PRESS RELEASE
Iwai Toshio × Tokyo Photographic Art Museum presents
The Light and Movement House with 100 Stories- Connecting Visual Devices in the 19th Century and Media Art
Jul. 30 - Nov. 3, 2024

Left:
Iwai Toshio, Original Drawings The
house with 100 stories - the dawnof visual devices, 2024 ⓒ IwaiToshio
Right:
Iwai Toshio, Piano - as image
media, 1995, Collection of theartist

Exhibition Objectives｜
Today, we are so accustomed to seeing digital images every day on computers and smartphones that
we seldom pause to consider when and how moving images first appeared before humankind.
However, the thrill of watching still images come to life is one we can vicariously share with those
who first uncovered these principles, by experiencing the devices they created firsthand.
Iwai Toshio, widely recognized recently as a beloved children’sbook author, is also among Japan’s foremost media artists. His
well-known Time Stratum series was created by synthesizing
the basic mechanics of moving images with new technology.
Meanwhile, since its inception, the Tokyo Photographic Art
Museum has housed a vast collection of early visual devices
from the 19th century. In this exhibition, with Mr. Iwai’scooperation, we explore the inner workings of these devices.
Gaining an understanding of their foundational principles will, inturn, open new avenues of appreciation for Mr. Iwai’s media
works. Our hope is that this ignites a passion for moving-image
media in a new generation, who will continue pushing forward
the evolution of these technologies.
Iwai Toshio, A mirror house of 100 stories, 2022,
Collection of the artist

Exhibition Summary｜
19th-Century Visual Devices
The origins of visual devices can be traced back to the 19th century, a time when the technologies
underlying today’s ubiquitous photographs and moving images were invented concurrently and oftenserendipitously. Some innovations sprang frommundane discoveries, while others emerged from aburning desire to witness phenomena up close. The
more one investigates this era, the more one is inspiredby the passion and insatiable curiosity of its scientists
and artists. It is also important to recognize how theseinventions and discoveries interconnected across bothtime and national borders. Here, we will explore key
Praxinoscope-Théâtre,19th century,Zoetrope, 19th century,
milestones in the history and development of visual Collection of Tokyo
Collection of Tokyo Photographic
Art Museum
Photographic Art
devices, with a focus on items in the TokyoMuseum¥
Photographic Art Museum’s collection.

The Media Art of Iwai Toshio
Iwai Toshio was born in 1962, about twomonths before the premiere of Japan’s first
TV anime series, Astro Boy. Iwai grew up
captivated by anime and tokusatsu (specialeffects-heavy live action) TV programs, andnaturally gravitated toward both flipbooks andelectronics experimentation. In junior highschool, he aspired to be a manga artist oranimator, and by the time he was in highschool, he had developed a passion for art anddesign. In his second year of high school, hewas profoundly impressed by an encounter Iwai Toshio, Time Stratum Ⅲ,1989,
Collection of the artist
with the phenakistiscope in a book of works
by illustrator and animator Furukawa Taku.
Iwai Toshio, Time Stratum II, 1985,of Tokyo Photographic Art
Iwai subsequently enrolled in the School of Art and Design at the Collection
MuseumUniversity of Tsukuba, where he began creating art seriously. His earlyexperiences with flipbooks, his fascination with 19th-century visual devices, and his active integrationof emerging computer and video technologies into his works all shaped his unique trajectory in media
art.

Iwai Lab: Reinventing the 19th Century
The phrase “reinvent the wheel” is used, particularly in the tech industry
in recent years, somewhat pejoratively and to describe the seemingly
unnecessary act of developing from scratch a technology that is alreadywell-known and established. However, is reinventing the wheel always awaste of time? As we have seen, while some visual devices invented in
the 19th century evolved and significantly
contributed to the advent of cinema, others vanished for various reasons
and are now only known through scant historical documentation. What
did the scientists and a rtists of the 19th century envision before theemergence of cinema? To explore this, Iwai Toshio is revisiting andendeavoring to reinvent some of these pioneering visual devices.

Iwai Toshio, Phenakisti-scope Table, 2024
Photo: Hashimoto Norihisa

Outline of exhibition｜Dates: July 30 - November 3, 2024
Closed: Mondays (except when Monday falls on a holiday, in which case the museum is open and closed thefollowing day)
Venue: B1F Exhibition Gallery, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita Meguro-ku Tokyo 153-0062
Open Hours: 10:00–18:00 (Thu. / Fri. 10:00–20:00)*10:00-21:00 (Thu. / Fri. between July 18 and August 30)*Final admission 30 minutes before closing.
Admission: Adults￥700/ College Students￥560 / High School and Junior High School Students, Over 65￥350*Admission is free for children in elementary school or younger; junior high school students living or attending schools in theTokyo metropolitan area; holders of Japanese disability identification cards (shogaisha techo), along with up to two caregivers;
and holders of the museum’s annual passport.

Organized by: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum operated by Tokyo Metropolitan
Foundation for History and Culture, Nikkei Inc.
Sponsored by: KAISEI-SHA Publishing Co., Ltd.

For Press｜
If you have any press enquiries about this Exhibition, please contact our Department of Public Relations.
High-resolution images for publication are also available by e-mail.
press-info@topmuseum.jp
https://topmuseum.jp/e/contents/index.html