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Sense the Invisible

h.o (hdoto) is an international artist collective based in Europe, Japan, and the United States. Its journey began in 2000, when Memory of Media, a project originating in a university laboratory, received the Grand Prize at the Philip Morris Art Award. Bringing together diverse expertise in sensor technology, database systems, interaction and hardware design, robotics, and other fields, h.o forms flexible collaborative teams that evolve from project to project.

At the heart of h.o’s practice is a guiding idea: “Sense the Invisible.”

As technology evolves, the world we inhabit, our societies, and even our understanding of what it means to be human are constantly being transformed. h.o observes the subtle signs and questions emerging from these shifts, translating the ideas and ways of thinking they provoke into artistic form.

Time, memory, information, communication, data, algorithms, microorganisms, energy—and the relationships that emerge between people, environments, and more-than-human beings. By turning its attention toward forces and phenomena that usually remain unseen, and transforming them into perceptible experiences, h.o invites us to encounter our changing world from different perspectives and to question the futures that might emerge from it.

Early works such as SmallConnection (2000–2004), Perfect Time (2004), COLORS (2005), and BLUE (2009) translated invisible phenomena such as time, communication, and information into poetic and playful experiences through technology. This inquiry gradually expanded into the city and society, with projects including Klangwolke ABC (2012) and TRIART (2012) exploring how media art might create new relationships between people and society.

With the 2018 solo exhibition Ghosts in the Digital Realm, h.o turned its attention toward the increasingly fluid notion of what it means to be human in an age of AI and robotics. Works such as What A Ghost Dreams Of (2019) continued this inquiry, questioning the boundaries between human and machine, physical and digital, presence and absence.

In recent years, this perspective has expanded beyond the human toward life, the planet, and the cosmos.

In COSMOS – The Art of Chaos (2025), h.o moved across radically different scales—from the “small cosmos” of the human gut microbiome, to the “everyday cosmos” hidden within ordinary phenomena, and finally to the “greater cosmos” imagined through energy and time—exploring how human existence itself is embedded within vast networks of relationships.

With REGENERATING WITH THE INVISIBLE (2026), this exploration evolves further toward coexistence and regeneration. Invisible forms of life such as bacteria and fungi, networks that emerge beyond individual intention, and the planetary circulation of life and matter become interconnected fields of inquiry. Moving across the scales of body, city, and planet, h.o explores possible worlds in which humans are no longer the sole agents.

For h.o, regeneration does not mean returning to a previous state. It begins by becoming aware of what has remained unseen, reconfiguring our relationships with those invisible presences, and allowing futures that do not yet exist to emerge from these new relationships.

Sense the Invisible.

To sense the invisible is to see our changing world anew.

Moving across art, technology, life, and society, h.o engages with a world in constant transformation—giving artistic form to the questions and ideas that emerge from these shifts, and exploring possibilities for futures yet to come.

Solo Exhibition

  • h.o solo exhibition 2026: REGENERATING WITH THE INVISIBLE, galerie wuensch aircube, Linz / Austria, July 24 - September 27, 2026
  • h.o solo exhibition 2025: COSMOS - The Art of Chaos, Kiyoharu Art Colony, Hokuto, Yamanashi / Japan, Nov 1, 2025 - March 29, 2026
  • h.o solo exhibition 2018: GHOSTS IN THE DIGITAL REALM, Axiom, Tokyo / Japan, June 2 -June 30, 2018
  • h.o solo exhibition 2010: SENSE THE INVISIBLE, Ars Electroica Center, Linz / Austria, July 30 - September 12, 2010
  • h.o solo exhibition 2004, LA GALERIE DES NAKAMURA, Tokyo / Japan, Mach. 9 - April 2, 2004

    • Award

  • 2007 Future Marketing Awards Internet Innovation winner (NIIZA KOYOMI PROJECT)
  • 2007 Good Design Award (Being Zoo Project)
  • 2006 London International Awards (NIIZA KOYOMI PROJECT)
  • 2006 Prix Ars Electronica Honorary Mentions Net Vision (COLORS PROJECT)
  • 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival (Perfect Time)
  • 2001 Asia Digital Art Award (Twin Lamp)
  • 2000 Philip Morris Art Award 2000 Grand Prize [MMM Project] (Memory of Media)

    • Artistic Collective

    h.o (hdoto) is an international artist collective based in Europe, Japan, and the United States. Guided by the mission “Sense the Invisible,” the group aims to create experimental and artistic expressions that evolve with the pace of technological progress.

    Photo: Takeshi Uematsu

    Hideaki Ogawa

    Emiko Ogawa

    Junichi Yura

    John Brumley

    Hiroshi Chigira

    Taizo Zushi

    Naohiro Hayaishi

    Yoko Minagawa

    Yuichi Tamagawa

    Sakura Toyabe

    Other Members:
    Satoshi Onodera, Shota Ishimura, Tomonori Kondo, Yukiko OKamura, Kaori Honda, Mizuya Sato, Yuichiro Haraguchi, Ayano Urabe

    (project participation order)

    EXHIBITION

    2026
    • h.o solo exhibition 2026: REGENERATING WITH THE INVISIBLE, galerie wuensch aircube, Linz / Austria, 2026, July 24- September 27 (Kin*Tsugi, Neo Linz, Miracles)
    • Sikka Art & Design Festival, Dubai / United Arab Emirates, January 23 – Feburary 1 (SmallConnection AIR: revival)
    • (Exhibition extension) h.o solo exhibition 2025: COSMOS – the Art of Chaos, Kiyoharu Art Colony, Nagasaka area of Hokuto, Yamanashi / Japan, November 1, 2025 – March 29, 2026 (Thinking Candle, Selfish Bacteria, Miracles, E=T)
    • Ars Electronica Center Exhibition Compass – Navigating the Future-, Linz / Austria, Permanent Exhibition (What A Ghost Dreams Of)
    2025
    2024
    2023
    2022
    2021
    2020
    2019
    2018
    2017
    2016
    2015
    2014
    2013
    2012
    2011
    2010
    2009
    2008
    2007
    2006
    2005
    2004
    2003
    • Surroundings, Tokyo Hillside West Gallery, Tokyo / Japan, Dec. 16 – 22 (moi)
    • Take Art Collection 2003, SPIRAL, Tokyo / Japan, Oct. 24 – Nov. 9 (nest)
    • Asia Design International Conference, Tsukuba / Japan, Oct. 14 – 17 (Infoscape in the city)
    • art-life+, SPIRAL, Tokyo / Japan, Sep. 6 – 15 (strobe switch)
    • My Sweet Home Exhibition, SPIRAL, Tokyo / Japan, Mar. 27 – Apr. 14 (one, living memory)
    2002
    • ISEA 2002(International Symposium on Electronic Art), Nagoya / Japan, Oct 27 – Oct 31 PAPER (@home project)
    • INFOSCAPE in the city, Yokohama / Japan, Oct. 7 – 14 (INFOSCAPE in the city)
    • INFOSCAPE on the beach, SPUTNIK Beach House, Tsujido / Japan, Aug. 24 (INFOSCAPE on the beach)
    • Universal Plaything, Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Fujisawa / Japan, Jul. 1 – 8 (star drops)
    • Art in Shopping Town in Yokohama, Yokohama / Japan, May 25 – Jun. 2 (INFOSCAPE in the city)
    • Art Cross Plan Exhibition, Ginza Pepper’s Gallery, Tokyo / Japan, Mar 11 – 16 (INFOSCAPE in the city)
    2001