moony is an interactive installation that uses water vapor as both a screen and an interface. Images of virtual butterflies are projected into the steam, creating a sensuous and translucent merging of the real and the virtual. The installation aims to create a mystic space which enables a novel sensation of reality by creating a transparent and dynamic link between real and virtual entities.

If you touch a butterfly perched on a column, it flies up. If you try to catch the butterfly in flight it will fly away and disappear from view. If you hold your hand into the steam for a while, butterflies will flock around it and begin to play.

When you touch the installation, steam comes out of the upper part of a column. Steam is used both as an interface and screen, with the humid temperature creating an association with the warmth of a living being.

We are treating the butterfly as organic existence born from inorganic existence. The butterfly focus stems from the following two elements:

• Ambiguity
The word “moony” has connotations of hazyness and obscurity. Although the butterflies reflected in the steam are imaginary, the shadow reflected in the columns is actual. This artwork asserts that all existing things are ambiguous and opaque.

• Lively motion
Action with the peculiar feeling of the lively motion of a butterfly is repeated to the fluctuation of the steam. Butterflies move between columns a and b after the passing of a fixed time. Steam emerges whenever a butterfly alights on a column.

Takehisa Mashimo, born in 1979. Seian University of Art and Design 2003, IAMAS. Several exhibitions and participation in workshops and festivals.

Akio Kamisato, born 1979. Seian University of Art and Design 2003, IAMAS (Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences), several exhibitions.

Satoshi Shibata, born in 1978, Seian University of Art and Design 2003, IAMAS, several exhibitions. Excellence Prize at the 6th Media Arts Festival Agency for Cultural Affairs / Digital Art Interactive Division.