Reinventing Image-Making

Aug. 9—Oct. 10, 2022

• Aug. 9—Oct. 10, 2022
• Closed Mondays (except when Monday falls on a holiday, in which case the museum is open and closed the following day)
• Admission：Adults ￥700(560) / College Students￥560(440) / High School and Junior High School Students, Over 65￥350(280) *The prices in parentheses ( ) are discounted prices for holders of our movie tickets, and various card members. Please refer to Visitor Information for details on our discounts. Discounts cannot be combined with other discounts. *Admission is free for children in elementary school or younger; junior high school students living or attending schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area; holders of Japanese disability identification cards (shogaisha techo), along with up to two caregivers; and holders of the museum’s annual passport.

It is recommended that you use the online ticket system (timed entry reservation.)

Click here for online ticket system: Webket

The word “image” can be used to indicate visual expressions such as paintings, photographs, films, and TV; the dreams and indescribably vague impressions that dwell within the brain; and everything from the things that we see with our eyes to the things that cross our minds. In this exhibition, we refer to the act of giving shape to such images as “image-making.”

The spirit of scientific inquiry and technological development resulted in the dramatic evolution of optics-based image-making. This enabled us to accurately reproduce human vision and also to create images that would normally be imperceptible to the naked eye. Such innovations stimulated numerous artists, and while expanding the potential of visual expression, they imposed certain kinds of technical standards.

By displaying instruments and machinery used to make images from the museum collection, this exhibition examines a variety of techniques and principles, and while focusing on and analyzing technical mechanisms and tools, reorganizes elements in them. The exhibition also introduces works by artists who, critical of standardized imagery, rediscovered image-making.

Images are not physical entities. While assuming various shapes, they are widely disseminated via support media such as artworks and computer or video-generated spaces. Moreover, as human beings not only have the ability to perceive external images, but also to imagine internal ones, we ourselves are bearers of images.


1. A Diversse Array of Imaging Technology


Kinora, Zootrope, Camera Lucida, 35㎜ Projector E.P
Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum


2. Art Ex Machina: Computational Analysis of Beauty


Left: Frieder Nake, 'Untitled (Walk-Through Raster)' from the portfolio Art Ex Machina, 1972, Silkscreen print, Private collection
Right: Kawano Hiroshi, 'Untitled (Red Tree)' from the portfolio Art Ex Machina, 1972, Silkscreen print, Private collection
© Gilles Gheerbrant 1972/2022


Georg Nees, 'Untitled' from the portfolio Art Ex Machina, 1972, Silkscreen print, Private collection
© Gilles Gheerbrant 1972/2022


3. Kimoto Keiko: The Body and Algorithms


Kimoto Keiko, 'Imaginary・Numbers', 2012, Print on paper, Collection of the artist


Kimoto Keiko, 'INSIDE', 2009, Single-channel video, Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum


4. Fujihata Masaki: Non-optical Image Generation




Fujihata Masaki, 'Ruska’s Room', 2004/2022, Installation, Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum [Related image]


5. Tamás Waliczky: Alternative Image-Making Tools


Tamás Waliczky, 'Zoetrope Camera', from the series Imaginary Cameras, 2017/ 2018, Computer graphic, Collection of the artist


Tamás Waliczky, 'The Garden (21st Century Amateur Film)', 1992/1996, Single-channel video, Collection of the artist


Tamás Waliczky, 'GRAMOPHONE', from the series Machines, 1989, Computer graphic, Collection of the artist