Born in 1967 in Fukuoka prefecture, Sanematu Akira completed his graduate studies at Tsukuba University, and went on to win first prize at the Fukui International Youth Media Art Festival in 1990. He has also shown pieces in the Fukui International Video Biennale and Artec. He has held many solo exhibitions at Kaneko Art G2 in 1992 and Gallery NW House in 1995. From the mid-1990s he turned his attention to exhibits using sound and resonance in installation artwork. In recent years he has started engaging in collaborative projects with other artists in voice performance: in 1999 he was an extra in the performance group Toki-doki jido (Occasionally Automatic), and in 2000 he began to perform in the ad lib voice performance group KUU.