Alternative Computations
Ryuta Aoki
Alternative Computations, 2026
The universe computes. Life is computation. Mathematics is the language for this understanding. Change the language, the universe changes — the way of seeing changes. Sometimes, those in power choose which way of seeing prevails. What falls outside that choice is named error — and vanishes.
Japan once possessed a distinctive mathematics — wasan. Calculation practised as beauty, play, and offering to shrines: festive knowledge comparable to haiku and the tea ceremony. In the late nineteenth century, the Meiji government introduced Western mathematics in pursuit of national strength. Wasan was expelled. The cosmos its culture alone could see was closed. At the destination Western mathematics has since reached stands quantum computing. But its development is governed by utility and optimisation. Quantum noise is expelled as error. Yet quantum noise interferes, entangles, carries the past. There is another cosmos. This work recaptures it through the play and festivity of wasan.
The Alternative Computations series sculpts the cosmologies of lost vernacular mathematics. Built from quantum noise — discarded by mainstream quantum computing — this automated instrument takes sky, earth, and human as its three-layer structure. Twenty-eight sangi (counting rods) orbit overhead as the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions. A tatami floor defines the sacred threshold. More than four thousand reeds fill the space.
In a corner of Tokyo's concrete forest, in dry reed fragrance, the dancer's movements and tea master's gestures, audience presence, and meteorological data are thrown into a quantum computer embedded in the ceiling's sangi mechanism. High-dimensional dynamics set the sangi's orbits and descend as rain sound. Mechanical creaking holds the weight of matter, anchoring experience between dream and waking. Thunder, wind, insects, cranes and frogs — a 28-minute sound collage. Each cycle ends a universe; another begins.
宇宙は計算している。生命もまた計算だ。数学とは、その理解のための言語である。言語が変われば、宇宙が変わる——世界の見方が変わる。その見方は、時に為政者によって選ばれる。選択の外にあるものは「誤り」と名指され、消える。
かつて日本には独自の数学——和算——が存在した。美として、遊びとして、神社への奉納として行う計算：俳句・茶の湯と並ぶ祝祭的な知。19世紀後半、明治政府は国力追求のために西洋数学を導入した。和算は排除された。その文化だけが見ることのできた宇宙が、閉じられた。西洋数学が辿り着いた先には、量子コンピューティングがある。しかしその開発は、有用性と最適化の論理に支配されている。量子ノイズは誤りとして排除される。しかし量子ノイズは干渉し、絡み合い、過去を引きずって動く。そこに、別の宇宙がある。この作品は、和算の遊びと祝祭性でそれを捉え直す。
《Alternative Computations》シリーズは、失われた土着の数学の宇宙論を彫刻する。主流の量子コンピューティングが廃棄する量子ノイズを素材として構築されたこの自動演奏楽器は、天・地・人の三層をその構造とする。28本の算木（計算棒）が、二十八宿として頭上を周回する。畳の床が結界を定める。4,000本を超える葦が空間を満たす。
東京のコンクリートの森の片隅、葦の乾いた香りが漂う中で、舞踊家の舞と茶人の所作、観客の気配、気象データが、天井の算木機構に組み込まれた量子コンピューターへと投げ込まれる。高次元のダイナミクスが算木の軌道を動かし、雨音として降り注ぐ。機構の軋みが物質の重さを保ち、体験を夢と現実の狭間に繋ぎ止める。雷、風、虫の声、鶴とカエルの鳴き声——28分の音のコラージュ。一巡するたびに、宇宙が終わり、また始まる。
Ryuta Aoki, Alternative Computations, 2026
Quantum reservoir computing system, machine learning, computer vision, sequencer, sound software, microcontroller firmware, meteorological data, camera, computer, microcontroller, custom motor system driving 28 sangi (wooden counting rods), speaker system, scaffold pipe structure, iron rings, tatami mats (4.5 tatami), reeds (approx. 4,000)
Dimensions variable
Exhibition Credit
Artist: Ryuta Aoki
Dance: Erika Fuki
Tea Ceremony: Soryo Matsumura
Quantum Computing Technical Supervision: Naoki Yamamoto (Quantum Computing Center, Keio University)
Quantum Computing Technical Cooperation: Toshiki Yasuda (Naoki Yamamoto Laboratory, Keio University)
Sound System Design & Development: Kosaku Namikawa
Sound System Installation: Ryuji Murakawa (arsaffix), Kyo Imai
Sound Recording (Red-crowned Crane): Trent R. Stanley / xeno-canto (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Mechanical 3D Simulation: Yuki Nakama
Mechanical Design & Development: Shohei Takei (nomena)
Reed Installation: Keita Uno + Ryota Hagiwara (Mucha-Kucha Inc.), Hanaichi Shun-en Co., Ltd., Erika Okubo, Ami Tanzawa, Harumichi Naito, Ramu Miyoshi
Tea Room Installation: Mitsuaki Tomikawa (Tomimatsu Co., Ltd.)
Installation Design & Supervision: Haruto Hirokado
Installation: All Creation Inc.
Japanese Confectionery: Shiho Sakamoto
Graphic Design: Takeshi Kawano
Photography / Video: Kohei Yamamoto
Technical Advice: Daiki Kanaoka (FabCafe Tokyo)
Production Management: VOLOCITEE Inc.
Organizer: METACITY
Co-organizers: Quantum Art Festival Committee, SHUHALLY, Mucha-Kucha Inc.
Sponsor: Scott Moore / Public Works
Research Collaboration: Naoki Yamamoto Laboratory, Keio University
Exhibition Staff: Megumi Aoki, Kokoro Aoki, Taku Nojo
Production: VOLOCITEE Inc.
Past Exhibitions
Jan. 29 - Feb. 1, 2026: Quantum Art Festival Special Exhibition Alternative Computations — Worlds Otherwise Calculated