Kazokutchi
So Kanno, Akihiro Kato, Takemi Watanuki
Kazokutchi is a work that consists of robots installed on a pedestal inside real exhibition spaces, and families of Kazokutchi, digital artificial lives that inhabit those houses. The data of each member of a Kazokutchi family are registered as NFTs. The robots have a breeding season, mating and giving birth to new digital life when they find another family member.
Artists' Statement
With the behaviour of physical robots being reflected in the NFTs' (blockchain) actions, and metaphors of human social life such as "house" or "family tree," Kazokutchi contains various hints for discussing possible new social formats, including the meanings that such novel technologies as blockchains and NFT may assume within the human society.
Juror's Comment
It is an interesting simulation game attempting to bridge the world of bits and atoms. It can remind us of the once popular pet raising game, Tamagotchi. The artificial reproduction process can exist in the virtual world, with the existing technology. The offsprings and the memory are, however, preserved with the use of blockchain technology and NFT. I may also ask why we want to preserve that. (Chung Wai Ching Bryan)
