In the present age, information and communication technologies have developed to such an extent that they enable us to communicate with anybody at any time and any place, and make our daily lives more convenient in many respects. The various personal differences – physical, intellectual, cultural, etc. – that come into play when interacting with other people, however, make it difficult to communicate everything accurately and completely.

It is surely possible to conceive new information and communication technologies by focusing on these differences between (or in other words, the personal characteristics of) individual human beings, and reflecting on the “act of communicating” based on this very notion of “non-communicability.” The question here is how we can convey those personal characteristics that manifest themselves in everything that isn’t properly communicated – individual physical aspects, characteristics of perception, emotional fluctuations, and other qualities that cannot be sufficiently communicated with existing technologies.

In 2020, Tokyo will be the focus of international attention, as people around the world will be watching the various and diverse human interactions that take place here. This exhibition themed on “sympathy” and “diversity” is held as an “open studio” in which visitors can experience possible ways for individual human beings with different personalities to face themselves, mutually interact, understand, and connect with each other.

More than just a stage for presenting new technologies and research results, the exhibition introduces works based on the idea of social value, through the infrastructure of NTT Laboratories, and through experimental exhibitions and demonstrations realized in collaboration with other research institutes and artists.