Masahiko Kobayashi is a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist based in Japan.

Using vintage slide projectors and acrylic plates, he creates installations in which viewers physically explore images through movement and spatial interaction.

In his works, images are never presented as a complete visual field at once. Instead, viewers encounter them fragmentarily while moving through the space. Through acts such as approaching, searching, and peering into the image, the works foreground the uncertainty and embodied nature of “seeing” itself.

Kobayashi’s practice centers on what he describes as “invisible presences” — emotions that exist prior to being fully organized into language or image, as well as fragments of memory and thought left outside systems of archive and representation. In contemporary society, where efficiency and reproducibility are constantly demanded, ambiguous and difficult-to-define experiences are often treated as though they do not exist.

Through the use of slide projectors as an obsolete optical medium, Kobayashi creates spaces for physically exploring what has not yet been fully observed or recognized.

Biography

Born in Saitama, Japan in 1988, Masahiko Kobayashi is a photographer and contemporary artist based in Japan.

While studying at university, he learned photographic production techniques and began his artistic practice after graduation while working as a systems engineer. From 2018 to 2021, he participated in a museum-based art communication program, where he deepened his exploration of how people relate to one another through artworks, as well as the nature of “seeing” and “sharing.” In 2022, he completed the DOOR Project, studying the relationship between art and social welfare.

Currently, his practice centers on installations using vintage slide projectors and acrylic plates, creating experiences in which viewers physically explore images through movement and spatial interaction. Through fragmented imagery and incomplete visibility, he investigates “invisible presences” and the uncertainty inherent in the act of seeing itself.

Curriculum Vitae

[Education]

2011 B.Eng. (The University of Electro-Communications)

2013 M.Eng.(The University of Electro-Communications)

[Solo Exhibitions]

2026 KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+ / Boew-up ( ○MA, Kyoto )

2024 KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+ / Who GIves a Thought ( ○MA, Kyoto )

2024 Laundry ( Alt_Medium, Tokyo )

2023 Life Historical Landscape ( gallery RooM, Saitama )

[Group Exhibitions]

2024 The 9th Photo Archipelago Photography School Graduation Exhibition ( TAKAMATSU ART MUSEUM | Kagawa)

2024 KG+ × Teramachi kyogoku shopping street art museum collaboration ( mumokuteki cafe | Kyoto )

2024 APA AWARD PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION ( TOP MUSEUM / Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art )

[Art Project]

2023 D-Lab 9Jigen Divers ( Taito City Arts and Culture Support Program | Tokyo )

[Grant]

2023 APA AWARD PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION selected

2023 APA AWARD PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION selected

[Workshop]

2022 Cyanotype Photogram Workshop ( Kori | Tokyo )

Contact

koba631208<at>gmail.com

Last updated: May. 18, 2026