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Toshio Iwai

Iwai Toshio
2026-09-11 add · 353 words · person

Japanese media artist and picture-book author (born 1962). Starting from works that developed the optical toys of the 19th century, he is known for a wide range of activity spanning art, media, toys and picture books: interactive works that manipulate image and sound in dialogue, CG systems for television programs, video games, the electronic instrument TENORI-ON developed jointly with Yamaha, and the picture-book series 100-kai date no ie (The 100-Story House).

Career

He was born on November 9, 1962, in Nishio, Aichi Prefecture. He studied at the University of Tsukuba and completed a master's degree in plastic art and mixed media at its graduate school. He began making experimental animation as a student, and with Time Stratum II (1985), a work that developed 19th-century optical toys such as the phenakistoscope and the zoetrope into three dimensions, he became the youngest winner of the grand prize at the 17th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan. From 2002 to 2006 he was a project professor at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo.

Media works

He broadened his field with the characters and CG system design for the television program Ugo Ugo Lhuga, the Famicom game Otocky (1987), and the video installations at the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka. With Ryuichi Sakamoto he performed Music Plays Images X Images Play Music (1997), a performance manipulating image and music in both directions, which won the Golden Nica in the interactive art category at Ars Electronica.

TENORI-ON

An electronic instrument developed jointly with Yamaha: a square frame holding a 16×16 grid of LED buttons, played by manipulating light and sound at the same time. It went on sale in the United Kingdom in September 2007.

Picture books

He is also active as a picture-book author, with the 100-kai date no ie series, which began in 2008, among others. He received the Oribe Award in 2007 and the Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts in 2009.

To verify

  • When TENORI-ON went on sale in Japan
  • The category name of the 2009 Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts

References

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