Japan Media Arts Festival

Power to Change is the name of this year’s Japan Media Arts Festival. Celebrating its twenty anniversary, the government agency for Cultural Affairs features memorable winners from the past editions. Anime, manga, video games, music videos, and toys are only few of the categories exhibited in a number of different topics.

Since 1997, the festival has been notably important in the country, footing different media pieces from artists around the world. According to Hikawa Tyusuke, anime and special effect researcher, these twenty years has brought a change in people’s awareness and an enormous potential in all media. To show this is one of the festival’s objectives.

The exhibition is divided into different topics where artists show their interpretation through different media techniques. “The form of new things created by information,” “the future of artistic expression and the possible combinations,” “the history of manga after the war,” and “post-internet artists” are only some of the several areas of the exhibition.

Although all of the pieces are extremely creative, there are some highlights you shouldn’t miss when visiting the expo. “Night less” is a road movie composed only of images from Google Street View. You go inside a Mini-Cooper and watch a projection as if you were actually travelling from Nebraska to Alaska. Artist David Bowen, used a 3D printer which constantly reproduces an onion bud as it grows. You can see the onion and the prints. “Smart Trashbox” is, as its name reveals, a trashcan that moves to catch anything you throw away. Kuwakubo Ryota equipped a model train with a light source. It slowly moves and projects the shadows of different household items laying on the floor.

On the first level, there’s a huge collection of award winning manga that you can barrow, sit and read there. An interesting fact about this art is that there has been a huge increase in female artists and readers in the last twenty years. Not only has this change been evident in Japan but overseas as well.

Admission to the exhibition is free. It will be presented until November 6th at 3331 Arts Chiyoda (6-11-14 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-Ku) in Tokyo. Opens from 11:00 am to 7 pm.