Michael Yoshimura - Shotengai - Science-fiction short film
Shotengai - Discover architecture's ability to narrate the contemporary notion of Shinto techno animism
Global Design Graduate Show
http://globaldesigngraduateshow.com
Shotengai - Science-fiction short film
Designed by Michael Yoshimura, 'Shotengai' won the Film Category in the Global Design Graduate Show in collaboration with Gucci 2020.
Abstract: The thesis uses the medium of the science-fiction short film to address the potential of architecture to narrate the contemporary notion of Shinto techno animism.
Shinto animism, traditionally found within elements in nature, has been translated in contemporary Japanese technological culture into techno-animism. The site for this short film is in a shotengai – a local street market.
Shotengai by Micheal Yoshimura 1 (2020) by Michael YoshimuraGlobal Design Graduate Show
Here, the shotengai urban typology becomes the architectural trope and catalyst from which the thesis explores the relationship of techno-animism’s implications on space.
Shotengai by Micheal Yoshimura 6 (2020) by Michael YoshimuraGlobal Design Graduate Show
Plot Summary: 'Shotengai' investigates Takaharu’s (the lone character) role in a future society greatly extended through technological infrastructures. The narrative questions if Takaharu’s role, to keep the literal mechanisms and infrastructure of society running, even matter.
Set in 2100, Takaharu lives in a humble mid-rise building off a shotengai (a covered street market), somewhere in a dense Japanese city. The story reflects upon his everyday actions as a maintenance worker for a large corporation’s code database.
Shotengai by Micheal Yoshimura 3 (2020) by Michael YoshimuraGlobal Design Graduate Show
As the years have progressed, Takaharu has become increasingly jaded, and the bits of broken memory which narrates the film gives clues to his past employment, as a black market code hacker.
Shotengai by Micheal Yoshimura 2 (2020) by Michael YoshimuraGlobal Design Graduate Show
"I have been working as a freelance 3D Artist and Architectural Visualisation Artist since I graduated in 2020. I create high-level images for architects and also design and build 3D asset packs for the CG community." - Michael Yoshimura
FIRST NAME: MICHAEL
LAST NAME: YOSHIMURA
UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE: CARLETON UNIVERSITY
COURSE / PROGRAM: ARCHITECTURE
GRADUATED: 2020
SPECIALISMS: ARCHITECTURE / ANIMATION / ILLUSTRATION
WEBSITE: Shotengai by Michael Yoshimura
