IN his native Japan, Masaki Fujihata is recognised as a pioneer.

At the forefront of new media art in the early 1980s when many modern technologies were in their developmental stages, Fujihata was already investigating the limitations of computer graphics and animation as an art form.

His reputation is sure to spread inside the UK this month as Fujihata opens his debut solo show at the Cornerhouse - The Conquest Of Imperfection - which takes an interactive look at why humans communicate and asks questions about comparative existences in the real and virtual world.

Featuring eight works - including one commissioned for the new show - The Conquest Of Imperfection plunges visitors into an interactive and virtual world, where networking and playfulness are used to probe fundamental questions of human perception and awareness.

Some of Fujihata's most famous pieces feature, including his 2005 work Unreflective Mirror - a mirror that does not reflect the people that stand in it but will reflect certain inanimate objects - which asks questions about our sense of identity.

Morel's Panorama

Morel's Panorama, from 2003, is a disorientating experience, capturing images of gallery visitors and projecting the action onto the gallery walls at twice real time speed, while Uniformed Symbols (2006) recreates a card game using both real time playing cards and animated projected images, tracing the past and the future.

The new work, Uniformed Symbols: Another Side, is an interactive version of Fujihata's 2006 work, which invites visitors to play with the images of the cards with their fingertips, and by doing so they bring the installation to life.

Imbued with a strong Japanese aesthetic, Fujihata's work and his pioneering techniques in the use of digital media - including computer graphics, interactive suites, the internet, nano-technology and GPS - address the core issues occupying media artists across the world.

The Conquest Of Imperfection is at the Cornerhouse from Saturday, August 23 until Sunday, October 19. Free.