Norimichi Hirakawa was born in 1982. He received his B.F.A in 2005 from the Art & Media Course, Department of Information Design, Tama Art University, also receiving his M.F.A from the university’s Graduate Program in 2007.
Sensing possibilities in the parallel existence of real space within digital environments, Hirakawa has presented various series of works centralizing in computer programmed audiovisual installations in Japan and overseas since 2002. He also has been involved in a wide range of fields, working with individuals such as Ryoji Ikeda, Yoshihide Otomo, and Haruko Mikami, as well as engaging in live performances as “Typingmonkeys.” Hirakawa’s artistic practice is an attempt to capture in the form of actual and realistic images, the time and space that exist within computers which are distinguished from the physical human sensations that viewers perceive through "cognition." Such works also serve as devices that continue to question the nature and definition of “time,” “the universe,” and “self.”
Hirakawa’s recent exhibitions include, “datum,” Snow Storage Space in Moerenuma Park, Sapporo and Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, Tokyo (2017); “datum” public projection, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi (2016); “given,” Yutake Kikutake Gallery, Tokyo (2015); and “static exposed [no.0-4],” lower worlds, limArt, Tokyo (2011). He is a recipient of numerous awards such as the Award of Distinction at Prix Ars Electronica 2008, and the Excellence Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2004.