April 4, 2023
Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Signs an Agreement with Ars Electronica, Austrian Pioneers in Art and Technology

Civic Creative Base Tokyo (CCBT), a hub to further promote civic creativity

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) is co-sponsoring Civic Creative Base Tokyo (CCBT), a center for people to boost their creativity through digital technology, in collaboration with the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture.

We are pleased to announce that TMG, alongside the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, have signed a business partnership agreement with Ars Electronica, a cultural institution based in Linz, Austria on April 1, 2023. With this accord, CCBT will welcome Hideaki Ogawa, a co-director of the Ars Electronica Futurelab, as CCBT's creative director. CCBT will evolve its business developments to become a driving force for innovation.

 

Hideaki Ogawa to become a creative director at CCBT

Profile of Hideaki Ogawa

Based in Linz, Austria, Ogawa has been working actively since 2007 as an artist, curator, and researcher at Ars Electronica, the world-renowned cultural institution for art and technology. He currently serves as co-director of the Ars Electronica Futurelab, a research and development arm of the institution. He has been involved in many cross-disciplinary international projects, including innovation projects that use art as a catalyst to prototype the future, the creation of citizen-participating communities, and the implementation of next-generation cultural and educational programs.

About Ars Electronica

• Ars Electronica, founded by the city of Linz, Austria, is a creative hub for art and cutting-edge technology.
• It has held the Ars Electronica Festival, one of the largest media arts festivals in the world, every year over the past 40-plus years.
• It has also established the Ars Electronica Futurelab, which conducts research on the future of art and technology in collaboration with businesses, government organizations, and cultural, educational, and research institutions. 
• Besides these, it also consists of the Ars Electronica Center, known as the Museum of the Future and the School of the Future, and the Prix Ars Electronica, the world's longest-running international media arts competition.

Please see the website( External link ).

About CCBT

• CCBT was established in Shibuya City, Tokyo in October 2022 as a hub for people to explore their creative imaginations in society with the use of art and digital technology.
• CCBT, equipped with labs and studios, is becoming a driving force of innovations born out of Tokyo, through various programs including workshops.

Please see the website( External link ).

CCBT’s business strategies and business developments in the future will be announced at a press conference and symposium where Mr. Ogawa is scheduled to take the rostrum in late June. Please stay tuned in CCTB and Tokyo.

Inquiries

(Regarding this press release) Culture Event Secion, Culture Promotion Division, Bureau of Citizens, Culture and Sports of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Phone: 03-5388-3113

This project is to promote the "Future Tokyo," Tokyo’s Long-Term Strategy.
Strategy 10 for “Smart Tokyo: Tokyo Data Highway”
Strategy 15 for Tokyo as a City of Culture and Entertainment