TOCHKA

The Japanese artists Takeshi Nagata (1978) and Kazue Monno are a couple and have been working together as the artistic duo TOCHKA since 1998. They invented a method of light painting, PiKA PiKA, in which they combine photography with a slow shutter speed and stop-motion animation. They have been awarded prizes for projects that have incorporated this technique at the Holland Animation Film Festival, the Japan Media Arts Festival and the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Nagata is also a professor at the University of Osaka, where he teaches in the Digital Games Department. Monno has her own art practice and writes scripts and storyboards for animations.