The judging this year took place in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many art competitions were either cancelled or postponed, and even when held, the judging process had to be virtually conducted based on photographs in many cases. The Japan Media Arts Festival seems to have been able to cope with this irregular situation relatively smoothly, as it has always called for applications and conducted preliminary screening online. The total number of entries also increased from the previous year, which was a pleasant surprise. This year’s Grand Prize winners were Japanese artists in all four categories. Despite the unusual situation where the number of entries from Japan slightly exceeded that from overseas, the result convinced me of the high quality of Japan in terms of both content and technique. However, I was also somewhat disappointed that there were no foreign works that showed tremendous power and presence. The communication systems in society have been forced to undergo major shifts for unexpected reasons, and this is consequently not unrelated to the form of Media Arts. This situation, in which art and performing arts are forced to rely on virtual communications, can be possibly deemed an opportunity to deconstruct (even if only partially) the relationship between Media Ar ts and other genres, and such tendency will likely persist even in the post-COVID-19 world. From a discerning point of view, Media Arts is also a name given to an ever-transforming domain.

In late winter of last year, I was writing general critiques for the 2020 festival. I never imagined what would come to follow directly after. Even now, a year later, across the world there’s nary a sign of the situation settling. Who knew words like “remote” and “online” would become common parlance in such a space as living rooms? There were signs. Things have accelerated rapidly in the current century, especially since the arrival of the Internet and then smartphones. I have always enjoyed computers as toys and have been a user since the Apple IIc. For example, let’s say I go to a hospital. The physician doesn’t so much as look at me, just stares at their computer screen. The explanations accompanying the printout of numbers and line graphs are chilling. And I’m forced to remember, oh, right, computers aren’t just toys. Long before this thing we call social distancing, I felt this invisible wall. Maybe that’s what makes Media Arts so interesting, anyway. But I keep coming back to the words of MITAMURA Shunsuke, professor emeritus of the University of Tsukuba and recipient of a Special Achievement Award of the 22nd Japan Media Arts Festival, who said, “Cut the power, and it’s curtains.” What about manga? Past Japan Media Arts Festival judge MINAMOTO Taro has an enviable point, that the moment you open the pages of a manga magazine or book, so too does a door to a new world.