTWORK OVERVIEW

SELFVERSE

"SELFVERSE" is a viewer-participatory and co-creative light installation work.
The viewer uses a flashlight to shine light on reflective materials (aurora film, hologram sheets, mirror balls, etc.)  placed in the dark exhibition space, and the illusionary reflections are projected onto the walls and ceiling. Viewers will be pleasantly surprised by the beautiful scene that suddenly appears, as if by magic.

Viewers will be able to take the reflective materials and freely reconfigure them to create their own unique reflections while enjoying various experiments.  Collaborating with other viewers, they will be able to integrate and expand their own worlds. This creative world of unlimited possibilities, created by each viewer, is called "SELFVERSE" in this work.

The essence of this work is this very structure.

This work invites viewers to interact, contemplate, and investigate the process of visual creationThe analogue interaction, without any programming or digital equipment, will result in a one-of-a-kind creation by the viewers. This open-ended, unlimited, simple, fun and playful experiential installation will ignite the imagination of people of all ages.

The artist believes that this light-experimentation as an art medium provides an opportunity to enhance self-expansion powered by one's own creativity.

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ARTIST STATEMENT
 

I have consistently attempted to express the unknown possibilities that we as humans all possess and the wonder of our individual existence through my artworks. In this work "SELFVERSE," the viewers are not as static bystanders but an active force,  joyfully experiencing the sparkle of his or her own potentiality.
 

The idea for this work came to me in 2018, when I was experimenting with light.
If one were to ask who is the first person to be moved by an artist's creative discovery or product (work of art), I believe it is undoubtedly the artist him/herself. Artists can feel themselves and their  world expanding through  their creations. It is the great joy for an artist to feel the possibility of going beyond what he or she has ever had.

It occurred to me that I could share this experience of creative excitement and joy with others, using ideas I had gained from my light experiments. This work, in which illusionistic scenes are magically created by the viewer's own hands, is a simple device of shining light on reflective materials that can directly affect the creativity of the viewer. Also, I have a philosophy that "what exists in my world is a projection of my consciousness and state of mind. Depending on the state of consciousness and mind, and the actions that accompany it, we can create a reality that corresponds to it. In this work, the viewer can take the reflective materials and freely reconfigure them to experiment with light as he or she wishes. I believe that through this experiment, the viewer can experience the creation of his or her own world and a simulated experience of its management. In the summer of 2018, a few months after the idea was conceived, a prototype of this work was presented in my independent project titled "Create the Universe, Play in the Universe."
Seeing the viewers, in other words, the participants IN and OF the work, enjoying and immersing themselves in their creation, convinced me that the most important element of this work is the "people". We all have our own wonderful creative universe. We can develop that universe, merge it with the universes of others, and expand it infinitely. The actions of the participants in this work, their collaboration with each other, and the world woven by their light, are the very embodiment of this.  In this work, it is also possible for the participants to create beyond my imagination as the artist of this work. The "individuals" of the artist, the work as a medium, and the participants will gently dissolve the barriers between them and unite in the creation of an infinite universe. This is what this work is.


We have entered a new era. Having experienced many hardships and changes in recent years, I believe that we are called upon to evolve spiritually for the new era. Each of us can powerfully create our own reality by awakening our own true potential. It is my hope that this work, SELFVERSE, will contribute to awakening people for the future. We will use our creativity and potential to create the new era.


Yuiko Ráyka, 2023

Past Exhibitions for SELFVERSE
2023  "MUSIC IS・SELFVERSE" (Art Yī, Brussels)

2022  "SELFVERSE: The Beyond" at the Beautiful World Exhibition (Kawamura Noh-Theater, Kyoto)
2022  Solo presentation "SELFVERSE: Sparkling Heart" at the CONTEXT Art Miami (Miami)

2022  Seattle Art Fair (Seattle)
2021  Solo Exhibition "INTO THE SELFVERSE" (Gallery G-77, Kyoto)
2018  "Create your Universe"
 at The World of The Small and Big Universe Exhibition  (Daizenin-Temple Gallery, Kyoto)

Exhibition shots

VIEWERS' IMPRESSIONS

Viewers' impressions from the artist talk at YUIKO RÁYKA Exhibition "INTO THE SELFVERSE"
December 22, 2021, Gallery G-77, Kyoto. Interviewer: Izuru Mizutani.

About the artist

YUIKO RÁYKA

Japanese contemporary artist, born and currently lives in Tokyo, Japan.

Her body of work is to focus on the unknown potential of each of us as human beings and our evolving spirits toward a new era. She attempts to create multidimensional expressions that work in the realm of human consciousness by combining physical experiences with non-physical mediums.

In recent years, she has been creating interactive installations that emphasize experience, as well as media works utilizing XR, Metaverse and NFT etc.

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Biography
Born in 1978 in Tokyo, Japan. Graduated from Kyoto Seika University, Faculty of Art, BFA in painting in 2003. Studied at the Australian National University School of Art & Design, majoring in Gold & Silversmithing as an exchange student in 2001 - 2002. During her student days, she was exposed to a variety of materials and methods and tried her hand at expression through two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and installation works.
After graduating from university, she moved to Germany in 2004 and worked as a graphic designer at a video production company in Dusseldorf. Upon returning to Japan,  she started her career as an illustrator in 2010 (under a different name). Her works have been used for the cover of the paperback edition of Sayaka Murata's "Hoshi ga sū mizu" (Kodansha), NHK TV program character design, fashion brand "deep sweet easy" produced by Ai Tominaga, Excel Hotel Tokyu guest room artwork, and stage art etc.
In 2014, she shifted her main focus to artistic activities and began creating mixed media and installations. Currently, she has three series: "SELFVERSE," an experiential installation, "SOUL GEMS," an installation and media art, and "Unknown Power," a mixed media series, which have been shown at art fairs and exhibitions around the world.
Since 2021, she has been presenting digital works as NFTs (under the name AURORA) and participating in many national and international events and projects.  In 2022, she began researching on an expression utilizing new technologies such as XR, Metaverse and generative AI.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023  May 17 -21, Solo presentation, VOLTA New York (New York, Gallery G-77)

2022  Solo presentation "SELFVERSE: Sparkling Heart", CONTEXT Art Miami (Miami, Gallery G-77) 

2022  "SOUL GEMS META" (Gallery G-77, Kyoto) 

2021  "INTO THE SELFVERSE" (Gallery G-77, Kyoto)

2018  "Soul Collection" (The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo, Tokyo)

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023  "MUSIC IS・SELFVERSE" (Co-exhibition with Keisuke Watanabe, Art Yī, Brussels)

2022  Beautiful World Exhibition (Kawamura Noh-Theater, Kyoto) 

2022【NFT】#NFFT_2022 ”New Future Fashion x Technology (AL Tokyo, Tokyo) 

2022【NFT】CRYPTO ART FES 2022 (conata, Metaverse)

2022【NFT】Made in Japan 3.0: Defining a New Phy-gital Reality (K11 Art Mall, Hong Kong)

2021【NFT】CAWA Crypto Art Week Asia in Tokyo (Voxels, Metaverse / CIRCUS Tokyo, Tokyo)

2021【NFT】SBINFT×POW!WOW!JAPAN "VIRTUAL SHIRAHAMA" (Voxels, Metaverse)

2021 「WHEREABOUTS」(TURNER GALLERY, Tokyo)

2020  "FIRST STEP EXHIBITION" (as an invited artist, Gallery G-77, Kyoto)

2020  "Mostra di Artisti Giapponesi Contemporanei" (monogramma arte contemporanea, Roma)

2019  ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA AWARD 2019 (Fukuoka Asia​n Art Museum, Fukuoka)

2018  "The World of The Small and Big Universe" (Daizenin-Temple gallery, Kyoto)

2017  SICF18 (Spiral Hall, Tokyo)
2015  independent (Hulic Hall, Tokyo)

ART FAIRS

2023  VOLTA New York (New York, Gallery G-77)

2022  CONTEXT Art Miami (Miami, Gallery G-77)
2022  Seattle Art Fair (Seattle, Gallery G-77)
2022  London Art Fair (London, Gallery G-77)

2020  Affordable Art Fair Milan (Milan, Emigre Collection)
2017  Art Stage Jakarta (Jakarta, Emigre Collection)
2017  Art Expo Malaysia Plus (Kuala Lumpur, Emigre Collection)
2017  Le Japon (Espace Japon, Paris, Gallery Maison d'Art)

2016  ART KAOHSIUNG (Kaohsiung, Emigre Collection)

2015  Affordable Art Fair NYC (New York, Emigre Collection)

2014  Young Art Taipei (Taipei, Emigre Collection)


AWARDS


2021【NFT】#BigBangNFT Competition winner
2019  FLAG prize
2019  AFAF WARD 2019 finalist
2013  Taipei International art competition 2013 finalist
2012  WONDER SEEDS 2012

OTHER projectS of the artist

SOUL GEMS META

VR installation, NFT, 2022-

The "World of Souls" (3D animation) composed of 101 individual "SOUL GEMS" is created in the metaverse, and viewers experience it in a field VR format. In the "World of Souls", the viewers take the form of the avatar called "the core of soul" to simulate the sensations of another dimension away from the physical body.

The SOUL GEMS are tradeable as NFTs and they will weave their stories in the blockchain universe.

Our souls and us as humans. The core of the work and the medium of expression. This work attempts to find similarities in the relationship between these things, presenting them from the perspective of evolution.

The project itself will continually update -moving with new technology in a continuous state of evolution.

Soul Gems

Mixed media, installation, 2015-