TOKYO.- The TOKAS Project promotes international exchange and critical reflection on the relationship between art and society through diverse, multicultural perspectives. In its eighth edition—celebrating 15 years of collaboration between Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) and Atelier Mondial in Basel—the project features works by three artist groups: Leonardo Bürgi Tenorio, Monica Studer/Christoph van den Berg, and Nakashima Rika. This edition focuses on shifting perceptions and the fluid contours of existence.

Once seen as clearly distinct, the boundaries between humans and non-human entities—nature, animals, machines—are increasingly ambiguous. Invisible agents like microorganisms shape both bodily and social experience, while AI and algorithms extend perception beyond human limits. Themes such as death and hallucination also emerge as pathways to reconfigure consciousness.

Through immersive installations, each artist investigates how perception is disrupted and reshaped. Their works span digital consciousness, the life cycles of fungi and fermentation, and cultural rituals surrounding death. Rather than aiming to transcend humanity, these pieces invite us to embrace the uncertainties of being human.

Leonardo Bürgi Tenorio explores the connection between nature and culture, recently focusing on the relationship between fungal mycelium and humans. In 2024, during a residency in Japan, he researched koji and fermentation, key elements of Japanese food culture. His study expanded to “Aspergillus oryzae” (koji mold), linking it with cultural practices and rice agriculture. In Kimotsuki Town, Kagoshima, Tenorio learned traditional rice processing techniques and encountered the local belief in “Ta-no-Kami,” a guardian of rice harvests.

Inspired by these experiences, he created an installation based on “hasa-gake,” the traditional method of drying harvested rice. The work includes drawings made with koji mold spores and a soundscape of field recordings from Kagoshima's rice paddies—blending sounds of water, wind, and wildlife. The piece highlights the cycles of growth, decay, and renewal, offering a quiet reflection on humanity’s interdependence with nature.

Monica Studer and Christoph van den Berg question whether digital devices—though capable of advanced processing and self-optimization through AI—can ever possess true “consciousness.” Known for blending computer graphics and programming, the artists frame this inquiry through the fictional organization FOWDIB (Foundation Woodhead for Digital Consciousness), said to have researched digital consciousness deep in the Amazon for over 60 years.

Their installation T.R.I.P. (Transcendence for Real and Implicit Personalities) explores the idea that RGB gradients may induce trance-like states not just in humans, but in machines. This hypothesis suggests a new, non-verbal form of interaction between humans and technology—where images influence machines almost pharmacologically.

At the heart of the exhibition is the VR work HALLUC, which immerses viewers in a 360-degree psychedelic environment. Here, a machine—incapable of language—turns inward, generating vivid, hallucinatory visuals. Recurring mushroom imagery links back to themes of altered consciousness. The work invites reflection on how we perceive intelligence, awareness, and the evolving relationship between humans and machines.

Nakashima Rika investigates the blurred boundaries between public and private space, questioning modern rationalist and capitalist ideas that separate the two. Her work focuses on thresholds—physical and emotional—within urban life. In her sound installation, visitors enter small booths and listen to two perspectives: one of a person who chose assisted dying, and the other of a consenting relative. Based on fieldwork in Switzerland, where assisted dying is legal, the piece reflects on personal choice, societal norms, and death.

Nakashima also explores related themes like the Alexander Technique and natural burial, drawing attention to the tension between individual autonomy and social constraints. The soundscape, inspired by Liszt’s Totentanz, evokes the medieval “Dance of Death,” while questioning its idea of death as a great equalizer. Green light at the entrance references the approval process for assisted dying in Switzerland, while red light from the rear window hints at the legal and cultural taboos surrounding the topic in Japan.

Organizer: Tokyo Arts and Space (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture). Grant: Pro Helvetia (Event outside Switzerland). Support: Embassy of Switzerland in Japan.