ART BIT MATRIX -TOKUSATSU to VIDEOGAME- (SINGAPORE)

Mizuma Gallery is pleased to present ART BIT MATRIX -TOKUSATSU to VIDEOGAME-, an exhibition featuring 12 Japanese artists that explores the dynamic intersections of contemporary art, indie games, and tokusatsu (Japanese cinematic special-effects culture). Curated by Daichi Nakagawa, Takakurakazuki and Yasutaka Toyokawa, the exhibition features artworks by contact Gonzo, Daisuke Nishijima, Hayaki Nishigaki, Kenji Yanobe+BAN8KU+YANOKEN PROJECT, Romana Machin Tanimura, Sawako Kageyama, Shun Okada, Takakurakazuki, Takumi Hirayama, Tomoya Kuki, Yoshihiro Takeuchi, and Yume Aoyama.

About the exhibition

ART BIT MATRIX -TOKUSATSU to VIDEOGAME- is a hybrid of Hotel Anteroom Kyoto’s annual summer contemporary art and indie game exhibition art bit – Contemporary Art & Indie Game Culture and the group exhibition Character Matrix curated by contemporary artist Takakurakazuki. art bit focuses on the mirror-like interplay between game-like qualities in contemporary art and the artistic potential in indie games and explores the roots of their mutual appeal and creativity to pursue new possibilities for both art and games. Meanwhile, Character Matrix delves into the world of character design as vessels for expression, exploring the realm of Japanese tokusatsu (Japanese cinematic special-effects culture) and games that have been overlooked by the Japanese contemporary art scene.

12 artists from both exhibitions have come together for ART BIT MATRIX -TOKUSATSU to VIDEOGAME- to capture the fusion between western modern art history; where the principles and contexts of ‘beauty’ has been revaluated, and the accumulation of sacred, secular, playful Asian traditions, and pop culture on Japanese art. From vibrant and playful paintings, and animation to playable analogue and digital games, the exhibition would create a diverse art mandala/matrix where different mediums coexist. Tokusatsu reimagines reality as a fantastical world, while games ‘install’ the fantastical virtual world into reality. ART BIT MATRIX -TOKUSATSU to VIDEOGAME- explores a new art movement at the intersection of tokusatsu and video games, which traverse between reality and the virtual. It revisits the Superflat movement, pioneered by Takashi Murakami, by expanding its cultural roots beyond otaku (Japanese pop culture fandom) and internet culture into global art history.

ART BIT MATRIX -TOKUSATSU to VIDEOGAME- also explores artistic possibilities from tokusatsu, a genre shaped by the threat of nuclear war, to video games that have become a common language of modern entertainment. What insights can be gleaned from 80 years of Japanese cultural history in the aftermath of World War II? And what would we create as war spread in the current times?

Featured Works

Central to the show is artist Kenji Yanobe, known for integrating post-war tokusatsu aesthetics and nuclear themes. Yanobe reinterprets Taro Okamoto’s Tower of the Sun as the creation myth of his SHIP’S CAT series. In his creation myth, the tower, built at the 1970 Osaka World Expo, were vestiges of humanity now functions as the SHIP’S CAT’s space shuttle that carries the beginnings of life on earth. In 2025, Yanobe collaborated with pixel artist BAN8KU and game designers from Kyoto University of the Arts, Osaka Electro-Communication University and Soai University via the YANOKEN PROJECT to debut a sculptural artwork that bridges physical form and virtual experience through interactive gameplay. A behind-the-scenes video on the development of the artwork and its game world will be shown at the exhibition.

ART BIT MATRIX -TOKUSATSU to VIDEOGAME- will also feature works that explore the diversity of ‘Play’ and ‘Pray’ across different mediums. Yoshihiro Takeuchi and Shun Okada reinterpret the interactive mechanics and glitches inherent in video games as new principles of painting, confronting Western art history with abstract chaos from which original characters emerge. Through traditional Japanese techniques, Hayaki Nishigaki transforms the remnants of Godzilla, the original tokusatsu monster, into spectacles that critique our modern urban landscapes, accentuating the artistic potential shared between tokusatsu and art. In contrast, Yume Aoyama and Romana Machin Tanimura shape mythical beasts and monsters through clever use of two-dimensional and three-dimensional formats,, whereas Takumi Hirayama and Tomoya Kuki summon clay and ceramic figurines as spirits of the real environment, and Sawako Kageyama animates a fictional TV show featuring half-human characters in pop and dark aesthetics. These artists of the “Pokémon” generation discover and create monsters in toys and stationery that colour everyday spaces, imbue media with divine spirits, and manifest a polytheistic mandala-like character matrix.

Additionally, contact Gonzo presents a 6-meter-long coin game as a bodiless performance artwork, while Daisuke Nishijima deconstructs a classic Super Famicom game into a “non-shooting shooter” inspired by ‘Space Invaders’. Lastly, Takakurakazuki’s work reinterprets games as vessels for meditative rituals by housing them in Buddhist altars. These works all function as fantastical devices that traverse between reality and the virtual, transforming the closed play of games into an open prayer for the world.

About the Artists

contact Gonzo is a performance art group formed in 2006. The group is named after the methodology that they have developed, which focuses on interpersonal contact and collision between bodies. Based on this methodology, the group has created several improvisational performances as their main body of work, and created photographs, video works, installations, games and publications derived from the ideas and materials used in those performances. Their works have been exhibited in Contact Gonzo: Physicatopia at Watari-Um Museum in Tokyo, 2017 and in a joint exhibition with YCAM Bio Research, wow, see you in the next life at Yamaguchi Centre for Arts and Media at Yamaguchi, 2019.

 Daisuke Nishijima (b. 1974, Tokyo, Japan) is a Mangaka and contemporary artist, Daisuke Nishijima made his manga debut in 2004 with sci-fi manga O-sou Sensou (The Universal), and has since published several mangas, including Điện Biên Phủ (Dien Bien Phu) and Sekai-No-Owari-No-Mahoutsukai (The Witch at the End of the World). In 2024, he began to develop indie games and released Mudai-san Adventure and SPACE INVADIANS. In the same year, his works were exhibited in The Development of Characters  at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, promoting the theory of “The emergence of Art”. In August 2025, he released the indie game CYBERPUNK:CCMA at Chiba City Museum of Art. His indie game SUSHI-NATOR is currently shown at the Expo 2025 Osaka, featuring creatures inspired by sushi ingredients.

Hayaki Nishigaki (b. 1985, Hyogo, Japan) who graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design with a Masters in Fine Art, explores Godzilla’s symbolism of Japan’s defeat in World War II in his works. He creates contemporary ink paintings that blend techniques from traditional Japanese paintings such as the Rakuchū-rakugai zu (Scenes in and around the Capital) and Ensō” (Japanese ink paintings of circles drawn in one or two uninterrupted strokes to express Zen). His major solo exhibitions include A Monster of Our Own Making at Ronin Gallery in New York, 2023. He also organises and participates in the Kyoto Sento Art Festival, which redefines the significance of art festivals through exhibiting artworks at bathhouses. He has received the Grand Prize at the Shibuya Art Festival (SHIBUYA AWARDS) in 2017, the SNBA Award, and the Suda Prize at KyoTen (Kyoto Exhibition) in 2016.

Kenji Yanobe (b.1965, Osaka, Japan) debuted in 1990 with the experiential artwork Tanking Machine, where participants meditate inside an isolation tank. He creates mechanical sculptures incorporating the theme of ‘survival in contemporary society’. In 2017, he began work on the SHIP’S CAT series, cat guardians that bless journeys with good fortune. Since 2021, SHIP’S CAT (Muse) has been permanently installed at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka. In 2024, he exhibited the large-scale installation BIG CAT BANG, which features his own creation myth on the origins of life, in the central atrium of GINZA SIX, Tokyo. The origins of his imaginative practice dates back to his childhood of playing in the dismantled site of the Osaka Expo ‘70, which he came to call the “ruins of the future.” He explores the origins and significance of art and its interactions with the environment in his practice.

BAN8KU is a pixel artist based in Japan, they create panoramic and pop-style pixel art works and pushes the boundaries of pixel art. They create original works and commissioned works with companies and organisations since 2013. They have worked with companies and brands such as pop duo Yuzu in their album release pop up YUZUTOWN × Shibuya PARCO, Tokyu Group, Shibuya 109, Fujiya, Akihabara Tourism Organisation, Tokyo Game Show and Toyota.

Romana Machin Tanimura (b. 1998, Tokyo, Japan), graduate of Tohoku University of Art and Design’s Master’s Program in Culture and the Arts, draws and creates monsters with a variety of mediums, including pencil and ballpoint pen sketches, crayons, and digital illustrations. Self-proclaimed “Crazy creator obsessed with soft vinyl figures and cartoons”, she creates monsters that fight against ordinary tiny evils in our day-to-day lives. In a time where such evils accumulate, she creates these monsters as her own way of saving the world. Her major exhibitions include ROMANA TOY STORE II at Fuji Gallery Shinjuku in Tokyo, 2024, Romana Toy Store at myheirloom in Tokyo, 2022. She has also exhibited in group exhibitions including Dimensions at Whitestone Ginza New Gallery in Tokyo, 2022 and Character Matrix at BUG in Tokyo, 2024.

Sawako Kageyama (b. 1993, Japan) is an animator and illustrator, Kageyama graduated from Tama Art University with a Bachelor in Graphic Design, and pursued a Master in Animation at Tokyo University of the Arts, school of film and new media. In 2016, she received the grand prize at the 15th 1_WALL Graphics Exhibition and began her illustration career. She has worked on many projects, including album covers and animations. She is known for her illustrations of animal-like characters and food with a unique blend of pop and dark aesthetics.

Shun Okada (b. 1992, Ibaraki, Japan) graduated from Tokyo Zokei University in 2016 with a BFA in Painting, and completed his MFA in Art Studies at Tama Art University in 2017. He creates paintings inspired from the interface of SNES games, and visual bugs and glitches. His major solo exhibitions include 2015-2022 at TENSHADAI, Kyoto, 2022, ut0p1a at Calm and Punk gallery, Tokyo, 2022, under/stand at commune gallery, Tokyo, 2021, retrojective at Tav gallery, Tokyo, 2019. He has also taken part in group exhibitions, including MEGA at SH gallery, Tokyo, 2022, Shun Okada & Yusuke Abe Exhibition “Unfathomed Depth” at commune gallery, Tokyo, 2021 and the sacre of retina at Ginza Tsutaya Art Wall Gallery, Tokyo 2019.

Takakurakazuki (b. 1987, Japan) is a contemporary artist and holds a Master’s degree from Tokyo Zokei University, the artist’s work challenges the boundaries of contemporary art through Eastern philosophy, especially Buddhism, by reimagining the value of digital data, and examining the aesthetics of character design. As an artist, he uses digital mediums including video games, pixel art, VR, NFTs, and AI in his practice. He has taken part in major exhibitions, including Hyperman Ban-Go-O at the entrance of GINZA SIX in 2025, Character Matrix at BUG, Tokyo in 2024. He has also staged solo exhibitions, including Mecarial at the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art in 2023. He has also exhibited at Ashikaga Museum of Art, SusHi Tech Square, NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC), and in Taipei, New York, and Mexico.

Takumi Hirayama (b. 1994, Tokyo, Japan), graduate of Tokyo Zokei University with a BFA in Sculpture, and graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts with a Masters in Fine Arts, Art Education. He creates sculptures and installations with clay, with a focus on the communication that emerges through creation and interaction with others. He also manages a studio and artist-run space, Coshin Coku in Shinagawa, Tokyo. 

Tomoya Kuki (b. 1991, Wakayama, Japan) is a ceramicist that creates from his childhood memories of playing with things that somehow caught his fascination, including action figures, plush toys, video games and toys from anime. His ceramic figures and drawings capture the softness and expressions of being fascinated by these objects.

Yoshihiro Takeuchi (b. 1987, Kochi City, Japan),  who graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design with a Master of Fine Arts in 2013, creates paintings that reflects the chaos in modern society with video game-like elements that blend that tangible and intangible from his studio, Studio Haidenban in Fushimi Kyoto. His main body of work, the Chain Series, is a series of paintings inspired by the puzzle game ‘Puyo Puyo’. In this series, similar shapes and forms disappear into the painting, just like how blobs of similar colours disappear in the puzzle game. With this disappearing technique, the subject and its image are erased, presenting new perspectives at every viewing. His major solo exhibitions include He: at Raurauji Gallery, Kyoto, 2019, mtk+ vol.1 Yoshihiro Takeuchi at Mtk Contemporary Art, Kyoto, 2021 and Yoshihiro Takeuchi Exhibition at t.gallery, Tokyo, 2023.  He has also taken part in group exhibitions, including several editions of Artist’s Fair Kyoto and art bit – Contemporary Art & Indie Game Culture. He was also part of OPET Collection vol. 1 at Gallery OPET, Tokyo, 2024.

Yume Aoyama (b. 1997, Ibaraki, Japan), graduate of Tohoku University of Art and Design’s Masters Program in Culture and the Arts, explores the cycles of restoration and destruction between humans and nature and captures modern life and mythology in her works. She is inspired by monsters that transcend boundaries, even during times of calamity. Her works often incorporate animal skin and hair in her work, due to her childhood memories of Ultramen kaijus and mythology. Her major solo exhibitions include Invisible Kaiju at Art Front Gallery in Tokyo, 2024 and Stitching Beasts at Shinjuku Takashimaya in Tokyo, 2023.

About the Curators

Daichi Nakagawa (b. 1974, Tokyo, Japan) is a critic, editor and game researcher. He is the deputy editor of the criticism magazine PLANETS and adjunct lecturer for Game Course Graduate School of Film and New Media in Tokyo University of the Arts. Nakagawa was also a member of the jury for the Entertainment Division of the Japan Media Arts Festival (21st–23rd editions) and was part of the Selection Committee for the Media Arts Division of the Japan Art Awards (71st–73rd editions). He writes various critiques that bridge reality and fiction by exploring Japanese philosophy, urban studies, anthropology, information technology, and other fields, with a focus on games, animation, and television dramas in pop culture. His writings have been published in Tokyo Skytree Theory (Kobunsha, 2012) and Brief History of Contemporary Games: From a Historical View on Play and Civilization (Hayakawa Publishing, 2016).

Yasutaka Toyokawa (b. 1982, Japan). He curates for Hotel Anteroom Kyoto based on the hotel’s concept of “communicating the ever-changing art and culture of Kyoto”, with projects that communicate game culture through the hotel’s gallery and events. With a background in academic research on video games, he has collaborated with researchers, game developers, companies, and artists from Japan and abroad to organize various events, including meetups (2019–), exhibitions of contemporary art and indie games (2021–), and concept rooms inspired by games (2021–). Additionally, as Hotel Anteroom Kyoto is the official hotel for Japan’s largest indie game festival, BitSummit (2021–), he coordinates and networks with creators from all over the world. He is currently the Manager, Hotel Anteroom Kyoto, UDS Co., Ltd. / Curator, Gallery 9.5 / Visiting Researcher, Ritsumeikan University Centre for Game Studies.

Takakurakazuki (b. 1987, Japan) is a contemporary artist and holds a Master’s degree from Tokyo Zokei University, the artist’s work challenges the boundaries of contemporary art through Eastern philosophy, especially Buddhism, by reimagining the value of digital data, and examining the aesthetics of character design. As an artist, he uses digital mediums including video games, pixel art, VR, NFTs, and AI in his practice. He has taken part in major exhibitions, including Hyperman Ban-Go-O at the entrance of GINZA SIX in 2025, Character Matrix at BUG, Tokyo in 2024. He has also staged solo exhibitions, including Mecarial at the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art in 2023. He has also exhibited at Ashikaga Museum of Art, SusHi Tech Square, NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC), and in Taipei, New York, and Mexico.

https://www.mizuma.sg/exhibitions/2025/07/30/art-bit-matrix-tokusatsu-to-videogame/