Another piece by Ryota Kuwakubo is called VideoBulb, which is now commercialized as an information appliance.

Flash version
[VideoBulb – conceptual overview. illustration by cami dodson. ]

According to a product description : “This lipstick size device has an RCA Video Male Plug. Plug this Video Bulb to your Video Input and it will play endless animation of BITMAN on your TV screen. Another creative media art by Ryota Kuwakubo.”

VideoBulb and BitMan are both based on the concept of Bit Haiku, a form of conveying rich meaning in a limited, fixed format (for example, 8×8 dots). Interpretation of Bit Haiku may largely depend on the context and the background knowledge of viewers.

[VideoBulb at work]

The concept of Bit Haiku was also demonstrated with a device called Bit-Hike (See this page), which allows users to easily create and edit 8×8 dot animations.

[left: Bit-Hike (lounge style). right: Bit-Hike (type-E/V)]

Kuwakubo explains why he calls this form of expression Bit Haiku: “Even with only 8×8 dots, one can make a realistic animation and convey a lot of information. [snip] So, humans can interpret the limited information using the dictionaries in them. Same for Haiku. For example, Haiku exploits ‘season words’ to succinctly convey varieties of feelings using only 17 characters. Similarly, this work allows people to convey more information than 8×8 dots and that’s why I named this Bit-hike or ‘Bit Haiku.'”

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