Miyajima was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1957. In 1986, he received his MA from the Department of Painting at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts London in 1998. He articulates three key concepts through his work: “Keep Changing,” “Connect with Everything,” and “Continue Forever.” His quintessential series of works featuring digital counters is highly regarded for its utilization of numbers in themselves as a form of artistic expression—symbols that are more universal than language. The continuous counting of numbers prompts contemplation on a myriad of human-related phenomena, such as the individual, the collective, society, life, and systems. He first gained attention for his early works, which feature a digital counter at the Aperto ’88 section’ of the 43rd edition of La Biennale di Venezia in 1988. Later, at the 48th edition of La Biennale di Venezia in 1999, he participated as the representative at the Japan Pavilion. He has shown his work in numerous international exhibitions, including “Against Nature” in 1989 (touring the United States, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) and the 5th Gwangju Biennale in 2004 (South Korea). Miyajima has held numerous solo exhibitions at museums worldwide, such as the Nagoya City Art Museum in 1991, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (Paris) in 1996, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1997, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome in 2005. After serving as Vice President of the Tohoku University of Art and Design from 2006 to 2016, and Vice President of Kyoto University of Art and Design (now named Kyoto University of the Arts) from 2014 to 2016, he has continued to contribute as a visiting professor at both institutions.