Welcome to where tech and art merge
By Victoria Baeza Garcia
Projects
Naka
As time passes by...
Naka, meaning "center" or "within," is an immersive audiovisual meditation by Victoria Baeza Garcia on the seven principles of traditional Japanese aesthetics: mono no aware, wabi, sabi, yÅ«gen, iki, kire and shibui. Inspired by elements that stood out to her during a recent trip to Japan, the work reflects each aesthetic through carefully chosen details shaped by a design thinking process. At its center is an Ishigaki-yaki bowl placed in a traditional tea room, where time and beauty unfold through subtle transformation. As the viewer zooms inward, the bowl's inner world begins to shift — colors flow, dissolve and fade. When the scene pulls back, the flower has withered, the light has vanished, and absence becomes presence.
Design
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Naka is grounded in industrial designer Dieter Rams’ 10 principles of good design: it is innovative, aesthetic, unobtrusive, long-lasting, environmentally friendly, understandable, honest, thorough down to the last detail, minimal and useful. The use of innovative platforms such as TouchDesigner and Max 9, the integration of traditional Japanese aesthetics, and the meticulous attention to detail all reflect these values in this immersive audiovisual piece.
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Victoria also applied the design thinking process to bring the project to life — empathizing with her audience, defining her goals, ideating, prototyping and testing. She considered how the work might impact others and refined it through multiple iterations. Naka ultimately emerged from her personal interpretation of Japanese aesthetics, shaped by both introspection and lived experience.
Ishigaki-yaki
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Pottery and ceramics are an important part of Japanese cultures. Ishigaki-yaki is a unique pottery style originating from Ishigaki Island in Okinawa, Japan, characterized by its striking combination of glass and ceramic elements.
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Inspired by the island’s oceanic landscape, they feature deep blues, greens, and earthy tones that evoke tidepools and coral reefs. Each bowl combines rough, natural textures with smooth, glossy surfaces, resulting in organic, asymmetrical forms that embody the beauty of imperfection. No two pieces are alike, making each bowl a functional object and a unique work of art.
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Japanese aesthetics
​1) Mono no aware (Pathos of Things):
Mono no aware reflects an awareness of the impermanence of all things and the quiet beauty that emerges from it. In Naka, Victoria creates moments that invite the audience to contemplate this ephemerality, weaving it through both visual and auditory elements. Subtle shifts in the environment encourage viewers to recognize and appreciate the fleeting nature of what surrounds them.
2) Iki:
Iki signifies elegance, sophistication, and refined taste — a subtle, effortless style. In Naka, this aesthetic emerges through the perfectly aligned tatami mats, the minimal yet intentional placement of a single ikebana flower, the neutral color palette, the polished wooden furniture and the tranquil garden visible through the wooden window. Each element is composed with quiet precision, reflecting the restrained beauty and cultivated grace that define iki.
3) YÅ«gen:
YÅ«gen evokes a deep, mysterious beauty. The kind that lies beneath the surface, unseen and intangible. In Naka, Victoria explores this aesthetic through the inner world of the Ishigaki-yaki bowl placed at the center of the tea room. At first, the bowl appears still and enigmatic. But as the camera slowly zooms in, its oceanic blues begin to swirl and dissolve in sync with a haunting, ambient soundscape designed in Max 9. This transformation reveals a hidden dimension, inviting the viewer into a quiet encounter with the unknown.
4) Wabi:
Wabi embodies the beauty found in simplicity, austerity and emptiness. It is a reminder that less is more. In Naka, this principle is reflected through a sparse tea room illuminated by sunlight containing only an Ishigaki-yaki bowl at its center, a kanji symbol for “light” on the wall and an ikebana flower. The room’s minimalism evokes a quiet elegance and a contemplative space where beauty emerges not from excess, but from what is left unsaid and unseen.
5) Kire and 6) Shibui:
Kire and shibui refer to tidiness and subtlety, respectively. These two elements are evident in the music and visuals of Naka, showcasing clean, neat and symmetrical shapes alongside a consistent rhythm and sound colors.
7) Sabi:
Sabi refers to the beauty found in aging, evoking a quiet sense of history, impermanence, and gentle decay. This theme emerges throughout Naka’s immersive experience. When the video zooms into the interior of the bowl, the passage of time becomes ambiguous. Upon zooming out, it is already dark outside, creating a sense of disorientation—how much time has passed since entering the bowl? The kanji light character that once adorned the wall has vanished, marking the absence of light. The ikebana arrangement, once vibrant, is now wilting, revealing that time has moved forward. In this transformation, Naka reveals the quiet, poignant beauty of aging.
Naka
As time passes by...
