Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festival Press Release

19th January, 2017

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PRESS RELEASEThe Japan Media Arts Festival Special Exhibition at JCC Singapore

Landscapes: New vision through multiple windows
The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan organizes participation invarious overseas media arts festivals and other events through projects planned and managed
by NHK international, Inc. The aim is to introduce outstanding works in such fields as media
art, videos, the websites, videogames, animations and comics. Exhibitions, screenings,
presentations and other activities are arranged at foreign festivals and other venues with
their focus on award-winning works from the Japan Media Arts Festival.
The Japan Creative Centre at the Japanese Embassy in Singapore will host a special
exhibition from Friday, 3rd-18th February, 2017. The exhibition’s directors are the artist
exonemo’s Kensuke Sembo and Yae Akaiwa, who have engaged in many experimental projects
since starting out in 1996. This exhibition at the Japan Creative Centre, the hub fordisseminating Japanese culture in Singapore, takes ‘Landscapes: New vision through multiple
windows’ as its theme, and selected art works are displayed. Japanese feature animation films
will also be screened at Shaw House Lido Theatre.
The Japan Media Arts Festival Special Exhibition at JCC Singapore

Landscapes: New vision through multiple windows
Venue: Japan Creative Centre (4 Nassim Road, Singapore)
Period: Friday, 3rd to Saturday 18th February, 2017 Tue-Sat (10:00 – 18:00)
Opening at 19:00 on 3rd February

Screening venue: Shaw Theatres Lido 5 (350, Orchard Road, 5th Floor, Shaw House, Singapore)
Date: Sunday 5th and 12th February, 2017

Admission: Free
http://jmaf-promote.jp/global.en/
https://www.facebook.com/JMAF.JCC.SINGAPORE/
Organizer: Japan Media Arts Festival / Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Co-organizer: Japan Creative Centre, Embassy of Japan in Singapore
Planning Director: exonemo (SEMBO Kensuke, AKAIWA Yae)
Project Advisor: FURUKAWA Taku (Animation artist)
MOURI Yoshitaka （Professor, Graduate School of Global Arts, Tokyo University of the Art）
Administration：NHK International, Inc.

[Inquiries]
Office of Project for Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festivals (c/o NHK international, Inc.)
Contact：, WAKUI Maiko (Ms.), ZAMMA Nobuyuki (Mr.) , OYAMA Luna (Ms.) ,E-mail: jmaf-info@nhkint.or.jp
TEL: +81 3-6415-8500
FAX: +81 3-3770-1829

1Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festival Press Release

19th January, 2017

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The Japan Media Arts Festival Special Exhibition at JCC Singapore

Landscapes: New vision through multiple windows
Singapore is actively promoting cultural and artistic endeavors as a national goal todevelop as an international city of culture and the arts. It is now the heart of the Asian art
market and a venue for diverse art events year-round. This exhibition will introduce 12 art works
from leading Japanese artists and world-class media artists including Singapore.

Theme

Planning director: exonemo (SEMBO Kensuke, AKAIWA Yae)

In recent years, we have become connected to the world through our computerand smartphone displays, discovering reality through these screens. It is as if thedisplay screens are “windows” onto new landscapes. Thinking about windows,
however, we realize that the conventional media of television as well as printed
materials such as photographs, paintings, and actual windows in walls likewise
have the function of connecting the viewer to a “landscape beyond”. In particular,
the miniaturization/portability of devices in recent years and practicality ofcontinuous Internet connection have drastically increased the time we spend
gazing through these windows and the images of the world outside that we picture
in our minds are being reset accordingly. The Internet has made the spreadingworld beyond (such as Japan as viewed from Singapore) seem as close as if wehave actually been to these places ourselves. But how far are the landscapes we
see through these digital windows actually linked to the real world? This
exhibition reexamines the modern global landscapes now viewed not from
windows on our walls but through windows in our pockets. This is an experimentin which we seek to discover the whereabouts of the world we sense to be real byreconsidering the landscapes spreading out before
our eyes. By gathering works which examine thismoment in time and interpret the future fromwide-ranging perspectives, this exhibition reveals
the diverse possibilities of the media arts.
exonemo (SEMBO Kensuke, AKAIWA Yae)
The artist unit e x o n e m o was formed in 1996 by SEMBO
Kensuke and AKAIWA Yae. Their experimental projects are
typically humorous and innovative explorations of theparadoxes of digital and analog computer networked andactual environments in our lives. Their The Road Movie won
the Golden Nica for Net Vision category at Prix Ars
Electronica 2006. They have been organizing the IDPW
gatherings and Internet Yami-Ichi since 2012. They live andwork in New York and a member of the first museum-led
incubator NEW INC since 2015. http://exonemo.com.

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19th January, 2017

Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festival Press Release

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Artists
EBIHARA Shoko[Japan]Photographer, Artist. Born in Tokyo.
Lives and works in Tokyo.
http://shokoebihara.com/

ISO Mitsuo[Japan]Angelica VERDAN[United States]

Video artist. Born in 1992 in Washington DC,
currently living in Virginia.
Angelika Verdan is interested in the integrationof the digital and physical world and how
people interact with the interface.

Animator, Director. Born in Aichi, 1966.
Original work and director of Den-noh Coil.

https://angelicaverdan.wordpress.com/

http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/~iso-000/

Jens SUNDHEIM

IWAOKA Hisae

Freelance photographer, visual artist.
Born in 1970 in Germany.
Lives and works in the Ruhr area, Germany.

[Japan]Manga artist.
Made her debut in 2002 with Yume no Soko,
which won the Honorable Mention Prize in the
Kodansha Afternoon Four Seasons Award.
In 2005, her Saturn Apartments manga began
to be serialized in the monthly magazine Ikki.
http://moinmoin.fc2web.com/

SHINTSUBO Kenshu[Japan]Photographer. Born in Tokyo in 1968.
Together with video, still photography and fieldrecordings, SHINTSUBO also crosses theborders into architecture, literature, music,
computer design and other sectors in diverse
collaborative documentary works.
http://www.kenshu-shintsubo.com/

TAKAMINE Tadasu[Japan]Artist, Artistic director. Born in Kagoshima in
1968. Associate professor, Akita University ofArt. TAKAMINE works in diverse media suchas installation, sculpture, video etc. Currently
he’s also active as a stage director.
http://www.takaminet.com/

TSUDA Michiko[Japan]Born in 1980.
Lives and works in Kanagawa and Tokyo.
Completed PhD of Film and New Media Studies
at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2013.

[Germany]

http://www.jens-sundheim.de/Joe HAMILTON[Australia]

Born in 1982 in Tasmania, Australia.
Lives and works in Melbourne.
Joe Hamilton makes use of technology andfound material to create intricate and complex
compositions online, offline and between.
http://joehamilton.info/Rafaël ROZENDAAL[Brazil]

Born in 1980. Dutch-Brazilian.
Lives and works in New York.
Rafaël Rozendaal is a visual artist who uses theinternet as his canvas. His artistic practiceconsists of websites, installations, lenticulars,
lectures and haiku.
http://www.newrafael.com/

Sarah CHOO Jing

[Singapore]

Multidisciplinary fine artist.
Born in 1990. Focusing on the relationshipbetween space and time, Choo’s work depicts
identifiable moments and characters withincontemporary society.
http://www.sarahchoojing.com

http://2da.jp/

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EXHIBITION■The souvenir photographs, EBIHARA Shoko[2015 / Graphic art / 19th Art Division Jury Selection]

The artist hires a professional photographer from each
local area to take her picture in a suit on the platforms
used for group photographs of travelers in sightseeing
areas. Neither negatives nor data remain as the artworkis the process of ordering, purchasing, and receiving a
touristic picture. The artist looks like an icon in thesephotographs, all of which have essentially the same basic
structure, and inserts herself into various landscapes allover Japan.

©Shoko EBIHARA＊Souvenir photos of Singapore will be shown alongside the Japanese photo exhibition■Double Click to Open, Angelica VERDAN[2015 / Video work / 19th Art Division Jury Selection]

Double Click to Open analyzes the form and function of
the cursor by removing it from the digital world andplacing it in the physical one. The video shows a cursor
projected on an image of a closed door, but the doors do
not open even if double-clicked. The film explores thehuman relationship with technology and interface,
revealing how we have come to expect various interactions
with all types of interfaces. ( 3 min. 41 sec.)©2015 Angelica Verdan■Waiting for the Elevator, Sarah CHOO Jing
[2015 / Video installation / 19th Art Division Jury selection]

Waiting for the Elevator is a multimedia installation that
depicts a composite of documented events, projected acrossthe Esplanade Tunnel in Singapore. Building on normallyunnoticed, trivial and repetitive actions, the artist reflects
upon the social purposes of the “void decks” in Singapore.
The composited panorama ultimately exists as a nonspace; an accumulation of fragments over time.

©SARAHCHOOJING(5 min. 22 sec.)

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Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festival Press Release

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http://jmaf-promote.jp/global/en/■ ＼landscape[2012 / Digital photo]

SHINTSUBO Kenshu[Artist selected at 14th Art Division Jury selection]

Each landscape is a present space which bears theaccumulated traces of those who live within it; a layer
laid down by their actions. Networks connect deposited
memories by invisible lines of sight using various
landscape photographs, computer-made maps anddesktop archives generated from individual viewpoints.
© Kenshu Shintsubo■100100 views of Mount Fuji
Jens SUNDHEIM[2008-2010 / Digital photo][Artist selected at 9th Art Division Jury selection]

The work 100100 Views of Mount Fuji reverts to
webcams available on the Internet. From 2008 to 2010 I
archived the image data of a camera, which transmits
every three minutes a live image of Mount Fuji. The
images appear as a modern version of the images of
Hokusai, a version of the 21st century: a fast,
unmistakable and unfiltered live transmission.
©Jens Sundheim■Popular Screen Sizes, Rafaël ROZENDAAL[2011 / Installation]Rafaël Rozendaal is interested in how mirrors retain
both metaphorical and literal meanings for reflection as
well as pertain a transience and reliance upon light andmovement. Popular Screen Sizes (60”, 55”, 46”, 40”, 32”,27”, 24”, 21”, 17”, 15”, 13”, 10”, 7”, 3.5”) by Rafaël
Rozendaal operates as a reflection on contemporary
lifestyles and the extent to which these involve ourinterface with screens, as well as a mirror to theimmediate environment and the viewer.

©Rafaël Rozendaal

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http://jmaf-promote.jp/global/en/■Stream 2014, Joe HAMILTON[2014 / Video work]

Stream is a work that explores the well known analogyof water flow and the flow of data on the internet. The
structure and movement in the browser window
becomes a rigid framework that contains and shifts anarray of found images and video of water. Waterfalls,
torrents, livers, creeks and streams of data flow down
the screen. An interplay of fluidity and rigidness.
(1 min. 20 sec.).

©Joe Hamilton■Untitled, TAKAMINE Tadasu [2011, Reconstruction 2017]
This work consists only of a picture frame made from an oil-basedmodeling clay. It was displayed as a displaced frame together
with a blanket laid out like a canvas at the big Too Far to See
exhibition at the Yokohama Museum of Art. Whereas picture
frames traditionally have the role of highlighting and completinga picture, this work uses modeling clay which, with its flexible
and unfixed shapes, is more usually chosen for the preliminarymodels. Everyone has used it in their childhood and thisapplication of a clay which retains clear finger imprints thereby
focuses the attention on the frame to question the nature of both
media and the work itself.

©Tadasu Takamine
Photo: Tomoki Imai■You would come back there to see me again the following day., TSUDA Michiko[2016 / Installation]

The frames hung in the air from the ceiling look likethose of paintings or photographs but do not have such
images inside. When you get closer to the frames, youfind there are three different structures in these frames.
Some have mirrors inserted, some have screens onto
which the live view of the exhibition space captured byvideo cameras is projected, and some have nothing inside.
©Michiko Tsuda Photo：Tadasu Yamamoto
Each frame is hung in a position according to a geometric
rule.
Once you enter the space, you will get confused and be unable to recognize where you are,standing surrounded by all these frames. You will see the other corner of the exhibition spacein the back of a frame. Beside another frame, you may find someone who should not be there.
Or you will find yourself inside the other frame. Welcome to the labyrinth where images swap
with one another, between here and there.
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http://jmaf-promote.jp/global/en/■Fluttering Frame [2013 / Video Work]
exonemo [Artist selected at 16th Art Division and 17th Entertainment Division Jury selection]
Fluttering Frame is a crowd-sourced video work createdby 54 participants from 31 countries. It was aired onJapanese public broadcasting NHK's program Techne The visual workshop. NHK typically airs a video of aJapanese flag at the end of each broadcasting day. The
artists asked participants from all over the world to air
this footage in their living rooms, and collected these© exonemo

video pieces including the living rooms, animating theflying flag by combining fragments from each video. The project started with as a simply query
about the relevance of projecting a national framework like this in the age of the internet.

■Saturn Apartments, IWAOKA Hisae[2011 / Manga / 15th Manga Division Grand Prize]

The story is set in a time when the whole of the Earth has been
designated as a nature reserve and it is not permitted to descend to the
Earth's surface, so humans live in buildings high up in the sky, at a levelof 35,000 meters. The protagonist, Mitsu, was born and raised in thisgigantic ring system, which is divided into upper, middle and lower levels.
Just as Mitsu graduates from junior high school, he takes the same job as
his late father, "ring system window cleaner." It is a meticulously©IWAOKA Hisae

depicted story of Mitsu's growth as he gains in confidence and pride in
his work through encounters with his workplace mentor, his neighbors
and his clients.

■Den-noh Coil, ISO Mitsuo[2007 / Animated TV series / 11th Animation Division Excellence Award]

The scene is Daikoku-shi in the near future, 202X. A wearable computer
denno megane through which the wearer can enjoy a cyber world has agreat run among children. In these circumstances, Yuko Okonogi who is
moved into Daikoku-shi experiences a series of strange incidents.
SCREENING: Den-noh Coil SP(90 min.)

Date & Time: Saturday 11th and 18th February 14：00－15：30
Place: JCC exhibition space© MITSUO ISO / TOKUMASHOTEN,
Den-noh COIL SEISAKUIINKAI■Japanese Landscapes from Manga and Animation
Comic and animation appreciation space will be in the JCC Library to introduce Japaneselandscapes through comics and animations.
7Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festival Press Release

19th January, 2017

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SCREENING: Japanese Scenery in Animation
Screening venue: Shaw Theatres Lido 5
Date: Sunday 5th and 12th February(350, Orchard Road, 5th Floor, Shaw House, Singapore)

Admission: FreeThe screenings will feature a rich program of renowned, full-length animation films set inbeautiful, timeless Japanese town and landscapes, all made for cinema release by popular
Japanese directors. This is an animation journey through the Japanese landscape.

■Your Name.

[2016 / Animated feature film]

SHINKAI Makoto[Artist selected at 6th, 9th, 17th Animation Division Jury selection]

Date: Sunday 5th February

12:30-

Two high school students Mitsuha and Taki havenever met each other and live at different places inJapan. One day, Mitsuha wakes up in a body of ayoung man and believes that she is dreaming. The
next day, she turns normal and finds out from her
friend that she has been behaving very strangely
yesterday. On a certain day of the week, she finds© 2016 TOHO / CoMix Wave Films / KADOKAWA / JR Kikaku/ AMUSE / voque ting / Lawson HMV Entertainment

herself waking up in the body of the same youngman, and after a series of events, she concludes

that she and the boy, who is actually Taki, havebeen switching bodies quite often. They try to find out the mysterious cause behind their bodyswap and soon discover that there is an important life-changing reason for it. (1 h. 46 min.)■Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai, HARA Keiichi[2014-2015 / Animated feature film / 19th Animation Division Jury selection]

Date: Sunday 5th February

14:50-

This is a feature-length adaptation of themanga Sarusuberi by Hinako Sugiura, aresearcher of Edo Era customs. It is set in the
town of old Edo, a community in Edo that isalways emotionally turbulent, including fires
and troubles with fairies. The story centers on
O-Ei (later known as Oi Katsushika), the©2014-2015 Hinako Sugiura·MS.HS / Sarusuberi Film Partners

daughter of leading ukiyoe woodblock print
artist Hokusai Katsushika, and depicts the
lives of people in Edo that also have relevancefor us today. (1 h. 29 min.)8

Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festival Press Release

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http://jmaf-promote.jp/global/en/■Giovanni’s Island, NISHIKUBO Mizuho[2014 / Animated feature film / 18th Animation Division Excellence Award]

Date: Sunday 5th February

16:50-The setting is 1945 on Shikotan, a tiny island off
the cost of Hokkaido, which has remained
virtually untouched by the rage of war. Thereinnocently live ten-year-old Junpei and his
seven-year-old Kanta. But with Japan’s defeat
on August 15th, great change comes to their lives.
While everybody on the island is expecting©2014 JAME

American troops to arrive anytime, it is the Red
Army that Island on Shikotan instead. Before

they know it, the national borders have changed and for the Japanese community, a new life
with the Soviet citizens who have moved onto the island begins. The film follows the absurdity
and tragedy of war through Junpei’s eyes, depicting friendship among children blossoming
beyond language and cultural barriers. Based on true events, this animated feature film wasmade by an international team including people from Japan. Russia, Argentina, South Korea,
Estonia, United States and Italy. (1 h. 41 min.)

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http://jmaf-promote.jp/global/en/■In This Corner of the World[2016 / Animated feature film]

KATABUCHI Sunao[Excellence award winner at 14th Animation Division and artist selected at 5th Jury selection]

Date: Sunday 12th February

15:00-In This Corner of the World tells the story of theadolescent Suzu, who in 1944 moves to the small
town of Kure in Hiroshima to live with her
husband’s family. Suzu’s life is thrown intochaos when her town is bombed during WorldWar II. Her perseverance and courage, however,underpin this heart-warming and inspirational©Fumiyo Kono / Futabasha / Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni Project

Original manga In This Corner of the World , KOUNO Fumiyo[13 th Manga Division Excellence Award]

tale of the everyday challenges faced by theJapanese in the midst of a violent, war-torncountry. (2 h. 9 min.)■The Garden of Words, SHINKAI Makoto[2013 / Animated feature film / 17th Animation Division Jury Selection]

Date: Sunday 12th February

17:40-

One rainy day Takao, a high school student aiming to become ashoemaker, encounters Yukino, an enigmatic older girl, drinking a
can of beer alone in Japanese garden. Without commitment, they
continue to meet only on rainy days, gradually forming a bond…
With modern-day Tokyo as its stage, this is a subtle drama tellinga tale with an expressive style only achievable through animation.
(46 min. 2 sec.)©Makoto Shinkai / CoMix Wave Films

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Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festival Press Release

19th January, 2017

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RELATED EVENT■Artists’ Talk: Session 1
Artists:

Venue: Japan Creative Centre[Landscapes of Japan and Singapore]

EBIHARA Shoko × Sarah CHOO Jing

Date & Time: Saturday 4th February

13：00－14：30

A talk by two artists of the same sex and generation, one from Japan and the other from Singapore,
who each view their own country and city from new perspectives.

■Artists’ Talk: Session 2
Artists:[Landscape from unstable window]

TAKAMINE Tadasu × exonemo

Date & Time: Saturday 4th February

15：00－16：30

Tadasu Tamakime exhibits a picture frame made from an unfixed material, modeling clay;
exonemo, Fluttering Frame, an unstable, flickering video frame. What do they see through thisshared theme of the unstable window? A talk by two artists who take a critical approach to themedia and its frames.

■SCREENING: Den-noh Coil SP
Date & Time: Saturday 11th and 18th February

14：00－15：30

Place: Exhibition space■Guide Tour by Planning Director, exonemo
Date & Time: Friday 3rd February

19：30－

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Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festival Press Release

19th January, 2017

http://jmaf-promote.jp/global/en/

REFERENCE

JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL
The Japan Media Arts Festival is a comprehensive
festival of Media Arts (Japanese: Media Geijutsu) that
honors outstanding works from a diverse range of
media - from animation and comics to media art andgames. The festival gives awards in each of its four
divisions: Art, Entertainment, Animation, and Manga.
It also provides a platform for appreciation of theAward-winning and other notable works. Since its
inception

in

1997,

the

festival

has

recognized

The 19th Japan Media Arts Festival, 2015

significant works of high artistry and creativity and in
addition to a yearly Exhibition of Award-winning Works has held other events, such as
symposiums, screenings, and showcases. Last year, the 19th Festival received 4,417 entries
from 87 countries and regions around the world, demonstrating is continuing evolution as anestablished annual international festival. Award-winning Works are exhibited both within
Japan and abroad through various projects and events organized by The Agency of Cultural
Affairs, Government of Japan which aims to develop and promote the creation of Media Arts
by focusing primarily on the new generation of artists.

■Project for Participation in Overseas Media Arts Festivals
The aim is to introduce outstanding works in such fields as
media art, video, the websites, videogames, cartoons andcomics. Exhibitions, screenings, presentations and so on arearranged at overseas media arts festivals and other facilities
with their focus on award-winning works from the JapanMedia Arts Festival.
Exhibition View of the Madrid, Spain, 2016

20th Japan Media Arts Festival
Announcement of Award-winning Works: Mid-March 2017
Awards Ceremony / Exhibition of Award-winning Works: September 2017
Website:http://festival.j-mediaarts.jp/en/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JapanMediaArtsFestival
Twitter: @JMediaArtsFes_e
NHK International, Inc. is responsible for planning and running the events for the Project for
Participation in Overseas Media Art Festival.

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