The purpose of〈ars●bit〉
Videogame culture is the pride of Japan. A movement that crosses borders and fuses various genres is now taking place in this area.
For example, contemporary art and media art artists are presenting their works using video games as a venue for expression, and challenging musicians are also developing their talents in the field of video games.
This is due to the fact that video games are both entertaining as “play” and artistic as “expression.
Contemporary games are not made up of a single form of expression.
By manipulating the controller in the palm of your hand, or the keyboard and mouse, the visual art and soundscapes that color the world of the game unfold. By manipulating the components according to the rules, a one-time performance and dramaturgy is interactively created.
The video game experience is more than a competition; it is a totality of sensory artistic expression co-created by the creator and the audience.
And because of this, gaming leads naturally into art, music, literature, film, manga—and even fashion, lifestyle, and other elements of daily culture. Emerging artists are exploring these untapped hybrid territories, launching interdisciplinary expressions inspired by or originating from games. Their work often radiates an unconventional, rule-breaking charm.
However, such boundary-defying creations struggle to be recognized by the mainstream gaming market. They’re often confined to niche spaces, far from the industry’s spotlight. Across the entertainment world, not just in gaming, global markets are overflowing with IP, and cutting-edge tech like generative AI is rewriting the meaning of creation itself. Artistic practice is becoming necessarily transdisciplinary. Without a societal shift to embrace diverse standards and creators who defy genre, Japan’s entertainment culture and creative industries face an uncertain future.
Our proposed project, ars●bit, is a bold attempt to excavate this potential. Anchored in play and gaming, the initiative aims to traverse all artistic and cultural domains and establish new values and frameworks of evaluation.
The name “ars●bit” fuses ars—the Latin root of “art” representing essential creativity—and bit, symbolizing the frontier of digital technology. The central ● (a gasp? a spark?) connects the two. Pronounced like “asobibito” (playing person), the name nods to Homo Ludens, the concept of humans as inherently playful beings, coined by historian Johan Huizinga. The project is a statement of intent: to cultivate creators who can imagine, test, and build the next evolution of art and entertainment culture.
Concretely, we will support cross-genre creators and teams—people making games alongside contemporary art or manga, for instance. We’ll also curate exhibitions and participate in events like art fairs and game shows in Japan and abroad, developing and sharing a unique context for this new form of creativity. The goal? A sustainable ecosystem and marketplace that extends beyond traditional boundaries of both the gaming and art industries.
Our main hubs are Hotel Anteroom Kyoto and 404 Not Found in Shibuya—two iconic cultural hotspots from which we aim to spark a new chapter in creative history.