Etsuko Ichihara already explored rituals and ceremonies for her Digital Shaman Project. Inspired by ceramics from the Jōmon era (in Japanese Jōmon-jidai, meaning the beginning of cultural development in the Japanese islands), she created a future ceremony that no one has ever seen as a possible successor and based on a religious ritual that people might have had using the flame vessels.

Etsuko Ichihara already explored rituals and ceremonies for her Digital Shaman Project. Inspired by ceramics from the Jōmon era (in Japanese Jōmon-jidai, meaning the beginning of cultural development in the Japanese islands), she created a future ceremony that no one has ever seen as a possible successor and based on a religious ritual that people might have had using the flame vessels. The Noh singer Noboru Yasuda was recruited for the voice of the robot that says the prayer.

The artist Etsuko Ichihara looked at 3D-printed Jomon flame pots, and derived from this the idea of a ceremony showing ‘a robot performing a dance of worship and reciting a ritual prayer’. She had previously worked on a piece called Digital Shaman, based on a ceremony conducted in Japan on the 49th day after a person’s death, but using a robot as the spirit medium. Ichihara sees herself as a successor to the mysterious beliefs that Jomon people might have had when using flame pots. She visualizes a future ritual landscape that no one has ever seen.