PRESS RELEASE

30 October 2023

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

MOT Annual 2023

Synergies, or between creation andgeneration
Sat. 2 December – Sun. 3 March, 2024
The MOT Annual is a series of group exhibitions that began in 1999, highlighting diverse aspects ofcontemporary art in order to elicit inquiry and discussion. The 19th edition of this exhibition will examine therelationship between the theme of “creation ” through the imagination and handiwork of artists, and the“generation” that automatically comes into being, in a kind of reflection on the state of NFTs, artificial
intelligence, artificial life, and life science, which have been a talking point in society in recent years.
Media art and the domain of media arts, which started gaining widespread recognition among the general publicaround the 1990s, continue to expand, and are currently in a transitional stage of reappraisal and historicization
through the processes of restoration and archiving. In addition, among the works that come together atinternational exhibitions and competitions, many works that remind us of big data, AI, machine learning, A-Life,and group intelligence can be seen. While there are certainly some works that are realized through delicate
handiwork, the notion of contemporary information processing is also at the root of these works. This exhibition
presents approximately 50 works and materials by 11 artists, focusing on their diverse attempts to capture ourimagination more than ever before by looking at both creation and generation, and externalizing their ideas
through a formative vocabulary while using technology.
With the spread of programming education since 2020, platforms for artistic expression continue to transform
for the next generation. At this exhibition, we will develop projects and events that are not limited to real, actual
exhibitions, but also take into consideration the metaverse and spatial archives that will expand digitally. We
hope that this exhibition will provide an opportunity to rethink the notions of creation and generation, and analog
and digital, which have tended to be viewed as opposites, and to look beyond them towards the kinds ofsynergies that can be created between the two, thereby questioning the breadth and extent of our perception.

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en*All Programs are subject to change.

1Three highlights of the exhibition1 – New works: original installations for this exhibition
New works and installations for this exhibition by young artists between the ages of 10 and 30’s who are activein the fields of creation and generation will be exhibited (for details, please refer to “2 – Development” and“Participating Artists and Works”). The showcase is designed to give viewers a sense of the expansiveness andflow of this field of artistic expression that is not limited to pursuing the “cutting edge” while using technology.
2 – Development: cross-disciplinary works that entice and appeal
In addition to real, actual exhibits such as installations, a diverse group of works in various formats will be
exhibited, including ① drawings developed as NFTs that demonstrate the potential of digital technology; ②multilayered forms of artistic expression that exist on a real-time network and move between the museum’s
exhibition spaces; ③ works that exist in the space between handiwork and digital technology; ④ extensions ofour perception, body, and real space, and a variety of other experimental attempts at transcendence. In addition,a small exhibition of archival materials (in the second floor exhibition galleries) will introduce the activities ofpioneering art collectives that developed practices with a view “between creation and generation” during the
prewar and postwar periods and up until the present day.
3 – Collaboration: Various events and related programs
In addition to the exhibiting artists, researchers specializing in VR, space, and other fields will be invited asguests for panel discussions to learn about the origins of unexpected ideas and specialized fields in an easily
understandable manner. In addition, “Deviation Game” presentation will be held to explore the mutual evolutionof AI and humans through games in which they compete against each other.
Related programs: MOT Annual extra
During the exhibition period, MOT Annual extra (from December 9, Exhibition Gallery B2F, admission free) will
be held to introduce ongoing projects being developed on ever-changing platforms of artistic expression withthe support of outside organizations (for details, please refer to “Related Programs” below).

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en*All Programs are subject to change.

2Artists and exhibited works
Minami Arai

Akinori Goto

Born in 1990. With the spread of digitaltechnology, the act of what it means to “write” haschanged, and Arai has focused on handwritten
manuscripts that represent the act of writing,developing works in which she sculpts thehandwriting of literary figures like Osamu Dazai or
Soseki Natsume that has been replaced by printed
type, in the order in which they were written, using
wire. At this exhibition, Arai showcases her newworks as well as the back-and-forth between
digital and manual methods inherent in herself.

Born in 1984. Goto has been presenting a series
of works that shuttle between primitive visualmedia and contemporary technology, focusing on
the notions of movement, time, invisible
phenomena, and the relationship between thephysical and the digital. This exhibition will also
include a large outdoor sculpture that transforms
along with the light by day and night.

2. Akinori Goto, Heading, 2022
1. Minami Arai, Osamu Dazai “No longer Human”, 2012
Photo: Sho Sato

Unexistence Gallery: Iku Harada / Naoya
Hirata / Asako Fujikura /yang02(euglena)
Born in 1993 in Japan to Chinese-Thai and
Peruvian-Japanese parents, (euglena) lives andworks in Tokyo. Based on the concept of“reaffirming oneself in innocence,” she createsinteractive works constructed with dandelion fluff
that are not artificially powered, and also works on
the themes of psychology and the body. For thisexhibition, she invites viewers to experience akind of inner time by visualizing the flow of timethat departs from the cycles of technology,
including recent works using cotton wool that did
not turn into seeds.

An entrance to the “Unexistence Gallery,” whichis always present on the network and can beviewed from anywhere, appears in the exhibition
space where people confront the works. These
artists who tackle the theme of “dimensional
reciprocity” with different approaches will
present various “places of meaning” of “newexistence” that transcend the substantial.

4. Unexistence Gallery: Iku Harada / Naoya Hirata /Asako Fujikura /yang02, New Existentialism, 2021-

3. (euglena), watage20210101 “aloof6”, 2021

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en*All Programs are subject to change.

3

yang02

Shin Hanagata

Born in 1984. yang02 has been highly acclaimed
both in Japan and abroad for his works thatquestion the relationship between humans andtechnology, the nature of the body and thesubjectivityofartistic
expression,andautonomous devices in which information
technology replaces human action. For thisexhibition, he will present a series of new works
focusing on the theme of power generation,
including an installation of a large-scale gravity
generator.

Born in 1995. Hanagata is a Japanese artist who
has been searching for a new body throughtechnology in an accelerating capitalist society,and has been developing practices andperformances about the body that is becoming
less “I” and less “human,” while shuttling backand forth between self and other, and between
human and non-human. At this exhibition, he will
exhibit an attempt to reconstruct human
movement, shifting the position of vision byattaching a camera and head-mounted display tothe body.

5. yang02, TEFCO vol.1~The Dawn of Gravity Generator~,

6. Shin Hanagata, still human, 2021-

2023 Photo: Rakutaro Ogiwara

So Kanno+Akihiro Kato+Takmi Watanuki

Zombie Zoo Keeper

Following the digital artificial life NFT Robot
Kazokutchi (2022), which was highly acclaimed
both in Japan and abroad for its humorousquestioning of what new technology might mean
in society, this exhibition will present a story that
reexamines contemporary society through theunique “Sentai” (Power Rangers) series ofcleaning robots, which are the most common
robots in regular homes.

Born in 2012, he started the NFT art project“Zombie Zoo” (2021) with his mother as asummer project during his vacation at the age of8, and created numerous “zombie x animal” dot
paintings using a tablet app. He soon attracted
the attention of art collectors and worldwide
fame as an NFT artist. In addition to hisinternational expansion into music videos andgames, this exhibition will also showcase anumber of new works.

7. So Kanno+Akihiro Kato+Takmi Watanuki, Kazokutchi ,8. Zombie Zoo Keeper, Zombie Zoo #0082 / #0123 /#0011 / #0081 / #0007 / #0012 / #0059 / #0035,

2022 Photo: Ioto Yamaguchi

2021 ©Fictionera

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en*All Programs are subject to change.

4

Masaya Ishikawa / Hiroshi Sugihara /Hiroaki Nakaji / Campbell Argenzio /Shohei Takei
These creators, active in a diverse range of fields,
managed to create a device reminiscent ofcomputer graphics and time-lapse photography,
consisting of three squares that move freely
through a gate approaching on a conveyor, andone square that moves at a brisk clip in
accordance with a gate that is visible only on the
animation.

For

this

exhibition,thehighlyacclaimed work The Square Makes it Through,which made us aware of the existence of invisible“rules,” will be exhibited in a more spatial

9. Masaya Ishikawa / Hiroshi Sugihara / Hiroaki Nakaji / Campbell
Argenzio / Shohei Takei, The Square Makes it Through, 2021
Photo: Takako Iimotomanner.

Etsuko Ichihara

Kotao Tomozawa

Born in 1988. Ichihara continues to decipher

Born in 1999 in Bordeaux, France. Tomozawa

Japanese culture, customs, and beliefs from her

paints oil paintings with a unique texture in which

own unique perspective, and present neworganic motifs of slime-like substances anddiscoveries through the use of technology. She

dolls/humans are intertwined. She received

has received international awards and attention

numerous awards while still in school, and has

for her work, which is widely enjoyed for its

been highly acclaimed in numerous solo andoutlandish ideas and unique designs based ongroup exhibitions. Tomozawa has been active inJapanese culture, and has also participated ina variety of fields, including underground culture,

government projects. For this exhibition, she will

and has formed an experimental music unit withpresent

Naohiro Ukawa. She is scheduled to graduate

a

new

work

about

enjoying

thegastronomic delights of a dystopian age.

from the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo
University of the Arts in the spring of 2024.

10. Etsuko Ichihara, Future SUSHI , 2022
Photo: Masashi Kuroha Courtesy of Mori Art Museum

11. Kotao Tomozawa, slime CXXXV, 2022

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en*All Programs are subject to change.

5

Exhibition of archival materials
This exhibition introduces the activities of pioneering art collectives that developed practices with a view
“between creation and generation” over the course of approximately 100 years from the prewar period to thepresent, through a small exhibition of materials.
Venue｜Exhibition Gallery 2F

Event
MOT Annual Crosstalk
A series of artist talks by participating artists will be held during the exhibition. We will also welcome experts
from diverse fields such as VR, AI, artificial life, space humanities and social sciences, and quantum art, andask them about the points of contact between art and these fields and their future prospects.
MOT Annual x VR Culture Forum Talks
Researchers in the field of virtual reality and artists participating in this exhibition will show and talk about theorigin of their ideas, and introduce the ever-changing research and artistic expression in this field in an easily
understandable manner through discussion.
Featuring: Akinori Goto (artist), Minami Arai (artist), Junichi Yamaoka (Senior Assistant Professor, Keio
University Graduate School), Emi Kusano (artist), Hideyuki Ando (Professor, Osaka University of Arts), Tomoko
Hashida (Professor, Waseda University), and curators of the museum
MOT Annual x Deviation Game
Named “Deviation Game” after “The Imitation Game” by Alan Turing, the father of computer science, this project
explores the mutual evolution of AI and humans. Through this game that involves drawing a picture of a certain
theme in a way that AI cannot understand but humans can, we will consider the history of technology and artistic
expression, which have repeatedly imitated and deviated from each other.
Performances by Tomo Kihara + Playfool “Deviation Game” and others

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en*All Programs are subject to change.

6

Related Programs: MOT Annual extra
During the MOT Annual exhibition, we will introduce ongoing projects that are being developed on ever-changing
platforms of artistic expression with the support of outside organizations. Various projects, related exhibitions,and events will be held, including an art award based on the theme of the metaverse.
Dates: December 9 (Sat) - March 3 (Sun), 2024 *The period differs from MOT Annual 2023.
Venue: Exhibition Gallery B2F, Foyer, etc. Admission free
Details of the projects to be introduced, including the following, will be posted on the website as they become
available.

NIPPON TV IMAGINARIUM AWARD 2023
As part of the project introductions, an exhibition will be held to introduce the XR Award(award-winning works and jury works*), which was established to commemorate the 70th
anniversary of the founding of Nippon Television.
(“Imaginarium” is the ideal state of visual media proposed by artist Katsuhiro Yamaguchi)* Award Jury Exhibition: Emi Kusano
Born in 1990 in Tokyo, Japan, Emi Kusano’s creative work focuses on retro-futurism, youth
culture, and the latest technology. She made her debut as a street photographer in Harajuku
when she was in high school, and exhibited at Museum at FIT and the Victoria and AlbertMuseum. Kusano focuses on AI art and has exhibited worldwide, including auction house
Christie’s, Bright Moments, and Unit London.
FUTURE LIFE FACTORY, Design Division, Panasonic Corporation “KOTOBATABI”
Experience an augmented reality (AR) interactive tool where everyone’s words float in a cloud,©Emi Kusano

triggering accidental discoveries.

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en*All Programs are subject to change.

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Information
Exhibition Period

Saturday, 2 December 2023 - Sunday, 3 March 2024

ClosedMondays (except 8 Jan, 12 Feb) and 28-31 Dec, 1 and 9 Jan, 13 Feb

Opening Hours

10 AM－6 PM (Tickets available until 30 minutes before closing.)

Admission

Adults – 1,300 Yen / University & College Students, Over 65 – 900 Yen / High-school &Junior High-school Students – 500 Yen / Elementary School Students & Younger – free

Venue

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Exhibition Gallery 3F, and others

Organized by

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo operated by Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for
History and Culture

Co-organized byComputer Graphic Arts Society (CG-ARTS)

Granted by

Japan Arts Fund

Cooperated by

NIPPON TV, FUTURE LIFE FACTORY, Design Division, Panasonic Corporationand more

Curated by

Tomoe Moriyama (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)

Curators in charge Kiyoe Shimbata, Yoshitaro Inami (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)

Concurrent Exhibitions
Yasuko Toyoshima: Origination Method

Exhibition Gallery 1F（9 December, 2023－10 March, 2024)

MOT Collection

Collection Gallery（2 December, 2023－10 March, 2024）

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en*All Programs are subject to change.

8

Publicity Images

E-mail : mot-pr@mot-art.jp

MOT provides 11 publicity images to the press. Use of the images for any purpose requires prior permission of
the museum. To request any image/s, please send an email to mot-pr@mot-art.jp with the caption numberof the desired image. You shall be deemed to have consented to our terms and conditions by submitting therequest.
Terms and Conditions
1. Each of the publicity images must be accompanied by its credit lines which are provided below.
2. Publicity images must be reproduced in their entirety and may not be cropped, detailed, overprinted, or
altered.
3. You should send a proof copy to the museum before the final printing, broadcasting, and/or release for thefact check and confirmation of the use of image/s and credit/s. You also should provide the museum with acopy of the respective magazine, newspaper, DVD, video file, website link, etc. after publication.
4. Secondary use of the image/s is strictly prohibited. The data of the image/s must be deleted once used
for reproduction.

Please send the number of the desired image by email to mot-pr@mot-art.jp.
1

Minami Arai, Osamu Dazai “No longer Human”, 2012 Photo: Sho Sato

2

Akinori Goto, Heading, 2022

3

(euglena), watage20210101 “aloof6”, 2021

4

Unexistence Gallery: Iku Harada / Naoya Hirata / Asako Fujikura /yang02, New Existentialism, 2021-

5

yang02, TEFCO vol.1, 2023 Photo: Rakutaro Ogiwara

6

Shin Hanagata, still human, 2021-

7

So Kanno+Akihiro Kato+Takmi Watanuki, Kazokutchi, 2022 Photo: Ioto Yamaguchi

8

Zombie Zoo Keeper, Zombie Zoo #0082 / #0123 / #0011 / #0081 / #0007 / #0012 / #0059 / #0035,
2021 ©Fictionera

9

Masaya Ishikawa / Hiroshi Sugihara / Hiroaki Nakaji, The Square Makes it Through, 2021
Photo: Takako Iimoto

10

Etsuko Ichihara, Future SUSHI, 2022 Photo: Masashi Kuroha Courtesy of Mori Art Museum

11

Kotao Tomozawa, slime CXXXV, 2022

Contact

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo｜ Public Relations (Kudo / Inaba / Uchibori)
E-MAIL: mot-pr@mot-art.jp

TEL: +81-3-5245-1134

https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en*All Programs are subject to change.

9