Various Patterns

Various Patterns

Work created in 2025/11/15

This work presents the Japanese national flag, the Hinomaru, as a parametric interface that can be interactively manipulated within a web browser. Users can continuously alter elements such as the flag's aspect ratio, the size, position, and color of the sun disc (with the Munsell value 3R 4/14 used as reference), and even convert the resulting visual data into sound using Tone.js. At the core of this work lies the act of reducing the national flag—an absolute symbol of statehood—into a set of variable design parameters. The Hinomaru is a condensed visual sign of Japan's national identity, its form strictly regulated by law. Yet, in this piece, those prescribed values appear as merely one pattern among countless possibilities. When the viewer adjusts the sliders, the red disc shifts from the center, deviates from the designated red hue, and expands or contracts freely. The fixed structure that once guaranteed the flag's identity dissolves, giving rise to infinite variations. This transformation offers a clear critique of the illusion of immutability that sustains the sanctity of national symbols. Of particular note is the description 'Munsell 3R 4/14 reference' in the color settings. This is the industrial standard specifying the red of Japan's flag, indicating the state's attempt to scientifically manage even color. The work cites this value as a reference while allowing users to freely manipulate hue, saturation, and brightness. This duality—quoting the system of scientific control while simultaneously exceeding it—is sharply critical in nature. Equally important is the function that translates visual parameters into sound. According to the console log, 143 notes are generated from the flag's data. By transposing a visual national symbol into another sensory modality, the work relativizes its representational meaning. The visual language of a red circle on white transforms into an auditory language of pitch and rhythm, severing ties with the flag's original political signification. When the flag becomes music, it ceases to represent the nation and instead becomes an abstract data structure. This process of de-coding dismantles the authority of national symbols and repositions them as pure informational patterns. The work's interactivity is also essential. The user is not a passive viewer but an active participant who manipulates the flag's design. This agency inverts the usual hierarchical relation between citizen and national symbol. Typically, a flag is something 'given', which citizens can only accept. Here, the user possesses the authority to design, modify, and even save the flag. Such a transfer of power carries a deeply political implication. By allowing participation in the process of generating national representation, the work poses a fundamental question: to whom does the nation belong? The title, seemingly neutral, bears profound meaning. The phrase 'various patterns' implies that the current Japanese flag is but one possible configuration among many. Its current form exists as the result of historical contingency and political choice—neither absolute nor essential. This relativization destabilizes the foundation of nationalism. The belief that a flag embodies the nation's essence depends on its fixed form. But if infinite variations are possible, which form represents the 'true' Japan? The impossibility of answering that question is precisely where the work's critical power resides. By integrating visual generation through p5.js and sound synthesis via Tone.js, the piece demonstrates technical sophistication in browser-based art practice. Yet, the technology serves a conceptual inquiry: the parametric design method perfectly aligns with the idea of de-sacralizing a national symbol. The presence of a 'reset to default values' button is also suggestive. It frames the official flag design as the 'default'—a setting that is modifiable yet conventionally used. Calling the flag a default configuration demotes it from absolute norm to relative choice. 'Various Patterns' becomes a quiet yet potent critique of national symbolism. Without resorting to provocative imagery or overt political rhetoric, it dismantles the myth of the flag's absoluteness through the simple act of making its parameters adjustable. As users move the sun disc, change its color, and listen to its generated music, the experience itself becomes a form of critique. The work asks: must this form remain immutable? Is this red truly unique? Is this composition truly absolute? And ultimately, what is a nation? The potential of internet art lies precisely in such quiet inquiries. Through the everyday interface of the browser, the work allows users to experientially grasp the arbitrariness of political symbols. In doing so, it exemplifies the profound possibilities of digital artistic practice.