Global Creative Graduate Showcase

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Michael Yoshimura - Shotengai - Science-fiction short film

Shotengai - Discover architecture's ability to narrate the contemporary notion of Shinto techno animism

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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.

Shotengai by Micheal Yoshimura 8 (2020) by Michael YoshimuraGlobal Creative Graduate Showcase

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. 

Shotengai by Micheal Yoshimura 9 (2020) by Michael YoshimuraGlobal Creative Graduate Showcase

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 Creative Graduate Showcase

Shotengai by Micheal Yoshimura 7 (2020) by Michael YoshimuraGlobal Creative Graduate Showcase

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 Creative Graduate Showcase

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. 

Shotengai by Micheal Yoshimura 4 (2020) by Michael YoshimuraGlobal Creative Graduate Showcase

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 Creative Graduate Showcase

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 Creative Graduate Showcase

"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

Credits: Story

FIRST NAME: MICHAEL

LAST NAME: YOSHIMURA 

UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE: CARLETON UNIVERSITY

COURSE / PROGRAM: ARCHITECTURE

GRADUATED: 2020

SPECIALISMS: ARCHITECTURE / ANIMATION / ILLUSTRATION

WEBSITE: Shotengai by Michael Yoshimura 

Credits: All media
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