Japanese Artist Ryotaro Muramatsu / NAKED launches a Global Scale Artwork Connecting the World's Prayers for Peace

Ryotaro Muramatsu / NAKED: the artist and founder of the Tokyo based creative company NAKED, INC., has launched a new art initiative Breath/Bless Project. The Project aims to install his digitally augmented artwork Dandelion in multiple locations around the globe to create an interactive artwork that connects people’s prayers for world peace. Although Muramatsu is known for his many works incorporating interaction and communication in projection mapping spectacles and immersive art exhibitions as creative director of NAKED, INC., this is the first time for him to present an artwork that connects internationally in real time.

Our world has changed in so many ways since the beginning of 2020, and difficult times continue. People all over the globe, from every background, wish fervently for a better world. It is my hope that our shared adversity will not divide us but will, instead, bring us closer together.

This artwork is alive.

As more Dandelion installations are set up around the world and more people participate, their many prayers will connect within this large and ever-expanding artwork.

Ryotaro Muramatsu / NAKED

Ryotaro Muramatsu / NAKED

A Public Art that Connects Cities and Creates a Network of Unity

Breath/Bless Project aims to install Ryotaro Muramatsu’s Dandelion in locations around the world. Dandelion is an interactive artwork that evokes the feeling one gets from making a wish on a dandelion. When the viewer blows a breath on the Dandelion installation, the fluff floats away, eventually landing on the ground and producing a new flower. Breath / Bless Project will not only install Dandelion artworks in real locations but will also have a platform online. This way, Dandelion can be accessed by anyone from anywhere in the world. People’s prayers for peace will connect both physically through the installations, as well as virtually on the online platform. For example, when someone in Paris blows their breath on an online Dandelion, the fluff will float to Tokyo and produce a new, beautiful flower at a real Dandelion installation in Tokyo. As more installations are set up around the world and more people participate, their many prayers will connect within this large and ever-expanding artwork. Real locations and the virtual world synchronize, as the network itself, which connects the many prayers, becomes the artwork.

The Journey begins in Tokyo and Singapore

In early November 2020, Breath / Bless Project will reveal its first series of Dandelion installations at multiple locations in and outside of Japan. Planned locations are Tokyo Tower, Shibuya Station area, Moomin Valley Park in Saitama, and Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay. In accordance with protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19, this particular series of installations will replace the interactive “blowing” element with a sensor that responds to physical gestures. The project will be offering special content such as virtual tours through Gardens by the Bay, for participants who support the project through its fundraising campaign.

Breath / Bless Project Fundraising Campaign: https://camp-fire.jp/en/projects/view/314807

The Inspiration Behind Breath / Bless Project

After the Paris Attacks in 2015, Ryotaro Muramatsu developed the concept of Breath / Bless Project, which calls for the placement of Dandelion installations at monuments of peace around the world. He believed that even sites which remind us of a tragic history could be connected with the world’s prayers for peace and bring out smiles and hope for the future. 

This year, as the world becomes ever more divided in many different ways, is the perfect time to deliver the fundamental message of peace. “I believe that this artwork can bring out the kindness in people, as it reminds us of the pure, simple childhood feeling we all remember and can relate to beyond the constraints of race, nationality, or belief”, says Muramatsu. 

“In past years, I have created works that integrate virtual and real, digital and analog; what I wish to offer the world today is an artwork that transcends barriers to unite people’s hearts. Flowers need no words. They are completely impartial. Their seeds fly to new places and bloom there. Through this art, I hope to spread this spirit, to plant flowers of peace throughout the world.”

How to be a Part of Breath Bless / Project

Find out more about how to enjoy this artwork from your own city and how you can support this global scale art project through Ryotaro Muramatsu / NAKED and NAKED, INC.’s official platforms.

-Official project website: https://breathbless.com/

-Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/breathbless.project/

-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breathbless.project

-Fundraising platform: https://camp-fire.jp/en/projects/view/314807

-NAKED, INC. official website: https://naked.co.jp