[NTT East Corporation] NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] 2025 Special Exhibition “Towards a Mausoleum of Perception — Interactive Installation by Seiko Mikami”
NTT East Corporation Press Release: September 11, 2025 NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] 2025 Special Exhibition “Towards a Mausoleum of Perception — Interactive Installations by Seiko Mikami” ■The special exhibition “Towards a Mausoleum of Perception — Seiko Mikami’s Interactive Installation” will be held at the NTT InterCommunication Center*1 (ICC), a cultural facility operated by NTT East, from December 13, 2025. ■The ICC has been showcasing Seiko Mikami’s work in a variety of formats since its pre-opening period. In 2025, marking the 10th anniversary of her death, the exhibition will showcase several interactive installations from the late 1990s onward, looking back on her work from a media art perspective. This will be the first time that three of Mikami’s large-scale installations will be exhibited simultaneously, both in Japan and overseas. ■We are researching Presence, Membrane, Divided Body, which was commissioned for the ICC Collection in 1997, and are considering the possibility of exhibiting it again in this exhibition. *1 A cultural facility with the theme of fusing science and technology with art and culture, established by NTT in 1997 after preparatory activities began in 1991 as part of the 100th anniversary of Japan’s telephone business. *2 A general term for artworks that use various cutting-edge media technologies, including computers.
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https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/98811/1218/98811-1218-7c5066308de5c50e3f9cddba1f4c1212-580×387.jpg Seiko Mikami Sota Ichikawa “gravicells – Gravity and Resistance” 2004/10 Photography: Ryuichi Maruo Photo courtesy of Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM] 1. “Toward a Mausoleum of Perception: Seiko Mikami’s Interactive Installation” Exhibition Overview Exhibition title in English: Toward a Mausoleum of Perception: Seiko Mikami’s Interactive Art Installations Dates: Saturday, December 13, 2025 – Sunday, March 8, 2026 Venue: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] Gallery A, B Opening Hours: 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM (last admission 30 minutes before closing) Admission Fee: Adults ¥1,000 (¥900), University Students ¥800 (¥700) *Prices in parentheses are for groups of 15 or more. *Free admission for persons with a disability certificate and one accompanying person, those 65 years of age or older, high school students and younger, and those with a Gurutto Pass. Closed: Every Monday, New Year’s holidays (December 29th – January 5th), building maintenance and inspection days (February 8th) *If Monday is a national holiday or substitute holiday, the museum will be closed the following day. Opening hours may change or the library may be closed temporarily even on days other than closed days. The latest information will be posted on the ICC website
(https://www.ntticc.or.jp/) and elsewhere. Organized by: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] (NTT East Corporation) 2. Exhibition Overview The interactive installations that artist Seiko Mikami has presented both in Japan and abroad since the 1990s focus on the act of perception itself, which is the starting point for human connections and relationships with the world. As she herself has written, “The eyes do not simply see, and the ears do not simply hear. In other words, it is possible to see with the ears, hear with the nose, and touch with the eyes.”*3 Using media technology, Mikami has presented multiple works that offer viewers the experience of confronting their own perception and interaction mechanisms. She then aimed to create a “museum (or mausoleum) of perception”*4 by integrating these installations. During his lifetime, Mikami discarded many of his works from the 1980s and 1990s. However, following his sudden death in 2015, momentum has been building for his re-evaluation in the field of contemporary art, with four works from the early 1990s being acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in recent years. However, due to the large scale and complex installation process required, opportunities for re-exhibiting his interactive works have been limited. Mikami was also extremely proactive in incorporating the latest technology to update his works whenever he had the opportunity to exhibit them. In light of this history, even after the artist’s death, the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM] (hereafter referred to as YCAM), which commissioned the work, and those involved in the original production have been working on restoration and partial reproduction. Furthermore, a variety of initiatives
surrounding Mikami’s work continue, including a joint research project between YCAM and Tama Art University examining and exploring new methodologies specific to media art for preserving not only the artworks themselves but also viewer experience data and other materials. For ICC, Mikami is one of the artists with whom we have deepened our relationship through various activities since the pre-opening period. This exhibition will feature several interactive installations that Mikami has produced since the late 1990s. In addition to the exhibited works, we will also introduce the evolution of the works as they have been updated, ongoing restoration and archiving efforts, and examples of how archived data from the works is being used. During the exhibition, talk events will be held, inviting artists and researchers who were close friends of Mikami. *3, *4 Both sources: “SEIKO MIKAMI: Haruko Mikami Records and Memories” (edited by Masada Nobu/Tomoya Watanabe, NTT Publishing, 2019) 3. Seiko Mikami Profile
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/98811/1218/98811-1218-020a2d158efc309164a41734ed155cf7-533×354.jpg Seiko Mikami (photographed in December 2011) Photography: Hidemi Shinoda Artist. Since 1984, she has been presenting large-scale installation works on the themes of the information society and the human body. From 1992 to 2000, she was based in New York, exhibiting numerous works primarily in Europe and the United States. Since 1995, she has been presenting interactive works centered on perceptual interfaces. His works include works using eye gaze input, works using hearing and internal bodily sounds, works that use tactile
three-dimensional perception, and works that treat gravity as the sixth sense. He exhibited his works at art museums and media art festivals both in Japan and abroad, including the Miro Museum, Vienna Kunstrahaus, the Museum of Fine Arts of Nantes, Media Art China, Transmediale, DEAF (Netherlands), Ars Electronica, YCAM, and ICC. He taught at Tama Art University from 2000. He passed away in 2015 due to illness. https://www.ntticc.or.jp/ja/archive/participants/mikami-seiko/ 4. Related Events The latest information will be posted on the ICC website (https://www.ntticc.or.jp/) and elsewhere. 5.Works scheduled for exhibition *For details of the work, see Attachment Seiko Mikami Sota Ichikawa “gravicells – Gravity and Resistance” 2004/10 Seiko Mikami “Eye-Tracking Informatics》2011/19 Seiko Mikami《Codes of Desire》2010/11 Seiko Mikami《Being, Membrane, Divided Body》1997 6. Concurrent Exhibitions Research Complex NTT R&D @ICC Exhibition Period: Saturday, December 13, 2025 – Sunday, March 8, 2026 Venue: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] Gallery C Free Admission 7. ICC Information Address: 4F, Tokyo Opera City Tower, 3-20-2
Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo (2-minute walk from the east exit of Hatsudai Station on the Keio New Line)
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