Entangled Protocol and the Flowing Edge

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Entangled Protocol and the Flowing Edge

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Entangled Protocol and the Flowing Edge

TOKAS Project Vol. 8

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We exist, shaped and evolving through constant interactions with others and our surroundings.

The TOKAS Project is designed to foster international exchange and inspire reflection on diverse themes such as art and society from multicultural perspectives. In its eighth edition, in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the exchange between TOKAS and Atelier Mondial in Basel, Switzerland, the project welcomes three groups of artists, Leonardo BÜRGI TENORIO, NAKASHIMA Rika, Monica STUDER/Christoph van den BERG, who have participated in the program in the past, and focuses on questions and responses to fluctuations in perception and the contours of existence.

It was once widely accepted that there are clear differences between humans and non-human entities such as nature, animals, and machinery. However, in recent years, this notion of humans being fundamentally distinct has been questioned, with the boundaries that were once assumed to dominate the mainstream view beginning to blur and draw growing attention. Invisible microorganisms and bacteria lurk around us, exerting influence not only on our bodies but also on our social lives. The scope of perception, in tandem with artificial intelligence and algorithms, is expanding further to reach uncharted realms, and even death and hallucination serve as mediators that can update and transform our conscious experience.

Each artist incorporates visual, auditory, and bodily experiences to explore how the contours of our perception and existence are destabilized. Their works draw on respective themes, including consciousness mediated by digital media, the cycles of life driven by fungi in the natural world and their fermentation beyond human control, and rituals surrounding death. Rather than merely seeking to transcend the human, the artists invite us to turn an eye on the uncertainty—and richness—of remaining human.

We would be delighted if you could join us at the exhibition and be part of its attempt to reconsider what it means to be human—not as a fixed individual state, but conceived as a process that continues to be formed and modified while intertwining with broader environments and social contexts.

Information

Title	TOKAS Project Vol. 8 “Entangled Protocol and the Flowing Edge”
Date	Aug 23 (Sat) - Sep 28 (Sun), 2025
Time	11:00-19:00 (Last Entry: 18:30)
Closed	Mondays (except Sep 15), Sep 16
Venue	Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo
Admission	Free
Artists	Leonardo BÜRGI TENORIO NAKASHIMA Rika Monica STUDER/Christoph van den BERG
Organizer	Tokyo Arts and Space (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)
Support	Embassy of Switzerland in Japan

Artists

Living things, 2023
beech wood, oak dowels, fungi mycelium (pleurotus ostreatus and pleurotus columbinus), clay, pebbles, umber earth pigment

Leonardo BÜRGI TENORIO

Leonardo Bürgi Tenorio has been producing works centered around the contemporary definition of culture and nature in the natural environment. In recent years, he has specifically explored the role of fungal mycelium, expressing the processes of growth and decay in living organisms through diverse methods. During his stay in Japan, he extensively researched koji and the fermentation culture that is integral to Japanese food. In turn, this led him to focus on Aspergillus oryzae, a type of koji mold, further investigating its close relationship with rice. In his artwork, inspired by hasa-kake (the traditional method of drying rice on hanging racks), Tenorio attempts to use three-dimensional works and wood-carved drawings to visualize the connection between fungi, the environment, landscape, and cultural practices.

[PROFILE]
Born in Basel-Stadt (Switzerland) in 1994. Lives and works in Basel. Graduated with an MFA from Institute Art Gender Nature, Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW in 2023. He’s the board member of the exhibition space Ausstellungsraum Klingental in Basel.
Recent exhibitions: “Safe Room,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, 2025, “Living Things,” Art in Architecture, Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt, 2023.
Participated in Exchange Residency Program in 2024 and stayed at TOKAS Residency.

The Tower Therapy, 2021
Sound installation
Photo: Naoki Takehisa

NAKASHIMA Rika

Having come to question the sense of separating the “public” from the “private”—a notion rooted in modern rationalism and capitalism principles—Nakashima Rika explores the ambiguous boundaries—the threshold, in other words—that exist between these realms within urban spaces. With this awareness, she conducted research in Switzerland on the subject of euthanasia, which is legally permitted there.
Through her research, Nakashima observed that the discourse around assisted dying in Switzerland and the West—where the value of right to self-determination is established—reveals contradictions between traditional Christian values, the historical legacy of Nazism during World War II, and accelerating individualism. During her stay, Nakashima’s interview with the family of a person who had chosen an assisted dying path also inspired her to further explore the “Alexander Technique,” practiced by that person, and natural burial, which the family had chosen for interment.
Based on her observations, Nakashima presents a sound installation that focuses on the relationship between the individual and society, as well as the human connection to nature.

[PROFILE]
Born in Aichi in 1995. Lives and works in Tokyo and Aichi. Graduated with an MA in Arts Studies and Curatorial Practices from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2023. Founded and a member of a project space, Datsuijo - (a) place to be naked since 2022.
Recent exhibitions: “Keep Out of □,” TALION GALLERY, Tokyo, 2023, “I tower over my dead body.,” Gallery 10 [TOH], Tokyo, 2021.
Participated in Exchange Residency Program in 2024 and stayed at Atelier Monidial in Basel.

FOWDIB AI Core: HALLUC, 2023
Screenshot from realtime generated VR installation
© Studer / van den Berg

Monica STUDER/Christoph van den BERG

Since the 1990s, Monica Studer and Christoph van den Berg have been creating works that traverse the virtual and physical environments through the use of computer graphics and programming. Filled with vivid colors, their virtual spaces are fictitious, yet carefully constructed to subtly allude to a familiar reality. In this exhibition, they have developed a multimedia installation—including VR work—that renders the fictional history and discoveries of an imaginary research facility. Through this installation, they will pose questions concerning the possibility of machines possessing consciousness and evolving of their own volition.

[PROFILE]
Monica Studer: Born in Zürich in 1960. Christoph van den Berg: Born in Basel in 1962. Both live and work in Basel.
New media projects in collaboration since 1991, internet projects since 1996.
Member of KKiÖR (Zurich) from 2022. Professorship at HSLU Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (MFA, Critical Image Practices Major). Professorship for New Media at the Kunsthochschule Kassel.
Recent exhibition: “Collection 24 - Swiss Art from the 18th century to the present,” Aargauer Kunsthaus, Switzerland.
Participated in Exchange Residency Program in 2013 and stayed at Tokyo Wonder Site Aoyama.

About Atelier Mondial

Atelier Mondial was founded in 1986 by Christoph Merian Foundation and moved into Dreispitzareal, an area developing as an art hub since 2014. There are seven combined studios and living spaces for international artists, 17 studios specifically for Swiss creators, and a spacious exhibition venue. The building also contains a media art center, a photography studio, a gallery and more, and there is an art university on the premises.

*Atelier Mondial was originally called as iaab (“Internationales Atelier- und Austauschprogramm der Region Basel”), and changed its name in 2014.

Related Event

Artist Talk

Date	Aug 23, 2025 (Sat) 16:00-17:30
Artists	Leonardo BÜRGI TENORIO, NAKASHIMA Rika, Monica STUDER/Christoph van den BERG
Venue	Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo
Admission	Free
Language	Japanese / English

*Schedule and participants are subject to change.