I pursue the concept of "Reform of Attachment," not by letting go of attachment but by softening our approach to it through shifts in perspective and values. Attachment is ingrained in human instinct, teetering on the edge of love and passion. Yet, when it grows excessive, it breeds suffering and binds us. In Buddhism, releasing attachment is seen as the path to liberation—a path far from easy. Rather than rejecting attachment outright, I explore how it might be gently transformed through new viewpoints and experiences.

In my work, I harness technology to make the shapes of attachment visible and experiential. For example, in EATtachment, personal attachments are 3D-printed as chocolate, inviting participants to eat them and transform "possession" into literal "digestion." In Edible NFT, I capture fleeting moments digitally, preserving transient experiences that we tend to cling to, thus questioning our attachment to idealized memories.

My practice is an attempt to bring unconscious attachments into awareness, reframe them, and seek a more flexible state of mind—an exploration of a contemporary form of mindfulness. Through this process, I aim to soften the grip of attachment and open pathways to a more adaptive way of being.

Riho Hagi is a New York-based multimedia artist and technologist originally from Ishikawa, Japan. She holds master's degrees in Information Science and from New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). Working at the intersection of art and technology, she has created numerous interactive and experimental works showcased at exhibitions such as NYU's ITP Show and NYU Register. Her unique perspective has been shaped through over a decade of experience as a software engineer at major companies like Rakuten and ZOZO, an internship at Eyebeam, and participation in the art collective TENTEN, fostering her distinctive blend of creativity and technical expertise. Driven by her awareness of the gender gap within Japan's tech industry, she founded a community for women engineers and organized conferences for female software engineers in collaboration with Google. Additionally, she founded "mochi mochi dev" (formerly Creator Studio), a collective supporting gender minorities in the Web3 space. This initiative has earned international recognition, winning a prize at ETH Global NYC and securing first place at Celestia's inaugural major hackathon.