Art Incubation Program
Kishi Yuma: Parallel Forests
Overview
The 2025 CCBT artist fellow Kishi Yuma is developing a project to develop what he calls “botanical intelligence” (BI), a reinterpretation of contemporary artificial intelligence from a plant perspective. Through implementing generative BI capable of precisely sensing multifaceted environmental data such as light, wind, and soil, and outputting that as text and audio, Kishi aspires to cultivate a commons where humans and nonhumans alike can thrive together. Parallel Forests is held in a forest at night. It features an installation that senses environmental changes and how plants are subtly responding, and transmutes that data into sound and light. Unveiled to the public for the first time, the BI platform generates resonance among both humans and flora by modifying algorithms according to the data received from the plants. The exhibition is held at Umi-no-Mori Park, a large public park built on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay. While located in the city, the park is a place where visitors can feel closer to the sky, breeze, and flora. Walking through the forest and hearkening to the flora, experience how your perception of the environment gradually transforms.
Important Information for Visitors
– A reservation is required to view the exhibition. Please register using the reservation form via the link at the bottom of the page. The free shuttle bus between Shin-Kiba Station and Umi-no-Mori Park also requires a reservation. Please indicate on the reservation form whether you wish to use the shuttle bus. CCBT will contact you via email with information about where and when to board the bus. Please check this information before arriving on the day. – The exhibition is held outdoors at night. Please wear warm clothing and comfortable walking shoes. – There are dark areas in the venue. Please be careful of uneven surfaces and mud. – The viewing time is approximately 30 minutes. – The exhibition takes place even in the event of rain, though may be canceled or subject to change in the case of severe weather. In the unlikely event of cancellation, visitors will be notified by 1 p.m. on the day via the CCBT website, official social media channels, and email. – Filming and photography by media outlets and the organizers may take place during the exhibition. Such images and footage may be for documentation purposes and promotional activities by the organizers and artist fellow Kishi Yuma. – If you have any questions, please contact CCBT.
Access
Umi-no-Mori Park（3-3-76 Uminomori, Koto Ward, Tokyo）
Shuttle bus A free shuttle bus runs to Umi-no-Mori Park from Shin-Kiba Station on the JR Keiyo, Tokyo Metro Yurakucho, or Rinkai lines (approximately 20-minute ride). Advance reservations are required. After registering, visitors receive shuttle bus information via email.
Car Please use the Tokyo Metropolitan Umi-no-Mori Park Parking Lot (268 parking spaces, including 6 accessible parking spaces). Price: weekdays ¥500 per day; weekends and holidays ¥1,000 per day Payment is made when leaving the parking lot. A fee is charged per entry. Payment can be made by cash, credit card, and PayPay, but public transport IC cards and other electronic payment methods are not accepted. Parking fees are waived for users with a disability certificate (Physical Disability Certificate, Love Certificate, Rehabilitation Certificate, or Mental Disability Insurance and Welfare Certificate). Please show your certificate and parking ticket (photocopies are not accepted) at the Umi-no-Mori Park Management Office.
Foot or bicycle Tokyo Gate Bridge is closed to pedestrians and cyclists after 5 p.m., meaning visitors cannot arrive on foot or by bicycle during exhibition opening hours. Please use the free shuttle bus or arrive by car.
Parallel Botanical Garden
This project develops “botanical intelligence” (BI), a way of looking at AI from the perspective of botany. Through precise sensing of pluralistic environmental data on light, wind, soil, and more, and adopting a generative BI approach that outputs text and speech, it aims to develop a commons where humans and nonhumans alike can prosper. In addition to showcasing the completed system as an installation in the form of a botanical garden, the project collaborates with experts and holds public lectures and workshops as part of the research and development process. While based at CCBT, the project explores its themes in terms of nature as a resource shared by all beings, and strives to discover a new co-prosperity zone.
CCBT Art Incubation Program
One of CCBT’s core programs, the Art Incubation Program provides opportunities for creative talent to undertake new projects and makes those processes accessible to the public, facilitating forms of artistic expression, exploration, and action that change our city for the better. Selected through an open call, five artist fellows will act as CCBT partners, developing their projects, making the creative process public, exhibiting the results, and holding workshops and talks.
Players
岸裕真
Kishi Yuma
Artist
Kishi Yuma reinterprets AI as alien intelligence and proposes the emergent relationship between humans and AI as an alien subjectivity, which he explores through paintings, sculptures, and installations created in collaboration with an AI that he developed himself. Since 2023, the AI model MaryGPT has curated almost all of his work. Kishi’s exhibitions include the solo show Oracle Womb (2025, √K Contemporary, Tokyo) and the group show DXP2 (2024, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa). His awards include the short list for the CAF Award 2024. He is the author of Creating with the Unknown: On the Alien Encounter between Humans and AI (2025, Seibundo Shinkosha).
