Japan Media Arts Festival 20 th Anniversary Exhibition
Press Release July 14, 2016

“Japan Media Arts Festival 20th Anniversary Exhibition - Power to Change”
20 years that marked a revolution in media. This comprehensive festival assembles
a large number of artworks mirroring their time!

To mark the festivalʼs 20 th anniversary, the Japan Media Arts Festival 20 th Anniversary Exhibition Executive Committee
presents the “Japan Media Arts Festival 20 th Anniversary Exhibition - Power to Change” from October 15, to November 6,2016 at 3331 Arts Chiyoda and other locations.
Since its inception in 1997, the festival has presented awards to outstanding works in each of its four divisions: Art,Entertainment, Animation, and Manga. As a comprehensive festival of Media Arts（Japanese: Media Geijutsu）
it also provides a platform for appreciation of the award-winning and other notable works and has in recent years
been demonstrating its continuing evolution as an established annual international festival.
This year, to mark the festivalʼs 20 th anniversary, with the keyword “change”, four past Jury members have chosenAward-winning Works and Jury Selections from previous Japan Media Arts Festivals to be exhibited or screened, exemplifying the diverse expressive forms and changing nature of Media Arts over that period.
By tracking 20 years of the festival, this exhibition provides a precious opportunity to fully comprehend
Media Arts as well as the changes and trends in the society, culture, and technology that surround and derivefrom it. What is the relationship between these changes and trends and the inherent power of the works?
This exhibition serves as an opportunity to ponder the future of Media Arts as an extension of their “Power to Change”.

“Japan Media Arts Festival 20th Anniversary Exhibition - Power to Change”
Period:Venue:

Saturday, October 15 - Sunday, November 6, 2016

Main venue: 3331 Arts Chiyoda（6 -11-14 Sotokanda Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101- 0021）● Opening hours: 11:00 to 19:00 ※Last entry 30 minutes prior to closing.
● Open every day during the exhibition period.

Satellite venue: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC], UDX THEATER,
The National Art Center, Tokyo and other locations.
※ Exhibition days and opening hours vary according to venue.

Admission free ※A few events within the festival will be subject to fees.
Organizer:

Japan Media Arts Festival 20 th Anniversary Exhibition Executive Committee

3331 Arts Chiyoda
Japan Media Arts Festival 20 th Anniversary Exhibition Website: http://20 anniv.j-mediaarts.jp/en/Cooperation:※Detailed information will be announced on the above website.

Contact Information: Japan Media Arts Festival Secretariat Public Relations Department［c/o hilo Press］
Email: jmaf-pre@hilopress.net

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Japan Media Arts Festival 20 th Anniversary Exhibition
Press Release July 14, 2016

■ Japan Media Arts Festival 20th Anniversary Exhibition Executive Committee

MIYATA Ryohei［ Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japanand Chair, Japan Media Arts Festival 20th Anniversary Exhibition Executive Committee］
TATEHATA Akira［ President, Tama Art University and Operating Committee, the 20th Japan Media Arts Festival］
FURUKAWA Taku［ Animation Artist and Operating Committee, the 20th Japan Media Arts Festivaland Former Jury Member（Animation Division）］
KAWAGUCHI Yoichiro［ CG Artist and Professor of Graduate School, the University of Tokyoand Head of Jury, 1st to 3rd Festival and Former Jury Member（Art Division）］
HARASHIMA Hiroshi［ Emeritus Professor, the University of Tokyoand Head of Jury, 4th to 6th Festival and Former Jury Member（Art Division）］
SATOH Taku［ Graphic Designer and Former Jury Member（Art Division）］
IWATANI Toru［ Game Creator and Professor, Tokyo Polytechnic University and Former Jury Member（Entertainment Division）］
TANAKA Hideyuki［ Art Director and Film Director and Former Jury Member（Entertainment Division）］
TOMINO Yoshiyuki［ Animation Director and Former Jury Member（Aimation Division）］
WADA Toshikatsu［ Animation Artist and Former Jury Member（Animation Division）］
SATONAKA Machiko［ Manga Artist and Former Jury Member（Animation and Manga Division）］
SHIRIAGARI Kotobuki［ Manga Artist and Former Jury Member（Manga Division）］
KATO Takashi［ Director, Arts and Culture Division, Cultural Affairs Department, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan］
NAKAMURA Masato［ Director, 3331 Arts Chiyoda］
ABE Yoshihisa［ Director of Innovation, CG-ARTS ］■ Exhibition highlights – A walkthrough of the 20 years of JMAF
① Past Award-winning Works and Jury Selections chosen by past Jury members

will be exhibited and screened.
② Animations and video works carefully chosen from past Award-winning Worksand Jury Selections will be screened.
③ Complete editions of Award-winning Works and Jury Selections in the Manga Division
will be available for reading.
④ A rich program of lectures, performances, workshops, etc.
by Award-winners and Jury members will be held.

＜ Comments from 4 supervisors ＞

Art Division

SEKIGUCHI Atsuhito［ Visual Artist / Professor, Aichi University of Arts /Former Japan Media Arts Festival Jury Member（ Art Division ）］Profile:Born 1958 in Tokyo. He graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts and finished his postgraduate studies at thesame university. Since the 1980 s, SEKIGUCHI has been creating mainly paintings and installations. From the 1990 s, he began incorporating
computer graphics and new media into his artwork. In 1996, he was appointed as a professor at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts andSciences (IAMAS) Academy, and in 2001 he was appointed as a professor for the postgraduate course, where he served as president from2009. Since 2013, he has held his current position at Aichi University of Arts. SEKIGUCHIʼs research focuses on displays for historical archives
utilizing VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) as well as digital fabrication, while he also continues his artistic activities, creatingpaintings and installations.

The triangle of “power generated by society ”, “potential presented by technology” and “new values triggered by art”, andthe relationship between these three has formed the shape of the Japan Media Arts Festivalʼs Art Division for 20 years.
“ KAGE ”, which won the very first Grand Prize, evoked the joy of making new images through the interaction of sensing
technology and people. This expression, in current language, can be called “ interactive projection mapping” and still
generates the possibility of a new communication space that has not grown dull in color. “ Pendulum Choir ” which wasawarded the 16 th Grand Prize, combines robotics and opera, and, as if it was a new physical expression unfolding inouter space, demonstrates the potential of art without gravity. I hope to create an exhibition that turns the history ofthese works into an experience of art.

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Japan Media Arts Festival 20 th Anniversary Exhibition
Press Release July 14, 2016

Entertainment Division

ITO Gabin［ Editor / Creative Director / Former Jury Member（ Entertainment Division ）］Profile:Born 1963 in Kanagawa prefecture. After working as an editor for a computer hobby magazine, he began working as a game designer. His
current activities focus mainly on the fields of website direction and film production. He is a member of the design team “NNNNY ”（nnnny.jp）andthe editor in chief of the web magazine “MODERN FART ” (modernfart.jp). He holds a position as a professor at Joshibi College of Art and Design.

On the occasion of the Japan Media Arts Festivalʼs 20 th Anniversary, I will look back on previous Award-winning Worksand Jury Selections, mainly from the Entertainment Division. Among the old works are some which do not seem to have
faded at all. Conversely, there are others which trigger the question “ Did this work actually win an award” ? as they seemso obsolete. In general, the timeless works may be more highly valued. But perhaps the most obsolete works might also
be regarded as prophetic, as they represent that which has become part of our everyday life and is now taken forgranted. What do you regard as fresh and what as obsolete? I hope you will come to the exhibition and discover yourown answer.

Animation Division

HIKAWA Ryusuke［ Anime and Special Effects Researcher and Visiting Professor,（ Graduate School of Global, Former Jury Member（ Animation Division ）］Japanese Studies, Meiji University ）Profile:Born 1958 in Hyogo prefecture. Animation and Special Effects Researcher. Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Global Japanese Studies, Meiji
University. He graduated from Tokyo Institute of Technology. HIKAWA has served as a jury member at the Japan Media Arts Festival, the Mainichi
Film Awards and as a selection member of the Film Merit Category, The Bunka-Cho Film Awards. He is a member of the “ Science Fiction andFantasy Writers of Japan”. For the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, he conducted a survey on “Special Effects in Japan” and wrote
the “Guide to Japanese Animation - Robot Animations”. Recently, he authored “Hosoda Mamoru no sekai – kibou to kiseki wo umu anime-shon”［Shodensha, 2015］.
（The world of HOSODA Mamoru – Animations generating hope and miracles）

The 20 -year duration of the Japan Media Arts Festival can be seen as 20 years in which the digital revolution has brought
about an irreversible change in peopleʼs awareness. In the middle of this, an enormous potential has been derived fromanimation, since film formats have been standardized. We have become familiar with productions made by specific［producers and viewers］have grown closer. Contents have been
individuals and the feelings of［distributors and receivers］
transformed into the realm of data, crossing borders and reaching out to the entire globe via the internet. Due to the increasein personal viewing on mobile devices, current audiences seek a “synchronicity ” of values in reverse. I wish to capture /exemplify such changes from among the large number of Award-winning Works.

Manga Division

ITO Go［Manga Critic / Professor, Tokyo Polytechnic University / Former Jury Member（Manga Division）］
Profile:Born 1967 in Nagoya. Manga Critic. He is the author of “ Tezuka Is Dead: Manga in Transformation and Its Dysfunctional Discourse” and “Mangawa kawaru”（Changing Manga）among others. He co-authored “Manga wo ‘miru’ to iu taiken – fure-mu, kyarakuta-, modan a-to”（The experience of ʻ viewingʼ - manga, frames, characters, modern art）. He served as supervisor of the exhibition “ Drawing Manga! Lines, Panels, Kyara”
which was held at Oita Prefectural Art Museum in August 2015 and subsequently travelled to several different cities in Japan.

One of the characteristics of Japanese manga is that it has established itself as a genre based on the market of female
readers and the activities of female manga artists. But only since the 2000 s, has the number of awards given to female
manga artists at the Japan Media Arts Festival significantly increased. This shows a diversification of the genre since the2000 s and reflects the prosperity that was achieved, but you could also adopt the perspective, that female manga artists
received awards in hindsight. Further changes become more clearly visible when looking not only at the shifts in theAward-winning Works since the inception of this award, but also in the Jury Selections. This is indicated by the presenceof manga artists and works which were chosen as Jury Selections multiple times.

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Japan Media Arts Festival 20 th Anniversary Exhibition
Press Release July 14, 2016

Presented Works（ Selection ）1st JMAF, Grand Prize, Digital Art（ Interactive Art ）Division

KAGE

CHIKAMORI Motoshi© plapla x

4th JMAF, Grand Prize, Digital Art（ Interactive Art ）Division

DRAGON QUEST VII –Warrior of Eden–“DRAGON QUEST VII” Development Team（HORII Yuji（Game design & scenariodirection）/ SUGIYAMA Koichi（Music composition）/ TORIYAMA Akira（Characterdesign）/ YAMANA Manabu（Program direction）/ MAJIMA Shintaro（Art direction）,Representatives）© 2000 ARMOR PROJECT/BIRD STUDIO/HEART BEAT/ARTEPIA ZZA /SQUARE ENIX All Rights Reserved.

6 th JMAF, Special Prize

HOSHI NO KOE（The voices of a distant star）
SHINKAI Makoto© Makoto Shinkai / CoMix Wave Films

10 th JMAF, Excellence Award, Manga DivisionOHOKU

YOSHINAGA Fumi

© FUMI YOSHINAGA/HAKUSENSHA

12 th JMAF, Grand Prize, Animation Division

The House of Small Cubes
KATO Kunio© ROBOT

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Japan Media Arts Festival 20 th Anniversary Exhibition
Press Release July 14, 2016

15th JMAF, Excellence Award, Animation Division

Muybridgeʼs Strings
YAMAMURA Koji

© 2011 National Film Board of Canada / NHK / Polygon Pictures

16 th JMAF, Grand Prize, Art Division

Pendulum Choir

Cod.Act ( Michel DÉCOSTERD / André DÉCOSTERD )© Cod.Act Photo: Xavier Voirol

17th JMAF, Grand Prize, Manga Division

JOJOLION ­ Jojoʼs Bizarre Adventure Part8 ­ARAKI Hirohiko©LUCK Y L AND COMMUNICATIONS/SHUEISHA

18 th JMAF, Excellence Award, Entertainment Division

handiii

KONDO Genta / YAMAURA Hiroshi / KONISHI Tetsuya© exiii Inc.

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Japan Media Arts Festival 20 th Anniversary Exhibition
Press Release July 14, 2016

■ Concept of the symbol markTwenty blue straight lines are superposed onto each other, and by mixing together they areexpressing the twenty years build-up of the Japan Media Arts Festivalʼs history. Hereon, wewelcome the diversification of media and changes they bring to the Japan Media Art Festival.
And by making this symbol mark, as well as choosing the theme of our 20 th Anniversar yExhibition “Power to Change”, we expressed our awareness of “movement” and “change”.

Design by Asyl

Japan Media Arts Festival Overview Website: http://j-mediaarts.jp/en.php
Japan Media Arts Festival 20th Anniversary Exhibition Website: http://20anniv.j-mediaarts.jp/en/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JapanMediaArtsFestival
Twitter: @JMediaArtsFes

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