A new article by Wakana Kaitani on Japan’s political landscape and cultural policy is now live on The Art Journal @theartjournal_magazine , the latest media platform from the venerable 75-year-old British publication ArtReview.
@ryuta_aoki_ was invited to contribute via an email interview, and some of his comments have been featured in the article. We invite you to explore how Japan’s current situation is being discussed from a global media perspective.
🔗 After a Landslide Victory, Will Sanae Takaichi’s Election Reshape Japan’s Artworld? /articles/after-landslide-election-sanae-takaichi-victory-reshape-japan-art-world
The official catalog for ACT Festival 2025 "Neuroverse: Sailing Through The Sentient Universe," featuring a contributed essay by @ryuta_aoki_ , is now available.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, ACT Festival is organized by the Asia Culture Center (ACC) @asianculturecenter — an international arts institution where the cultural arts of Asia's past and present converge with innovative ideas to generate future-oriented outcomes.
Ryuta served on the evaluation jury and contributed the essay "The Horizon of the Neuroverse: Reweaving the Structure of Perception." The full text is available at the end of the catalog.
📝 "The Horizon of the Neuroverse: Reweaving the Structure of Perception"
🔗 /file/d/1N05B4YPgEnrPEjOdqmmwkiZ7P41rT0qI/view
*Available for download via the website.
A two-part review of the special exhibition of @ryuta_aoki_ ’s solo exhibition “Alternative Computations — Worlds Otherwise Calculated” is now live on “artscape,” a leading art information platform at the forefront of contemporary art criticism in Japan, highly regarded by industry experts since 1995.
The critique is penned by Shin Aoyama, the editor-in-chief of 〈anon press〉 and a writer/designer whose work spans science fiction and future-oriented design.
Across these deep-dive essays, Aoyama analyzes how Ryuta’s practice—rooted in Wasan mathematics and quantum computing—deconstructs modern concepts of “computation” to envision a new, festive cultural landscape.
🔗 Part 1: https://artscape.jp/article/63297/
🔗 Part 2: https://artscape.jp/article/63317/
During Art Basel Hong Kong week, @ryuta_aoki_ spoke at the "Artificial Flavor" talk series organized by Society Art Technology Asia (SATA) @sata_info .
Founded by @foreseen_agency , (@flyingpig.shan & @kachi_chan ), SATA functions as a platform for the transfer, preservation, and activation of knowledge across Asia—much like the SATA standard in computing. In this session, Ryuta joined Hong Kong artist @sqlai and moderator @manling_lily to discuss the theme "Post Ecosystem: Anthropogenic Interference."
Ryuta introduced his project "Alternative Computations," which explores Wasan mathematics through quantum computing, and his bio-sculptures made from 3D-printed soil. By bridging digital data and cultural knowledge, the discussion aligned with SATA’s mission to keep creativity and innovation dynamic and impactful.
📍 101080 HHH, Hong Kong
🗓 March 28, 2026
🔗 /events/artificial-flavor-panel-talk-5/
A Japanese TV program "Conbiz! Content x Business Information Bureau" featured a dedicated segment on the activities of @ryuta_aoki_ .
The program captures the cutting edge of Japan's content culture and business landscape. This episode covered a wide range of creative-industry intersections — including an innovative collaboration between @anrealage_official and Chifure — with Ryuta's practice selected as the inaugural focus of the program's newly expanded coverage of media art, for which a long-term documentary has been in production since the summer of 2025.
Highlighting his first solo exhibition "Alternative Computations," the broadcast presented the behind-the-scenes of his pursuit of "alternative computational cultures" alongside Professor Naoki Yamamoto of @keio_university , dancer @keika_misho , and tea master @ryotaro_souryou_matsumura .
Additional scenes featured the cross-border program "STACK TOKYO" with Thai audiovisual collective @stack_xyz , discussions with @fujiwara_dai (General Director, Quantum Art Festival) at Expo 2025 Osaka, a dialogue with @masakoshiba at the international ALIFE research conference, and appearances by @alltbl among others — tracing a multifaceted practice envisioning "alternative worlds" from the intersection of art and science, both in Japan and abroad.
🗓 March 17, 2026 (Tue)
🔗 https://youtu.be/OE60myl1aqA
*Full episode available on the program's official YouTube channel.
@ryuta_aoki_ spoke at EDCON 2025 (Community Ethereum Development Conference) @EDCON2025 held in Osaka.
In the session titled "Human in the Loop," Ryuta joined @vivianxwj@jia.bao.li@soundspade@3en3end@masakoshiba and @realitydeslab to discuss the evolving relationship between humans and technology in the age of AI.
Ethereum is increasingly recognized as a decentralized platform for reconstructing art and social systems. Serving as the annual gathering for this ecosystem, EDCON 2025 provided a forum to critically re-examine the "role of humanity" beyond decentralization.
📍 Congrès Square Grand Green Osaka
🗓 September 16, 2025
🔗 https://www.edcon.io/en/agenda
@ryuta_aoki_ served as an ambassador for "SEEEU 2025 - Europe Photo Month Tokyo @seeeu_jp ," the first European Photography Month in Japan, supported by the European Union and the Arts Council Tokyo. Fellow ambassadors included Eisuke Tachikawa of NOSIGNER @nosigner_design and avi/ audible museum @mimibi_art301 .
Organized by KOI Nippon, a Lithuanian cultural NPO bridging East Asia and the Baltic States, the festival brought works by European photographers beyond gallery walls — into construction sites, cafes, and public spaces — reconstructing the city itself as a space for unexpected encounters with art.
🗓Oct 23 – Nov 23, 2025
🔗seeeu.jp
@ryuta_aoki_ spoke at ALIFE 2025 @alife2025 , the premier international conference for Artificial Life research held in Kyoto.
The ALIFE conferences, since the first meeting in Los Alamos in 1987, have grown into a leading international conference in the field, bringing together researchers, artists, and engineers from around the world. It continues to explore the fundamental question: “What is life?”
As part of the "ALife 2025 Art Program" curated by @masakoshiba (Co-founder of BEAF Foundation @beaf.art ), Ryuta engaged in a live conversation with Masako Shiba.
The dialogue reflected on Ryuta’s tenure as a director for the inaugural integrated "ALIFE 2018" and his role as co-founder of Alternative Machine @alter_machine_ . The dialogue explored his cross-disciplinary activities in art and science within his ongoing projects, fostering a multi-layered discussion on the future of life.
📍 Kyoto Sangyo Kaikan Auditorium
🗓 October 8, 2025
🔗 /art
Exhibited in the special exhibition “Alternative Computations — Worlds Otherwise Calculated” at the Quantum Art Festival (Jan 29 – Feb 1, 2026). The installation was experienced by more than 4,500 visitors over four days.
The full movie is available via the link in my bio.
—
Alternative Computations, 2026
The universe computes. Life is computation. Mathematics is the language of this understanding. Change the language, the universe changes — the way of seeing changes. Sometimes, those in power choose which way of seeing prevails. What falls outside that choice is named error — and vanishes.
Japan once possessed a distinctive mathematics — wasan. Calculation practised as beauty, play, and offering to shrines: festive knowledge comparable to haiku and the tea ceremony. In the late nineteenth century, the Meiji government introduced Western mathematics in pursuit of national strength. Wasan was expelled. The cosmos its culture alone could see was closed.
At the destination Western mathematics has since reached stands quantum computing — yet its development is governed by utility and optimisation. Quantum noise is expelled as error. But quantum noise interferes, entangles, carries the past. There is another cosmos. This work recaptures it through the play and festivity of wasan.
The Alternative Computations series sculpts the cosmologies of lost vernacular mathematics. Built from quantum noise discarded by mainstream computing, this automated instrument takes sky, earth, and human as its three-layer structure. Twenty-eight sangi orbit overhead as the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions. A tatami floor defines the sacred threshold. More than four thousand reeds fill the space. The dancer’s movements, the tea master’s gestures, audience presence, and meteorological data are thrown into a quantum computer embedded in the ceiling’s sangi mechanism. High-dimensional dynamics set the sangi’s orbits and descend as rain sound. Mechanical creaking holds the weight of matter, anchoring experience between dream and waking. Thunder, wind, insects, cranes and frogs — a 28-minute sound collage. Each cycle ends a universe; another begins.
Following long-term exclusive coverage since the summer of 2025, @ryuta_aoki_ will be featured in a segment on BS NTV's "Conbiz! Content x Business Information Bureau."
"Conbiz!" is a business entertainment program showcasing the forefront of Japanese content, from manga and anime to fashion and food. As the program expands its focus into media art, Ryuta was selected as its first featured artist for this extensive documentary-style coverage.
From the behind-the-scenes of his first solo exhibition "Alternative Computations" to his future vision of establishing international bases, the program explores his multifaceted practice and pursuit of "societies as they could be" at the intersection of art and science.
📺 BS NTV "Conbiz!"
🗓 March 17, 2026 (Tue) 23:00–23:30 JST
🔗 https://www.bs4.jp/contents-business/
*Free catch-up streaming will be available on the official YouTube channel after the broadcast.
@ryuta_aoki_ recently spoke at FACT 2026, an international symposium hosted by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) @acmionline in Melbourne. Notably, he marks the first Japanese speaker in the history of the program.
Set against the backdrop of ACMI, the Southern Hemisphere’s largest hub for digital culture, Ryuta joined @collectingmaps of @mplusmuseum and @madfamemakes of @wetaworkshop (renowned for their work on The Lord of the Rings). Together, they explored "Perspectives from Asia & the Pacific" under the symposium's overarching theme of regaining agency over technology.
Ryuta’s practice of reinterpreting traditions and subcultures through modern technology and philosophy resonated deeply with the audience. The subsequent Q&A sparked numerous critical inquiries, including "What is the role of the creative community against the weaponization of technology?" and "How does the aesthetics of wabi-sabi connect to digital realms?"
🗣️ Perspectives from Asia & the Pacific
🗓 February 12, 2026
🔗 .au/whats-on/fact-symposium/
Photography: Matto Lucas
@ryuta_aoki_ spoke at the "Digital Signals Summer School," a summer program hosted by @acca_melbourne and @buxton_contemporary .
This program is a highly experimental initiative set at ACCA—a leading institution for critical discourse in the Asia-Pacific region—featuring artist-led workshops, talks, and performances.
The event brought together artists, thinkers, and practitioners from around the world to delve into themes such as "digital sovereignty," "digital mysticism," and "speculative world-building" through both embodied and disembodied practices.
Focusing on his own works and practice, Ryuta introduced his approach to reinterpreting traditional culture and subcultures through modern technology and a unique philosophical lens.
From a perspective beyond Western-centric contexts, multifaceted discussions were held regarding the renovation of existing concepts via digital technology and the resulting new cultural and ethical significance.
Presenters and speakers include: @snaiken@amanda_bennetts_@naveedfarro@kitekitekitekitekite@alishabwormsley@proxy_thao@infojewels@plasticaboriginal@being_on_line
Co-curated by: @nalpy@smcspedden
Supported by: @ianpotterfdn
Photo by: @phamstapham
📍 Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) / Buxton Contemporary
🗓 February 14, 2026
🔗 https://acca.melbourne/program/digital-signals-summer-school/
