Aoineko

In 2001 Aoineko was one of 30 web artists worldwide asked to participate in the Biennal de Valencia art festival in southern Spain . Their submission, subterranean , garnered praise in Spain 's chic art circles and was also exhibited in September of that year at the National Museum of Art in Rome . Also in 2001, Aoineko released a one-minute short film entitled “Fragile Machines.” The film gave Aoineko so many ideas that they went back to the drawing board and started anew on a vastly expanded version.

In 2001 Aoineko was one of 30 web artists worldwide asked to participate in the Biennal de Valencia art festival in southern Spain. Their submission, subterranean , garnered praise in Spain 's chic art circles and was also exhibited in September of that year at the National Museum of Art in Rome. Also in 2001, Aoineko released a one-minute short film entitled “Fragile Machines.” The film gave Aoineko so many ideas that they went back to the drawing board and started anew on a vastly expanded version. In 2002 Aoineko received worldwide recognition for their online art project superelectronic. Joshua Davis, of praystation.com, is considered by many to be the most famous web designer in the world, and was asked to judge Canon's 2002 Digital Creator's Contest.

He had this to say about Aoineko's entry: "Superelectronic is interesting as a mix of many trends... Here we see ten different styles smashed into one super-aesthetic. It is really cool to see an attempt at a new interpretive form of different aesthetics happening on the Net right now." The contest division's other judge, Tota Hasegawa, of the famed Tomato Interactive firm, added this: "The creator of this site mixes up so many different graphic styles that it's hard to believe it was done by a single person." At the same time, online graphic design magazine k10k.net celebrated the original 1 minute Fragile Machines short with a re-release as the main feature of their issue 116. As a result of the Canon win, Superelectronic was exhibited internationally in Tokyo at the Aoyama Spiral, and in the US at New York University and UCLA. In 2003 Aoineko was asked by the German art foundation Ars Electronica to submit an original work for that year's Prix Ars festival and competition.

For Prix Ars, Aoineko created Sentosa Mikano , a more tightly constructed and somber sequel to superelectronic. The characterization and theme of Sentosa Mikano would be carried on in the ambitious 30 minute version of “Fragile Machine”, a cg feature Aoineko were continuing to work on and would not yet complete for 16 more months. Aoineko submitted a six-minute preview edit of “Fragile Machine” to the Taiwanese Future Imprint Animation Competition, sponsored by Acer, and took home an award that made the group especially proud, since much of film's fictional city had been inspired by living in Taiwan in 2002. In 2004 Superelectronic and Sentosa Mikano won the top two awards in Rockstar Games' Upload competition which led to further international interest and exposure. It was through these wins Aoineko came to the attention of french perfume and haute couture designer Thierry Mugler.

Mugler's firm and PR agency Heaven, previously a part of Edelman Paris, were drawn to Aoineko's futuristic style and artistic treatment of the female form, so they flew Aoineko to Paris to discuss collaborating on a new type of fashion show. The resultant project was completed in the US by Aoineko and is set for release in early 2005. Also in 2004, British online digital art magazine pixelsurgeon.com interviewed Aoineko about the upcoming release of Fragile Machine. Pixelsurgeon founder Jason Arber heaped praise upon the group's work, especially their music, which was a welcome compliment considering the huge role music plays in the film.

In November Aoineko finally wrapped up production on Fragile Machine. With the contacts and friends Aoineko made along the way in Tokyo, Taipei, Paris, London, and the US, Aoineko anticipate a truly unique release for Fragile Machine . During 2005 Aoineko will be touring with solo exhibitions in the US, including screenings of Fragile Machine, as well as art prints, interactive kiosks, and new music. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..