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What is the significance of a rather small group of engineers, artists, and one art theoretician gathering around one umbrella term – a term with which it positions itself in a national and international media art context? By studying the underlying network structure of the actors in the field, I regard the Device Art model illustrative of general given factors in the Japanese media art scene. Device Art can function as a lesson toward a deepened understanding of media art’s position in Japan specifically, and generally of the electronic arts in a societal setting between technological progress and the gallery space.

22 The supportive structure of a field, its financial sources, and patronizing institutions are always meaningful with respect to the freedom of action of its ‘players’. 23 In taking a sociological stance and looking at the media art scene in Japan, specifically in Tokyo, I hope to find expedient explanations for the rhetorics employed by its actors and offer a better understanding of how art positions itself in a society in which technology could hardly be of higher significance. In order to shed light on institutional entanglements and the regulatory framework affecting media artists, scholars, and individuals from the engineering field alike, I deem 21 | Machiko Kusahara in an interview with the author, Toyama Campus, Waseda University, Tokyo, July 29, 2009.

It was constructed in the 1960s, planned specifically in order to foster scientific research in Japan, built around the University of Tsukuba and a large number of independent research institutes. Naming his series of musical instruments after this place, Tosa ironically hints at their status as being intrinsically linked to the years of Japanese technological leadership. Ironical is the fact that the Tsukuba instruments are simple electronical items “played by the movement of motors and/or electromagnets at 100V and make […] a sound by practically beating/knocking a substance”.