Date: 13 Jun 2026 - 13 Jun 2026
Date: Saturday, 13 June, 2026
Time: 3:00–4:00 p.m.
Venue: Drake Gallery, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, HKU, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Language: Japanese (with interpretation in Cantonese)
Please click here to register.
Speaker
Toshio Iwai (media artist, children’s book author)
When he was a child, Toshio Iwai’s mother told him one day that she would no longer buy him toys—a moment that sparked his lifelong interest in making and creating things. He graduated from the Graduate School of Art at the University of Tsukuba in 1987 and went on to become a pioneer of media art. His work spans a wide range of fields, with notable works including the television program Ugo Ugo Ruuga, Totoro’s Bouncing exhibit at the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, the Nintendo DS game Electroplankton, and the electronic musical instrument TENORI-ON, developed in collaboration with Yamaha. In 1996, his collaborative performance with Ryuichi Sakamoto won the Golden Nica at the Prix Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria. From the 2000s onward, inspired by making handcrafted toys together with his daughter, he turned to picture books. His The House of 100 Stories series became hugely popular in Japan and has been translated and published in multiple languages.
Focused on the creative journey behind The House with 100 Stories, Toshio Iwai will share his cross-disciplinary artistic vision. As a media artist, he uses interactivity and sound to inspire storytelling; as a father, he nurtures his creativity through a childlike spirit and the warmth of companionship; and as a picture book author, he builds layered worlds through delicate imagination. This lecture will explore how these three identities interweave, offering a glimpse into the technology, aesthetics, and familial bonds that shape his work—and tracing the singular path his practice has taken, from media art to picture books, each opening new ways of experiencing his art.