This Too Shall Pass

This work visualizes the ephemerality of our lives. Whether it is happy or sad, everything we experience changes and eventually vanishes. Everything is like the temporary waves of the surf although there is the eternal flow of the ocean. We often feel painful or make mistakes because we forget the apparent fact that everything just passes away.

However, it is not just disappearance but also a change as a part of the whole. Our existence is one of limited perception. We perceive parts not seeing the whole. We are the wave but also the ocean.

Users can bring their own image files into this application. It then converts those files into images that are composed of a few threads that are parts of the whole net. When a user hits a "target" with the click of a mouse, the converted images appear, change and return to the whole. The rectangular frame of the converted images implies the frame of our cognitive perception. We only recognize things contained inside our frame; we can identify parts while the whole remains uncatchable, incomprehensible.

The application uses the interaction of shooter games in a familiar but different way. When a user hits a target, something new is formed. However, everything formed changes and vanishes as a part of the whole. No matter how hard users try as they play this game, they cannot hold onto anything. They confront ephemerality. Playing this game is a metaphor of our lives.