LIL Creates Three Core Permanent Projection Works for the Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum

LIL Inc., a creative studio specializing in visual direction and spatial experiences, has produced three core works for the permanent projection program at the third-floor Edo-Tokyo Hiroba of the Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum, which reopened on March 31, 2026. The project uses the museum’s massive structure, designed by architect Kiyonori Kikutake and inspired by raised-floor warehouses, as its stage. Covering roughly 4,000 square meters of ceiling and column surfaces, LIL designed the projection not as a simple visual presentation but as an experience that incorporates the architecture itself. Cultural resources such as Edo-period ukiyo-e prints and illustrated maps are released into the contemporary city as energy, creating a spatial experience in which visitors can physically sense the vitality of Edo. The three works produced by LIL are: 1. Traditional GRID Using the grid structure of the ceiling, this work dynamically presents more than 70 ukiyo-e pieces from the museum’s collection, including works by Katsushika Hokusai and Toshusai Sharaku. A giant Japanese sword races through the space before the scene shifts into the world of sumo, closely associated with Ryogoku, filling the ceiling with powerful bouts. Waves from Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and the crocodile shark depicted in Utagawa Hiroshige’s work appear on a scale of around 100 meters, moving across the ceiling with overwhelming presence. 2. Moving Picture Based on long horizontal picture scrolls and folding-screen paintings from the museum’s collection, including Shinshu Bansen Nyushin Hanei-zu and Kanda Matsuri Dashizukushi, this work depicts the lives of Edo residents and the bustle of the town in three-dimensional form. More than 300 Edo figures appear vividly across the ceiling, each with distinct movements and personality, creating the sensation of stepping into a giant animated picture scroll. 3. Another Sky This immersive artwork treats the ceiling as a vast sky, shifting from the seasons of the present day to scenes of Edo. Cherry blossoms, fresh greenery, rain, and snow gradually connect to the Edo sky, where countless kites rise into the air. In the climax, a large number of fireworks fill the night sky, surrounding the space with the heat of a festival. Through the physical act of looking upward, present-day reality and Edo memories blend together, guiding audiences into another world beyond time and space. General director Daisuke Hashimoto said he wanted the symbolic raised-floor structure to function as a device connecting Edo time to the present. Energy overflows from the bottom of the museum, transforms into Hokusai’s waves and Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s monstrous fish, and ultimately becomes a scene of 20-meter-tall sumo wrestlers colliding. Because the museum stands next to Ryogoku Kokugikan, the sumo scene was deliberately rendered with hand-drawn animation to capture a human intensity and spiritual vibration that digital techniques alone cannot fully reproduce. The Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum is showing an approximately 20-minute projection program at the third-floor Edo-Tokyo Hiroba. From April to September, screenings are held at 19:00, 19:20, and 19:40. From October to March, screenings are held at 17:20, 17:40, 18:00, 18:20, 18:40, 19:00, 19:20, and 19:40. In addition to LIL’s three works, the program includes Traditional Colors, Memories of Edo, and other pieces. Screenings may be canceled without notice due to strong winds, weather conditions, or projection equipment maintenance, so visitors are advised to check the museum’s official X account for the latest information. LIL is a creative studio handling content planning and production across visual direction, spatial production, animation, and sound design. Through large-scale experience design using technology, LIL treats moving images as a medium that connects people and spaces, memory and time, and continues to translate the context of cultural facilities and tourist destinations into contemporary sensory experiences.