Manuel Arias
Member
Hi there,
No, it will not be the same, and you can see some bad symptoms of that all around. To start with, ADA has less online presence than in the past, precisely because they are not producing videos showing Takashi Amano doing this or that. Secondly, it is just not ADA...it is just Mr. Amano had an energy born from a passion that I have still to see in anyone else in the hobby...perhaps Fukada in terms of creation (not in other aspects), but not many others. Reason why is because the hobby has become a bit egotistical in my point of view, and if you are not mainstream, then you are squared. Amano put the Nature Aquarium concept as central and fundamental core of his work. Not only artistically speaking, but also in terms of ADA. He was obsessed in trying to transmit his ideas to the community, and showing people how to success. Nowadays, aquascapers are divided, as well pointed out Shawn, between those who have just fun from it (most people) and those who want to be internationally acknowledged by their works or just become professionals. The first group are the real hobbyist, and the ones who are "consumers" of the products and keep the business going on. The second ones are more motivated by personal reasons than for the hobby, so they are far away from the other people. This difference is dangerous, because many of those who should be interested in promote the hobby are in the second group. This lack of connection between both worlds is what Amano was able to solve, because he impulsed both sides. People who appeared after in the hobby are mostly aligned in one or the other category. Sad, but true.
Difficult to say. The competition was intended to promote the hobby, not to create an elite. Culturally speaking, the difference can be subtle when you consider Japanese culture or European culture. In Japan, perfection is something reached by individuals based in sharpening personal skills up to a maximum. This showed off in the ruling criteria of the IAPLC. Europe considers more valuable the team working and the community as unity of success, what explains the appearance of aquascaping groups of people working together to enter in the IAPLC (which, being honest, it is just in the edge of the rules of the contest). My concern now is the contest could be affected by a lobby culture now onwards, which changing criteria based in external pressures or depending on the fashion intended to be promoted. This was already happening into the IAPLC before 2014, reason why they decided to change the ruling criteria. It is easy to see this from some comments of the late Amano in 2015, pointing out towards this fact. In my opinion, if they stick to the new criteria, things will be in track. If start to see a bit "random changes", then this can be a bad signal. However, the best way to have a good IAPLC is by participating into it.
At the moment, I did not hear of anyone. And I doubt they will put someone else there, at the moment. The shadow of Amano is very large, and he will eclipse any new person trying to match his role. This is what happens when you create a whole idea, company and contest around a single person: the weight of that person is so large that, once is not there, there is no way to cover the gap in a long time.
To study a pre-made work, you need to know in first place the techniques in which is based, or having the chance to see a step-by-step process. Otherwise, it is very difficult. For example, Mr. Fukada used his own driftwood last year. In his interview as winner that ADA did after the IAPLC Party, he mentioned that the most challenging part was "to build" the driftwood from pieces of wood, thin and flexible enough for this purpose. He, obviously, is not mentioned at all how to do it, or what kind of wood he used. Nonetheless, looking at the job, you can see that they are not single pieces but a composition of branches linked together by hand. This is also part of the thing of the two groups of aquascapers, as the "elite" one tends to hide critical information to avoid being mimicked. They have the right to do so, no doubt, but meanwhile hobbyist do not care to share and help everybody to do better works, the other group want to be on top, and one way to be on top is by having knowledge others do not have.
Well, Nelson, that is true. Practically nothing below 120cms has a chance to win. But I have seen many works below that ranked in the top 100. And this is important, because Karen Randall (judge in IAPLC) mentioned recently that judges only see the top 100 works. The rest of them, they do not know how they are scored or by whom. This is understandable, as no one in his mind will ask judges to go throughout more than 2000 works and give scores with 6 categories and sub-levels to all of them. So ADA makes a pre-screening with criteria that no one knows if it is the same one. It is their contest, though, so the way in which they do it must be respected. If you do not agree, do not take part on it, of course. Regarding the different categories, it could make some sense, as it is true that different tank sizes have significant differences in terms of aquascaping. Putting the whole lot all together seems unfair. However, I do not agree that, because of that, one should not participate. In fact, the way to get ADA applying such a change passes by people submitting tanks of different sizes and with many participation. If the contest grows enough, they will be forced to split into categories.
There has been lot of whinning on social media last weeks, precisely because of this. People applied but not read the new rules, and good aquascapes have been put down the hill of classification. And the reason is precisely this one: The trend to make aquatic diorams, when the IAPLC is about Nature Aquariums. The concept is different, and in fact, created more in Europe (just pay a look of EAPLC results of last years). In the IAPLC, many participants of last years, mainly from Europe and America, have tended towards hardscaping with mosses or plants with very low demand or maintenance. So working hard in the "permanent component" and much less in the "variable" component, and the variable one is the really difficult one. A good hardscape can be obtained by working it for long time and studying winner works, but keeping large masses of plants healthy and balanced with the hardscape...that is matter of stars. There are very good works in terms of composition and visual effect but: a) Nothing related to recreate the natural environment of fishes; b) Stem plants have been mopped out of these scapes. In my opinion, Nature Aquarium does not consist in replicating land scenarios under water and planting should be predominant. I think this is what has been punishing the score of many people...but I am glad of this change, because the contest was drifting in the wrong direction. The change of evaluation criteria has helped to correct this, but community of participants needs some learning in order to adapt to it. The idea of dioramas has been an evolution of the concept of Iwagumi aquariums, which has been misinterpreted somehow, and extended in a line that does not match the original idea.
No, I do not think so. Do not misinterpret me. I do not refer to the work he does. He is fantastically good, in his techiques. As said Tom, he is also too fan of dioram-style, which is far from NA. However, he is not the person people will follow. He is quite shy and avoids being too visible. He is also not interested in spreading knowledge but to master the hobby. This is a large difference between them. Amano was interested in spreading the hobby and master it and at the same time, bringing to light to people also doing fantastic jobs into this. Amano was a very outgoing person, full of ideas and always aiming to bring new things. He was not only creative in the hobby but in everything else he was doing. 100% passion in life. Mr. Fukada lacks of these skills. Perhaps in a couple of decades, once the shadow of Amano is more in the past than in the future...
Totally true, alto. This is the problems of dioramas...that you need to preserve the scene static. Growing plants tend to become this difficult, reason why diorama-style tanks are using low growing plants or mosses. But not dounb they are not NA concept, even if they can be fantastic works. In Fukada this is present, but it is not so evident than in other cases, so this is also a reason why Fukada does not fit in the shoes of Amano.
Sadly yes, but this year seems that extensive use of mosses have been punished, so it seems there are some corrective measures on it.
Being IAPLC the ADA contest, it is worth to mention that Mr. Fukada was the first Japanese in winning it. I agree there is a cultural component in the way people scape the aquariums. In fact, the environment is everything. Amano, in his biography, makes this clear: he always tried to mimic the aquatic environments of his childhood, which I can tell you, there is nothing similar in most of our countries. Without such influence, it is clear that western people have more difficulties to build NA aquariums with success. Nonetheless, as anything that is cultural, it can be shaped by open minds.
Cheers,
Manuel
No, it will not be the same, and you can see some bad symptoms of that all around. To start with, ADA has less online presence than in the past, precisely because they are not producing videos showing Takashi Amano doing this or that. Secondly, it is just not ADA...it is just Mr. Amano had an energy born from a passion that I have still to see in anyone else in the hobby...perhaps Fukada in terms of creation (not in other aspects), but not many others. Reason why is because the hobby has become a bit egotistical in my point of view, and if you are not mainstream, then you are squared. Amano put the Nature Aquarium concept as central and fundamental core of his work. Not only artistically speaking, but also in terms of ADA. He was obsessed in trying to transmit his ideas to the community, and showing people how to success. Nowadays, aquascapers are divided, as well pointed out Shawn, between those who have just fun from it (most people) and those who want to be internationally acknowledged by their works or just become professionals. The first group are the real hobbyist, and the ones who are "consumers" of the products and keep the business going on. The second ones are more motivated by personal reasons than for the hobby, so they are far away from the other people. This difference is dangerous, because many of those who should be interested in promote the hobby are in the second group. This lack of connection between both worlds is what Amano was able to solve, because he impulsed both sides. People who appeared after in the hobby are mostly aligned in one or the other category. Sad, but true.
Difficult to say. The competition was intended to promote the hobby, not to create an elite. Culturally speaking, the difference can be subtle when you consider Japanese culture or European culture. In Japan, perfection is something reached by individuals based in sharpening personal skills up to a maximum. This showed off in the ruling criteria of the IAPLC. Europe considers more valuable the team working and the community as unity of success, what explains the appearance of aquascaping groups of people working together to enter in the IAPLC (which, being honest, it is just in the edge of the rules of the contest). My concern now is the contest could be affected by a lobby culture now onwards, which changing criteria based in external pressures or depending on the fashion intended to be promoted. This was already happening into the IAPLC before 2014, reason why they decided to change the ruling criteria. It is easy to see this from some comments of the late Amano in 2015, pointing out towards this fact. In my opinion, if they stick to the new criteria, things will be in track. If start to see a bit "random changes", then this can be a bad signal. However, the best way to have a good IAPLC is by participating into it.
At the moment, I did not hear of anyone. And I doubt they will put someone else there, at the moment. The shadow of Amano is very large, and he will eclipse any new person trying to match his role. This is what happens when you create a whole idea, company and contest around a single person: the weight of that person is so large that, once is not there, there is no way to cover the gap in a long time.
To study a pre-made work, you need to know in first place the techniques in which is based, or having the chance to see a step-by-step process. Otherwise, it is very difficult. For example, Mr. Fukada used his own driftwood last year. In his interview as winner that ADA did after the IAPLC Party, he mentioned that the most challenging part was "to build" the driftwood from pieces of wood, thin and flexible enough for this purpose. He, obviously, is not mentioned at all how to do it, or what kind of wood he used. Nonetheless, looking at the job, you can see that they are not single pieces but a composition of branches linked together by hand. This is also part of the thing of the two groups of aquascapers, as the "elite" one tends to hide critical information to avoid being mimicked. They have the right to do so, no doubt, but meanwhile hobbyist do not care to share and help everybody to do better works, the other group want to be on top, and one way to be on top is by having knowledge others do not have.
Well, Nelson, that is true. Practically nothing below 120cms has a chance to win. But I have seen many works below that ranked in the top 100. And this is important, because Karen Randall (judge in IAPLC) mentioned recently that judges only see the top 100 works. The rest of them, they do not know how they are scored or by whom. This is understandable, as no one in his mind will ask judges to go throughout more than 2000 works and give scores with 6 categories and sub-levels to all of them. So ADA makes a pre-screening with criteria that no one knows if it is the same one. It is their contest, though, so the way in which they do it must be respected. If you do not agree, do not take part on it, of course. Regarding the different categories, it could make some sense, as it is true that different tank sizes have significant differences in terms of aquascaping. Putting the whole lot all together seems unfair. However, I do not agree that, because of that, one should not participate. In fact, the way to get ADA applying such a change passes by people submitting tanks of different sizes and with many participation. If the contest grows enough, they will be forced to split into categories.
There has been lot of whinning on social media last weeks, precisely because of this. People applied but not read the new rules, and good aquascapes have been put down the hill of classification. And the reason is precisely this one: The trend to make aquatic diorams, when the IAPLC is about Nature Aquariums. The concept is different, and in fact, created more in Europe (just pay a look of EAPLC results of last years). In the IAPLC, many participants of last years, mainly from Europe and America, have tended towards hardscaping with mosses or plants with very low demand or maintenance. So working hard in the "permanent component" and much less in the "variable" component, and the variable one is the really difficult one. A good hardscape can be obtained by working it for long time and studying winner works, but keeping large masses of plants healthy and balanced with the hardscape...that is matter of stars. There are very good works in terms of composition and visual effect but: a) Nothing related to recreate the natural environment of fishes; b) Stem plants have been mopped out of these scapes. In my opinion, Nature Aquarium does not consist in replicating land scenarios under water and planting should be predominant. I think this is what has been punishing the score of many people...but I am glad of this change, because the contest was drifting in the wrong direction. The change of evaluation criteria has helped to correct this, but community of participants needs some learning in order to adapt to it. The idea of dioramas has been an evolution of the concept of Iwagumi aquariums, which has been misinterpreted somehow, and extended in a line that does not match the original idea.
No, I do not think so. Do not misinterpret me. I do not refer to the work he does. He is fantastically good, in his techiques. As said Tom, he is also too fan of dioram-style, which is far from NA. However, he is not the person people will follow. He is quite shy and avoids being too visible. He is also not interested in spreading knowledge but to master the hobby. This is a large difference between them. Amano was interested in spreading the hobby and master it and at the same time, bringing to light to people also doing fantastic jobs into this. Amano was a very outgoing person, full of ideas and always aiming to bring new things. He was not only creative in the hobby but in everything else he was doing. 100% passion in life. Mr. Fukada lacks of these skills. Perhaps in a couple of decades, once the shadow of Amano is more in the past than in the future...
Totally true, alto. This is the problems of dioramas...that you need to preserve the scene static. Growing plants tend to become this difficult, reason why diorama-style tanks are using low growing plants or mosses. But not dounb they are not NA concept, even if they can be fantastic works. In Fukada this is present, but it is not so evident than in other cases, so this is also a reason why Fukada does not fit in the shoes of Amano.
It's becoming a hardscape and moss contest!
Sadly yes, but this year seems that extensive use of mosses have been punished, so it seems there are some corrective measures on it.
Being IAPLC the ADA contest, it is worth to mention that Mr. Fukada was the first Japanese in winning it. I agree there is a cultural component in the way people scape the aquariums. In fact, the environment is everything. Amano, in his biography, makes this clear: he always tried to mimic the aquatic environments of his childhood, which I can tell you, there is nothing similar in most of our countries. Without such influence, it is clear that western people have more difficulties to build NA aquariums with success. Nonetheless, as anything that is cultural, it can be shaped by open minds.
Cheers,
Manuel
