Invisible Presence was exhibited at New Media Contemporary on April 18, 2026. This short film, created using generative AI, explores the presence of minorities in society. The work is informed by my experiences of feeling isolated as a foreigner living in Germany and the United States, as well as the loneliness I experienced growing up in Japan as a sexual minority. The narrative centers on an invisible man who physically exists but is treated as though he does not exist within society.
In the latter half of the film, humanity reaches its final day on Earth and escapes into space, leaving behind those who have been overlooked. This scenario symbolizes the structure of contemporary society, where majority perspectives are prioritized and minorities are often excluded from the definition of “we.” Throughout the film, human bodies are rarely shown; instead, coats function as markers of presence. In this context, clothing does not conceal the body but reveals existence.
The film was primarily created using the AI video model WAN 2.2. Generative AI enabled me to express personal experiences without directly showing my own body, allowing me to navigate the tension between revealing and concealing my identity. AI also made it possible to depict scenes that would be difficult to produce in reality, such as meteor impacts and a collapsing world. The work is further influenced by my experience of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, which shaped my awareness of humanity’s fragility and the limits of our control over the world around us.
