Japan's ascendency as an industrial power brought us the Honda Civic, the Sony Walkman, and, more recently, the work of Nobumichi Tosa. The 37-year-old artist is part inventor, part cultural commentator. His installations - or "product demonstrations," as he calls them - are playful reactions to Asia's conservative production model. They feature custom-made devices like the computer-controlled singing robots shown above. Though Tosa won a Sony-sponsored art contest early in his career, he started his own company, Maywa Denki, to sidestep mainstream design. The theme of his next project, to be unveiled in 2005, is relationships and reproduction. Call it penance for his fish-killing birdcage.
- Ryan Sommer
A man and his machines: Nobumichi Tosa with Betty and Clara the singing robots
Uke-tel the fish-killing birdcage
Poodles the rabid robot
Chacha the cymbal machine
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