Shōei Matsuda
Artist / Creative Directorexhibition
Loophole
Loophole is a lighting product shaped after the loading icon, translating the digital experience of “waiting” into physical space. A symbol that would normally disappear once a process is complete is reconstructed as a light that continues to rotate without loading anything, making visible the pauses and intervals increasingly lost in a culture of speed and efficiency. In collaboration with Japanese traditional dancer Tokutaro Hanayagi, the project brings digital temporality into dialogue with a sense of time cultivated through the body. By placing product and performance, technology and tradition side by side, Loophole proposes a different experience of waiting—one that creates space for pause, attention, and reflection.
overview
Loophole is a lighting product that transforms the loading icon commonly seen on smartphones and other digital devices into a physical object. Its circular metal structure and programmed lighting recreate the icon’s rotating motion in real space. The exhibition presents the product itself alongside a collaboration with Japanese traditional dancer Tokutaro Hanayagi. The rhythm of the rotating light is brought into dialogue with the pauses, timing, and bodily movements of Japanese dance, creating a spatial presentation in which digital interfaces, product design, and physical performance intersect.
member
This project is carried out by a team of five who have collaborated on previous projects. Creative direction is led by Shōei Matsuda, whose practice gives physical form to digital symbols; Yuki Shimizu is responsible for metalworking and fabrication; Yusaku Kimura and Hayato Aritaki lead technical development spanning hardware and software; and Tokutaro Hanayagi brings physical expression grounded in Japanese classical dance. Bringing together their respective fields of expertise, the team works across art, product design, technology and physical expression.
