Hi, my name is Tomo Kihara. I’m an artist and game designer creating projects that use play to explore new questions around society and technology. Feel free to reach out by email, Instagram, or X. I'm currently in Tokyo (last updated 2026 0424)
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Tomo Kihara is an artist and game designer who uses play as a way to open up new questions. Through experimental games and playable installations in public spaces, he invites people to collectively question and reflect on how emerging technologies such as AI are reshaping the ways we think and live. His work has been presented internationally at venues including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Mori Art Museum, and the Asian Art Museum, and has also received awards from the European Commission’s S+T+ARTS Prize and the Mozilla Creative Media Awards.
CURRENT AND UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
2026: Game of Possible Lives — artbit#6 [Kyoto, Japan]
2026: Game of Possible Lives — MOVO Gallery [Tokyo, Japan]
2026: Deviation Game — What Makes Our Expression Human?, Miraikan [Tokyo, Japan]
2025: Deviation Game — DISTRACTION, Science Gallery [Melbourne, Australia]
SELECTED PAST EXHIBITIONS
2026: Game of Possible Lives — Roppongi Crossing 2025: What Passes Is Time. We Are Eternal., Mori Art Museum [Tokyo, Japan]
2026: Deviation Game — Are You Human? Body-Machine-Publics, Khoj [New Delhi, India]
2025: Deviation Game — Adventures in AI, Exploratorium [San Francisco, USA]
2025: Deviation Game — Art Plays Games, FACT [Liverpool, UK]
2025: Deviation Game — Friday Late: Is This For Real?, V&A Museum [London, UK]
2024: Deviation Game — Digital Art Festival Taipei [Taipei, Taiwan]
2024: How (not) to get hit by a self-driving car — RAD, Asian Art Museum [San Francisco, USA]
2024: How (not) to get hit by a self-driving car — Ars Electronica Festival [Linz, Austria]
2023: Future Collider — New Horizon, Arts Maebashi 10th Anniversary Exhibition [Maebashi, Japan]
2023: This is not a good sign — Busan Sea Art Festival 2023 [Busan, South Korea]
2022: This is not a good sign — London Design Festival, V&A Museum [London, UK]
2019: Street Debater — Social Design Exhibition Asia, Red Dot Design Museum Xiamen [Xiamen, China]
2019: Street Debater — Balancing Acts, Kunsthal KAdE [Amersfoort, Netherlands]
GRANTS & FELLOWSHIPS
2023 : Watershed — Playable City Commission [Bristol, United Kingdom]
2022 : Civic Creative Base Tokyo — Artist Fellow [Tokyo, Japan]
2022 : Mozilla Technology Fund — Awardee [Global]
2021 : Artsformation EU [Europe]
2020 : Creative Industries Fund NL — Talent Development Fund [Amsterdam, Netherlands]
2018 - 2021 : Waag Future Lab — Research Fellow [Amsterdam, Netherlands]
2018 : Design Indaba — Global graduates [Capetown, South Africa]
AWARDS
2024: How (not) to get hit by a self-driving car : S+T+ARTS Prize 2024 — Honorary Mention
2021: TheirTube : S+T+ARTS Prize 2021 — Nomination
2019: TheirTube : Mozilla Creative Media Awards 2020
EDUCATION
2019 - 2020 : European School of Urban Game Design [Athens, Greece & Amsterdam, Netherlands]
2016 - 2018 : Delft University of Technology - MSc in Interaction Design [Delft, Netherlands]
2012 - 2016 : Keio University - BA in Environmental Information [Shonan, Japan]
FEATURED ARTICLES
English
2026: BuffaloHive - Can AI be a partner instead of a predator in video games?
2026: Indian Art Beat - Shifting roles of AI and Artists
2021: Goethe-Institut -“Fish discovers water last”: Designer Tomo Kihara in interview
日本語
2024: WORKSIGHT 22号 ゲームは世界 A–Z World is a Game
2022: グラフィック社 - 来るべきデザイナー 現代グラフィックデザインの方法と態度
2020: WIRED.jp フィルターバブルを“体験”可能にする「TheirTube」
2019: BNN社 SPECULATIONS 人間中心主義のデザインをこえて
2018: WIRED.jp 「ものごい」の代替手段 : ストリートディベーターという職業が、路上生活者を社会復帰に導く
ACADEMIC PAPERS
2019: DIS - San Diego : Designing and Prototyping from the Perspective of AI in the Wild (Full Paper)
2019: CHI - Glasgow : Designing an Escape Room in the City for Public Engagement with AI-enhanced Surveillance (Late Breaking Work)
2018 CHI - Montreal : Connected Resources: A Novel Approach in Designing Technologies for Older People (Late Breaking Work)
TEACHINGS & WORKSHOPS
2023: < Guest Lecture > Chicago University — Department of Computer Science [Chicago,USA]
2022: < Workshop > Columbia University — MA in Global Thought [New York, USA]
2022: <Guest Lecture> Haute école d'art et de design Genève — MA Media Design [Genève, Switzerland]