Mitchell Akiyama's career in the arts has followed a reasonably circuitous path. A student of creative writing and literature before switching to interdisciplinary studies, Akiyama's work as a composer of electronic music and video artist has come to incorporate disparate disciplines, aesthetics and theoretical traditions. He has been based in Montreal since 1998 and has thoroughly absorbed the currents of electroacoustics, visual art and modern dance for which the city has always been famous. Akiyama's musical output began with his debut album, Intr_verse which he released himself on his Pascient Intr_version imprint in 1999. A warm, complex work of beat-driven electronica, the record received several glowing reviews and managed to find its way into a few year end lists despite its small run and limited availability. A 2001 follow-up was released on Canadian label Alien8's sublabel, Substractif. It was met with near unanimous acclaim from critics and propelled Akiyama to prominence in the Canadian experimental electronic music scene. He recently released a collaborative work with Cincinnati musician Joshua Treble. The project, Désormais, marks a more organic, compositional direction for Akiyama. Brimming with deconstructed guitars, pianos and field recordings, it is a lush and sometimes jarring work. His third solo full length, Temporary Music, was released by renowned German label Raster-Noton.

Akiyama has performed extensively in Canada, Japan, The USA and Europe at festivals (such as Montreal's Mutek and Barcelona's Sonar), art galleries and clubs. Video once seemed like an unlikely milieu for Akiyama. Upon taking a class in video production and history he had no background in film, video or photography. He was inspired by the interface of the still reasonably new phenomenon of digital non-linear editing which he found similar to his digital music working environment. Three videos emerged - Re:sound, The Argument and The Static Industry - all of which played extensively at film and video festivals in Canada. He has since been involved mainly in creating "video paintings" which accompany him whenever he performs musically. Recently these two disciplines, music and video, along with graphic design (which is one of the many ways through which Akiyama earns a living) have been collapsing in on each other. Videomusic performances, multimedia CD-ROMs and an altered way of seeing and hearing have come out of this fusion. With the locus of Akiyama's work being the computer and the inter-relatedness and similarity of sound, video and design software, these fusions are sure to yield strange new fruit.

(Biography Last updated 1 January 1995)