125th metaPhorest Seminar
Friday, October 23, 2026, 19:00–21:00
125th metaPhorest Seminar by Tomoya Ishibashi
This event will be primarily in Japanese, but questions and comments in English are also welcome.
At the October 23 (Friday) metaPhorest Seminar, metaPhorest member Tomoya Ishibashi will introduce his recent project Self-reference Microscope, which explores urban water environments through handmade microscopes constructed from waste and natural materials collected from rivers.
There will also be time for informal discussion after the seminar. We look forward to seeing you there!
Date & Venue
Friday, October 23, 2026, 19:00–21:00
Seminar Room 3, 3rd Floor, Waseda University Joint Institution for Advanced Biomedical Sciences (TWIns)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Wy23SqPPMo3P7V8JA
ONLINE (The video quality is poor, so please come to the venue in person if you can.)
The introductory talk will also be available online. Zoom Link
Exploring Urban Water Environments Through DIY Microscopes Made from Waste
In this seminar, artist Tomoya Ishibashi will introduce his recent Self-reference Microscope series, discussing its creative process and what his fieldwork has revealed about urban water environments.
Self-reference Microscope is a project in which Ishibashi builds microscopes using waste and natural materials collected from rivers, then uses them to observe water from those same rivers. Beginning in 2024 with the Arakawa River, which flows through his hometown, the project has explored the microscopic worlds of contemporary rivers, where natural and human-made elements intermingle. By transforming discarded glass, plastics, coins, empty cans, and other found objects into observation devices, Ishibashi investigates these environments from a unique perspective.
The project has since expanded to urban waterways such as the Kanda River and Shibuya River, and even to the extensive sewer network beneath Tokyo, revealing the complex relationships between water flowing through the city and human activity.
In this seminar, Ishibashi will trace the development of the Self-reference Microscope series through a range of stories and discoveries from his creative process, including the various types of waste found in urban rivers, the unexpected connection between the Edo-period Kanda Waterworks and haiku poet Matsuo Bashō, the distinctive characteristics of the Shibuya River, and the vital role of microorganisms in wastewater treatment systems.
Tomoya Ishibashi
Born in Saitama Prefecture in 1990, Tomoya Ishibashi is an artist with a background in biology whose practice explores the boundaries between nature and human intervention, and between technology and art.
His major works include Goldfish Liberation Movement (2012–2017), an attempt to selectively breed goldfish back toward their ancestral crucian carp form, and Self-reference Microscope (2025–), a project involving handmade microscopes constructed from waste and natural materials collected from rivers to observe the water from those same rivers.
He has been a member of metaPhorest, the Life Aesthetics Platform at Waseda University, since 2012. He completed his studies at Waseda University's Faculty of Science and Engineering in 2014 and entered the doctoral program at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS) in 2023.
His recent exhibitions include Sensing Streams: Together with Living Beings (2025, Institut français de Tokyo), IAMAS ARTIST FILE #10: COCOON – Thinking Ecology Through Technology (2025, Gifu), and Omnipresence, Immortality, Metamorphosis (2024, Zuiun-an, Kyoto).
His major awards and distinctions include the Excellence Award in the Art Division at the 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival, the Grand Prix at the WIRED CREATIVE HACK AWARD 2019, and selection for the 25th Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art.
https://www.shibashiishibashi.com/