• AYESHA TAN JONES & AMIA YOKOYAMA

    IN CONVERSATION

  • You joined the chat

    slooopy joined the chat

    slooopy

    YESSSSSS

    HELLLOOOOOO

    I made it!!!!

    (AYESHA)

    yyyyyyyaaaaaYYYAAYAYAYAT

    WELCOME

    FINALLY

    hahahaha !!!! thats a great tail

    (AMIA)

    hehe yayyay

    what a beautiful slime cloud

    o0o0o0o tentacling u

    eeeeee

    im tickkkkkkkkkkled!

    yes i was inspired by all ur gooopy sloop gooey labidinal worlds u been creating

    shall we explore more?

    yes plss

    i love the sloopy labidinal worlds.

     

  • we can wash our sins in the water fall wow look at this pouring puddle fountain waterfalll with butterflies and...

    we can wash our sins in the water fall

    wow look at this pouring puddle fountain waterfalll

    with butterflies and ctystals all around im fainting

    u have become the rock and the water flowing!!! theres a portal here i wonder where i goes

    oooo where

    what r these breathing purple buds on the ground

    they're slime eggs, some form of fungus i believe. i think they are part of the cycle of decay necessary for the digital rendered world to refresh it self after a crash

    yes so important for regeneration

    The lady slipper orchid can only germinate when a specific kind of fungus is present in the soil

  • i’m thinking lots about decay atm o0o0o what a beautiful fact... that the birth of this orchid depends on a...

    i’m thinking lots about decay atm

    o0o0o what a beautiful fact... that the birth of this orchid depends on a single strain of fungii

    yes!

    and it waits for it again for it to bloom

    mmmm thats a queer multi species relationship right there

    omg what a patient partner

    you can buy them in stores, but they are always collected from the wild because its impossible to propagate them in captivity

    hmm is that bad that they take them from the wild? seems strange to displace them.. oh but i guess that what we humans doo to make pots for the roots to be encapsulated within

    yeah... but they resist our attempts by refusing to flower maybe

     

  • ur avatar body is so fragmented i love it I got one the other day and 3D scanned it to...

    ur avatar body is so fragmented

    i love it

    I got one the other day and 3D scanned it to use in my animation, right before its blossom fall off... i didn't know this about the plant at first but then it became so important to me for that reason

    hehe yes

    i combined a pony with a humanoid character. the arms and legs, and head data points are conflicting, so the model tries to make sense and find some in between space to bring the 2 figures together

    wow yes, divine timing! when do u think, if ever, she will bloom again?

    thats where the fragmentation/deformation happens

    omg yes! in my last chat here with Ashley who runs queer circle, we spoke about how binary imvu is in that is only lets u choose two genders and the clothes are all gender specific

    yeah... its unfortunate

    but you have literally taken the binary code and digitally smushed it

    but that why we know better than to rely just on language to define things..

    there are always ways to smush

    thats what's most exciting for me when working with cgi and 3d animation.... is finding those smushy spots

  • i was just watching your newest animation that was just on show and in lieu in la..... im in awe

    🙂 Thank you!!!!

    i love how you have smushed digital rendering with IRL gorgeous textures in ur porcelain sculptures. i wanna hear more about that project if u wanna share? like... who are the gooooey giiirls??

     

  • yes! happy to share yeah!!! i'm always trying to expand the spaces where the digital render and irl material can...

    yes! happy to share

    yeah!!! i'm always trying to expand the spaces where the digital render and irl material can coexists, or become intwined in their mutual generation. I like to think of the internet as this living breathing constantly evolving in all directions collective mythology so i love places where there is a lot of invented lore or user created reincarnations of the same idea over and over.

    deviant art is a great place for that and thats where i first encounters the slime girls

    oooo i love this cuddle rock hehehe but there was something so poetic about their mythology

    haha we smushed and then i got digitally embarrassed

    hehe i loved smushing with u. u can smush with me anytime

    mmm the slime girls... wow! i absolutely love this exploration of digital mythology and folklore

    but these slime girls were all about occupying a shape or form, but not being defined by it.

    they are constantly merging with each other

    their body seeps outside of itself. and becomes the landscape

    the web is an expansive place with pockets of sub communities with their own worlds and stories, its so special that u found one to prise open and expand

    yes!

    so many! its infinite and overwhelming but these slime girls were born out of fetish. obvi. and fetish is something that always interested me

     

  • yes truly! do u have ways/coping mechanisms/care techniques when it comes to that overwhelming world of the web and all...

    yes truly! do u have ways/coping mechanisms/care techniques when it comes to that overwhelming world of the web and all its possibilities? i can often let it swamp me 

    hmmmm

    yeah i get swamped a lot

    come climb the tree!

    coming!

    my computer is about to die let me plug in real quick

    !!!!

    important

    ooo i went to the lotus

    what r your coping/care techniques

    especially now with so much of our interactions being based in this digital/virtual realm?

    i am currently wearing my new glasses. they filter out blue light - that has been a game changer!!

    ooooo yes many people tell me to get those

    plus i look super nerdy n cute and feel 10000% more smart 

    but i love the colour blue and im afraid ill miss it

    hahahaha awww the blue is still v vivid

    ok ok i will try

     

  • but theres a delicate tint of yellow hue that caresses everything and its nice

    there are days where i spend the majority looking at the screen, especially when i am working on an animation 

    im still straddling this tree lol

    it sometimes feels like a bodily sacrifice I have to give up in order to seed the world i'm building. hehe i love these vines and rose garlands. i'm coming in closer for a tentacle tickle

    hiii!! nice moss butt

    thank you!!!

    im actually still so perplexed by this fragmented body of yours. i loved in ur animation when the slime girl’s body became fragmented and in parts, and other times where she had this looming spider like shadow of silver guarding over here ommgggg

  • yes! again thats when the digital kind of breaks down and stops following 'commands', it begins to enter the flow...

    yes! again thats when the digital kind of breaks down and stops following "commands", it begins to enter the flow as a collaborator rather than something i have full control over

    i try to create environments where the digital animation brain can express some of its own desires

    as the creator of those worlds, it is almost like u are playing god, yet when u let go it becomes

    almost like an organic glitch

    weeeee this swing is so fun!

    yes!

    what role do you take when u create these animation worlds?

    do u see yourself as the 'commander?' or do u surrender?

    both! we switch a lot

    i invite the animation world to tell me what it wants to do

    or find are areas where the things break down from what its "supposed to do"

    like the decay!

    that brings forth new lifeforms

  • mmm thats like growing a garden and listening to the plants and asking where they wanna grow

    yes!!!

    thats actually one of my coping/care techniques

    i keep lots of plants around

    and communicate with them on the regular

    and i always 3D scan them and put them inside my animation world

    beautiful! do u have any favourites? or any that have become like siblings, more than plant

    they are central to the process

     

  • o0o what u chat about? i love singing to my plants but ive been a bit careless recently 🙁 i...

    o0o what u chat about? i love singing to my plants but ive been a bit careless recently 🙁

    i do a lot of plant rescue that i find in the trash or propagate from clippings and cuttings

    we take care of each other

    psychic nurture

    or something like that

    the photo i posted today of those beautiful flowers that just blossomed from a plant I found in the trash

    nooooo way! that photo was so vibrant

    i just gave it some new soil and water and it immediately responded with the flowers.

    nature saying a huge thank uuuu with purple petals and fresh pollen!!!

    it was so sad looking... but even when plants look sad on the outside they are full of vitality inside, they just need some nurturing

    yes!!!!!

  • o0o00o all of this, and ur work, seems so connected which is funny cos so many people would argue that...

    o0o00o all of this, and ur work, seems so connected

    which is funny cos so many people would argue that nature and the digital realm are polar opposites

    yes!!! i learn so much from it.

    i dont believe in the binary ofc

    lol

    lol right

    we know its not that simple

    there are a lot of differences and contrasts between how they function... but so much of life is integrated now.

    even us here talking and playing and using pixels to communicate and also our hearts beating and lungs inflating

    i think we do a disservice to nature to not realise how involved it is within everything that exists.

    and fingers tapping keys! the portal / the key

    yes!!!

  • i think we do a disservice to nature to not realise how involved it is within everything that exists.

    AMIA YOKOYAMA

     
  • i actually feel like im playing with vines in a magical forest surrounded by butterflies ive never really gotten too...

    i actually feel like im playing with vines in a magical forest surrounded by butterflies

    ive never really gotten too deep into online worlds but im really enjoying playing around on imvu

    same.

    and finding it surreal how deep in you can go. been watching some intense documentaries about virtual worlds 

    oo what documentaries?

    i love ur tentacle dance

    one was called ' a glitch in the matrix' which explored people who are set on the simulation theory

    hmmm whats that theory?

    and also talked about Phillip k dick's work, and also touched on mental health and psychosis too... it was interesting the theory is that the rate at which tech/ VR is advancing, from the 1960s? when digital games where simple black and white pixels on a screen, to 2021, where some games are intimately defined and sooo realistic that if you continue that exponential rise in advancement of VR technology and graphics, then soon, life would be indistinguishable from reality meaning ... we could be living in a simulation, like a imvu, or a sims, that someone else has created.

    oh yeah. i mean it def seems possible

  • and that we are not the 'host world' or world zero, but that we are one of many many many games / simulations

    interesting... how will we ever know?

    im not sure if we can, but i think people have theories of glitches

    like birds caught on video just disappearing in mid air

    i wanna ride this dragon!!!

    whoa yeah maybe the lines between what we think is nature and digital world are more connected

    i dont think im ready to leave the simulation where theres dirt and rain tho

    i teach animation to middle schoolers and i learn a lot about their digital lives

    like the map rendering of the internet looks sooo similar to like... a mycelial web, or a root system, or the zoomed out image of the universe

    they are really living their realities in so many different platforms

    maybe its the mycelial web system that created the internet?

    do you mean to say they are projecting themselves through other realms, and not connected to the world of dirt mud n rain IRL?

  • or the internet is the continuation of the mycelial web systems we can see in the dirt well they're connected...

    or the internet is the continuation of the mycelial web systems we can see in the dirt

    well they're connected to both

    ohhhhh yeah well thats the truth! the mycelium is the first ever internet!!

    yes!

    what worlds are middle schoolers in rn? cos their worlds are the visions of the earth's future

    i have a conspiracy that the government is using kid labor to build a digital back up copy of the world for all of us to be uploaded to if/when we get to the point we are every fully disembodied

    and that space is minecrat

    minecraft

    or maybe the government isnt behind it... but the kids are building us a parallel universe via minecraft

    that is a very very plausible theory

    where we all might go someday

     

  • omg... ive never played but i know its kinda medieval and i can fuck with that

    life seems simple over there

    with primary coloured pixels and cubes

    its both simple and really complex.

    it's over exaggerated in the sense that its really embraced the fact that its pixels.. like the big blocks and colors and stuff

    but the things people are building are pretty complex.. it seems

    im jsut an observer lol not really a participant. im a student of my middle school students

    the eternal student

    a world within a world

    haha yes

    giving and receiving

    commands

    and surrenders

    i'm one of a few co-teachers, and one of my students asked if i was a student or teacher... they couldnt tell. And i took it as a great compliment lol

    i really love these purple fungi blossoms!!!! i cant stop zooming into them

    i really like how in cgi and 3d worlds you can just cross the boundaries of visually solid objects. it might b one of my favorite things to do

     

  • can u explain more about crossing the boundaries like you can just move through walls. or when i'm standing here...

    can u explain more

    about crossing the boundaries

    like you can just move through walls. or when i'm standing here next to you, our bodies can merge

    ah i see !! yes...

    like i love zooming through the crystals

    feels like a magic power

    it is!

    like i'm inside of your head right now

    now that ur show is done at in lieu... what happens to the slime girls?

    the digital ones or the physical ones?

    do they continue to evolve, as i believe ur animation was evolving as the show ran?

    yes!

    every week i re edited or added to the animation.

    it felt like the video needed to be unstuck from the idea of "final"

    i want to keep adding to it forever.

  • i hear that the idea of a 'final' piece seems so silly! my current show is in the mouldy phase,...

    i hear that

    the idea of a 'final' piece

    seems so silly!

    my current show is in the mouldy phase, so much of the work has gotten damp in the pool, plus theres lots of fungi and living things, and the mould is growing and im so happy

    yesss!!!

    i wish i could see it irl

    context : the show is set in an abandoned swimming pool lol

    maybe thats where the portal leads tooo?

    i love that!

    i've always wanted to leave a show long enough that it could start growing its own ecosystem... it happens in the studio a lot working with clay and mold and things, but i've never recreated it in the gallery like setting,

    i love that you did that

    cos often health n safety would have a nightmare! and then the rigidness of a galleries programming

    theres never enough time for forever in a white cube

  • i know....

    i think thats why i love animation. its almost like my animation is actually my exhibition space

    how much longer will it be up?

    that makes total sense... the worlds are infinite there

    or it would be cool to have a gallery where all the work had to stay forever. like the next artist who did a show just had to work on-top or with the existing architecture and existing art. layers upon layers

    i deffo have a slight envy / big admiration for animators, as it seems that world building becomes so much more tangible

    whereas with 3d physical work there are often so many real world factors that get in the way... like a pandemic lockdown preventing access to the physical space

    i love that idea

    like layers of paint

    yeah... it definitely feel liberating to be able to work in worlds where you dont have those real world factors.

  • the local skatepark by my old house has years of graffiti and it peels off in the hot weather in...

    the local skatepark by my old house has years of graffiti

    and it peels off in the hot weather in summer

    and theres chunks of paint, super thick like bricks, made up of thin layers of other people's art

    yes! street art is a great example of that... even a passerby who sneezes and leaves some bacterial trail stay apart of the layers of art!

    i took some for a project and meant to go back to get more but the council cleared it 🙁

    aaaahh so true! sneeze collab

    have u got any exciting projects on the horizon? or any life things u are excited about?

    i have another show coming up... its more focused and limited. i'm doing a ceramics residency right now. and it will culminate in a group show. so im excited about that

    but i've also never worked in a way that's so medium focused... its sort of an experiment for myself

    i'm also making an animation for Mishou magazine, which is a publication for kids. The animation will be episodic, so i'll make a new episode for each issue release.

     

  • o0o0 amazing, what themes will u be working with? so important to have gr8 ppl in control of kid's content

    for the kids animation, there will be a main character and lots of transformations and shape shifting. i guess thats kinda assumed with animation haha

    i want to make a lot of really cute stop motion food too. so there will be a snack time scene.

    eating is our daily ritual of contamination

    ommmm nom nommm

    yeah! i dont have a script written or shot list yet, but i'm just dreaming up diff things that would be fun

    mostly i want to let myself play a lot

    also congrats on the residency and show! mmm yes an interesting constriction to just use one medium, but seems to also be a refined meditation on material too... i desire that, i don’t think ive ever made an object in just one material ...

    i feel like it would be a good breath for my adhd brain

    hehe yeah. it's a diff way of working that comes less natural to me, but i feel like ive had such a long relationship with clay that we deserve a little one on one time.

    but generally i love to mixxxxx

    but i'm also really looking forward to having no shows on the horizon... i'll take a little break after this next one.

  • mmm yes a monogamous moment with the earthen clay mother FROM WHICH WE ALL CAME yessss SCULPTED BY THE GODS...

    mmm yes a monogamous moment with the earthen clay mother

    FROM WHICH WE ALL CAME

    yessss

    SCULPTED BY THE GODS WE ALL WERE

    like the gods original animation tool

    yes!!!!

    the word avatar is Sanskrit and means decent

    the manifestations of gods into a physical earthly shape

    and of course the great octavia butler says.....God is Change…God is Power – infinite, irresistible, inexorable, indifferent; and yet, God is pliable – Trickster, Teacher, Chaos, Clay!!!

    ahhh, wow, descending from the higher realms to mortal realms

    ALL HAIL OB

    thank you for bringing her into this conversation and that gorgeous reminder of those words

    YES! my favourite world builder. she has taught me SO much, such an important guide on my journey

  • i feel like online we can channel that trickster energy so well with these descended avatars, and then seeing the pixels like clay... constantly changing

    yes!

    i would love to know what she would say about all this if she were here

    im so happy we weaved this web of worlds, wyrds and sloopy clay digi dreams!!

    mmm i do wonder too... probably, i told u so... haha

    me tooo

    thank you for building this beautiful place for us to meet

    my pleasureee!!!

    hopefully soon (soon?!?!?!) we can meet in the IRL again

    portal me to the sun in LA peerllleeeezzz!!!

    i can't wait to see you in goopy soggy london sometime!!!!

    uuughhh

    yes!!! sending u sunshine

    send us rain!!???!

    haha receiving it!!

    okay yes we have plenty of that to send!!

    <3. ! ! ! ! !!

    i love you!!!!!

    I LOUVE UUUU

    thank u for ur creationnsnsnsns

    same to you. so grateful i get to walk this planet with you!

    slooopy performed BearHug with You

    haha bear hug yay!

    interspecies hugggggg

    <3

    i was about to say the same thing!!

    blessssingngngngngss

    💜💙💚💖💚💙💚💗💙💘💗💛💙💛💚💚💝💖💗💚💖💛💚💓💙

  • ARTIST INFORMATION

    ARTIST INFORMATION

    AMIA YOKOYAMA

    Pronouns: She/They

    Location: Los Angeles

    Amia Megumi Yokoyama currently lives and works in Los Angeles. She is a multi-media artist who works with experimental animation, video, sculpture, and installation. Born into a bilingual, multi-cultural household, in the mid-west wasteland of suburban homogeneity – she has made her way to the metropolis. 

    Instagram Website

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