Image: NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo
NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC) in Tokyo has announced a new work by Scott Allen (glow), titled 'Unreal Pareidolia -sandbox of shadows-', as part of ICC Kids’ Program 2026. The installation is described by the institution as a cognitive-driven AI interactive work that invites viewers’ imagination through a “shadow sandbox,” a setting in which shadows take the place of sand.
The project is presented on ICC’s archive page as a 2026 work. ICC explains that the installation is built around the psychological phenomenon of pareidolia, in which people perceive familiar patterns in things that are not actually there. In the work, everyday objects and toys cast shadows that are repeatedly reimagined by AI, producing shifting forms that can suggest one thing and then another. As those images overlap and disappear, the viewer is drawn into a cycle of interpretation and re-interpretation.
ICC frames the piece as an environment without a fixed goal, likening it to a sandbox where there is no clear boundary between players and where the activity of digging, collapsing and rebuilding continues without end. Rather than leading toward a final completed image, 'Unreal Pareidolia -sandbox of shadows-' emphasizes the process of making shadows and seeing new figures emerge from them, with each perceived shape prompting the next act of imagination.
The archive text also outlines the work’s production credits. The piece is by Scott Allen, with co-planning and direction credited to Scott Allen, Toru Akabane and Tomoya Kashimada. ICC’s materials identify Allen as the artist and place the work within the institution’s broader exhibition and educational framework.
The installation is listed under ICC Kids’ Program 2026, titled 'Mikan no yakusoku — tsukutte, toraeru media creations', which runs from July 25 to August 30, 2026. The work page situates the project within that program rather than as a standalone exhibition, and the archive entry includes photographs of the installation by Ryohei Tomita.
ICC, officially the NTT InterCommunication Center, is based in the Tokyo Opera City Tower in Shinjuku and regularly presents media art, exhibitions and educational programs. The new work adds to the center’s archive of media art projects focused on interactive technologies, perception and audience participation, with 'Unreal Pareidolia -sandbox of shadows-' now documented as part of its 2026 program material.
