CCBT× ARS ELECTRONICA 2026 Maki Ueda “An Olfacto-Politics Project“

To embody its mission of “Discovery,” “Development,” “Co-creation,” and “Collaboration,” Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT] conducts “CCBTx”—an initiative involving partnerships with diverse collaborators across various fields, both in Japan and abroad.
Starting Wednesday, September 9, 2026, Maki Ueda—a 2025 CCBT Artist Fellow—will exhibit “An Olfacto-Politics Project” at the Ars Electronica Festival, one of the world’s largest media art festivals.

Olfacto-Politics: The Air as a Medium comprises several elements: creating opportunities to learn through lectures and workshops, research using technology to measure and visualize of the sense of smell, and producing and exhibiting a spatial artwork that expresses the circulation of air. Through the medium of air, the project aimed to prompt reflection on biodiversity and biomes, leading to new perspectives on how we perceive the world.

The project embodies Maki Ueda’s research concept of Olfacto-Politics. Across various multifaceted projects, the artist reinterprets the air as a medium shared equally by humans, animals, and plants. In an era of growing uncertainty due to climate change and international conflict, Olfacto-Politics asks to what extent the sense of smell enables us to perceive invisible dynamics and relationships.

Ars Electronica

Ars Electronica is a creative center for art and advanced technology founded by the city of Linz, Austria. For more than 40 years, Ars Electronica has hosted the world’s largest annual media arts festival, the Ars Electronica Festival. They have also established “Futurelab,” a center for research on the future of art and technology in collaboration with businesses, government, cultural, educational, and research institutions. It also includes the Ars Electronica Center, known as the “museum and school of the future,” and the Prix Ars Electronica, which is the world’s longest running international media arts competition.

Official Website：https://ars.electronica.art/news/en/