Maywa Denki was first founded as a manufacturing company producing electrical parts by Sakaichi Tosa in 1969. It went bankrupt in 1979. The two sons of Tosa, Masamichi and Nobumichi Tosa, founded Maywa Denki again but as an art unit in 1993. They started to build bizarre mechanical devices which they then use in performances, television appearances and other media entertainments. They also produced CDs, videos, toys and other products. The unit won international acclaim at Ars Electronica in Linz in 2003 when they won the Award of Distinction.

This is the catalogue of the exhibition of the art unit, Maywa Denki, focusing on two lines of their unique, hand-crafted nonsense machines: the Naki Series and the Tsukuba Series. Also included is the series entitled Edelweiss which began in 2000. Introduction to these series as well as the production of Maywa Denki's machines are included in the present catalogue. Also, history of the art unit, a selected bibliography, and information of their 'products' including machines, toys, fashion and CD are provided.

This is the catalogue produced for the exhibition at the NTT Intercommunication Center in Tokyo, held from 3 November to 26 December 2004.

Access level

Onsite

Location code
MON.MAD2
Language

English, 

Japanese

Publication/Creation date

2004

ISBN / ISSN

4757170254

No of copies

1

Content type

artist monograph, 

catalogue

Chapter headings

Maywa Denki and the Lineage of Nonsense Art - Katsuhiro YAMAGUCHI, 山口勝弘

Nonsense Machine - Morio SHINODA, 篠田守男

Where does Maywa Denki Plug In? - Takuo KOMATSUZAKI, 小松崎拓男

Maywa Denki's Mechanised Music - Minoru HATANAKA, 畠中実

Maywa Denki: The Nonsense Machines (at the NTT Intercommunication Center)
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Maywa Denki: The Nonsense Machines (at the NTT Intercommunication Center)