Invisibles in the Neo City

So Kanno creates works using his own hand-made machines and robots. Akihiro Kato seeks out the new possibilities of society created by block chains. Takemi Watanuki works on pieces using a crowd simulation method. Together, these three creators form a team. Launched the Kazokutchi Project in 2022. Photo : Ioto Yamaguchi

So Kanno

Akihiro Kato

Takemi Watanuki

A team with expertise in both architecture and technology that carries out cross-disciplinary research, development, and proposals to create new values for cities. Through the construction of “Common Ground,” a platform to connect real and digital spaces, they aim to create a new world where humans and digital agents coexist.

Qosmo AI Creativity & Music Lab is a collective based in Tokyo made up of AI researchers, engineers, artists, designers, and more. They work on expanding the creativity of humans and seeking out unknown music through the use of AI. Awarded Honorary Mentions from Ars Electronica in 2018.

Born in 1990. Graduated from the Department of New Media, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. Uses her own body to construct stories based on wide-ranging investigations, practicing “narrative” art using a lecture method. Recent projects include “TWO PRIVATE ROOMS _ A Circle of Reading” and “Index for Obake Tokyo.”

Born in Hungary in 1994. Creates video works using landscapes reminiscent of anime or video games. She looks for how memories and our self-images are formed in contemporary society, enveloped as it is by fiction. Finalist in the 2022 The Arts Foundation Futures Awards. Photo : Aira Miyawaki / NTT Inter Communication Center [ICC]

A collaborative team between Tomo Kihara and Playfool (Daniel Coppen). Using “play” as a theme, they design tools that foster creativity and exhibit art projects in Japan and overseas that intervene in society and cities. Recently, they have exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum and at Ars Electronica, among others. Photo : Tada (Yukai)

Tomo Kihara

Playfool

Artist. Using methods such as bio-art and speculative design, she creates works based on a motif of biological issues and scientific and technological progress to uncover the various issues that lie beneath contemporary society. Graduate of IAMAS, RCA, and MIT Media Lab. Appointed Associate Professor at Keio University Faculty of Science and Technology in 2023.

Born in 1992. Graduated from the Department of New Media, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. Creates video works that use a 3D CG animation method, focusing on the infrastructure and logistics of cities and suburbs. Selected for the 2022 Project to Support Emerging Media Arts Creators by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan.

Enrolled in the Department of Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts. Fascinated by the energy of fireworks, she researches fireworks from multiple perspectives, including explosives engineering, culture, and history, to create her works. She is also active as a pyrotechnician, and has participated in fireworks festivals both in Japan and overseas, including the Hannover International Fireworks Competition, as a fireworks show designer. Photo : Utsuki Nishi

Enrolled in the Department of Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts. While questioning how we deal with absence and death, she creates works that attempt to construct the living bodies of both real and non-existent creatures, such as her dog fighting illness and imaginary unicorns, preserve their life, and resuscitate them. Recent major group exhibitions is "ab-sence/ac-ceptance"（The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, 2021).