LANG
ENGLISH
中文(简体)
中文(繁體)
한국어
日本語
TICKET

A NEW PERSPECTIVE
CONNECTING THE
FUTURE THROUGH
CONTEMPORARY ART

UESHIMA MUSEUM
“Thematic Exhibitions for Creative Encounters” Opening
~James Turrell Permanent Exhibition~

We are pleased to announce that UESHIMA MUSEUM will hold a new collection exhibition, “Thematic Exhibition for Creative Encounters,” starting from June 21, 2025 (Sat).

At the museum, visitors can explore a curated selection of contemporary art pieces from UESHIMA MUSEUM COLLECTION, a collection of over 700 works by a diverse range of domestic and international artists based on the theme of "contemporaneity" and aligned with various themes. Since its opening in June 2024, UESHIMA MUSEUM has garnered significant attention from both domestic and international media, as well as on social media platforms.
This second exhibition of the collection will be renewed under the curatorial direction of Yuko Hasegawa, who served as the director of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa until March 2025. In addition, an installation work by James Turrell will be newly exhibited as a part of the permanent collection.
We look forward to seeing you at the museum.

Dates

June 21, 2025 (Sat)

Opening Hours (Date and Time Web Ticket System)

11:00 ~ 17:00 (Last entry at 16:00)

Address

Ueshima Tower, Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen 1-21-18 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Curator

Yuko Hasegawa

Admission fee(tax incl.)

General: USD20

High School & Junior High School Students: USD5

Elementary School Students & Younger: Free

Closed Days

Monday (If Monday is holiday, closed on the following weekday)

About UESHIMA MUSEUM

UESHIMA MUSEUM is located on the grounds of Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen, the alma mater of UESHIMA COLLECTION owner Kankuro Ueshima. It is highly regarded for its emphasis on international perspective and high ethical standards in education under the fundamental goal of "Seek and Think for Oneself." (“Jicho-Jiko”) The museum’s building was renovated from the former British School in Tokyo, which was established in 1988 and held its opening ceremony in September of the following year in the presence of the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The British School in Tokyo was utilized until August 2023 and was reopened after renovation.

Address

Ueshima Tower, Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen 1-21-18 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Museum Director

Kankuro Ueshima

Thematic Exhibitions for Creative Encounters

The second collection exhibition will be mostly replaced by a new exhibition, except for the permanent display on the second floor. The first exhibition in this collection, with “contemporaneity” as its core theme, focused on modern human emotions and humanity through intense abstraction, while contemporary narratives in figurative works and conceptual art were also on display.

In this exhibition, each floor is curated under a distinct theme to encourage diverse expressions of contemporary art and foster unique encounters between the artworks and viewers. The spatial composition invites resonance between works and a fluid experience of the environment, liberating the viewer’s senses and imagination to inspire free interpretation.

B1F

Cosmos and Gravity

A gaze toward “Gaia”, the Earth, and a yearning for the universe beyond human knowledge. Amid a growing ecological sensibility, we find ourselves once again drawn to the elemental force of "gravity".

In the basement exhibition room, works such as Bosco Sodi’s "Galaxy"—which uses earth and raw materials to depict the transformation of matter into something sacred—and Robert Longo’s "Planet Series", portraying the sublime scale of time and space through portraits of planets, unfold a sweeping cosmic vision.

This is a space that leads to a dual experience, where one is pulled downward by gravity, yet consciousness is released into the beyond.

"Solar Eclipse Northern Hemisphere August 11th 1999", Marc Quinn, (2017)

"untitled (small Venus)", Robert Longo (2005)

"untitled (Urushi Series)", Bosco Sodi (2015)

"Creamy Rich Sky, Asphalt Horizon Roll," Theaster Gates (2014)

Cosmos and Gravity

1: "trace/wood #80", Keisuke Tada (2020)

2: "untitled", Bosco Sodi (2015)

3: "Those Who Came Before Us", Michael Kagan (2022)

4: "untitled (small Venus)", Robert Longo (2005)

5: "4. 3. 89", Gerhard Richter (1989)

6: "Creamy Rich Sky, Asphalt Horizon Roll," Theaster Gates (2014)

7: "Solar Eclipse Northern Hemisphere August 11th 1999", Marc Quinn, (2017)

8: "Ankor Sunburst", Marc Quinn (2009)

9: "untitled (Urushi Series)", Bosco Sodi (2015)

10: "Aprl 5. 2011", Ryan Sullivan (2011)

11: "untitled", Ryan Sullivan (2022)

1F

City and Pop

Through the newly opened windows, the pulse of Shibuya’s cityscape flows in like a breath, alive and immediate.

To resonate with the reality of the city, the first floor of the exhibition centers around Pop Art.

Beginning with Andy Warhol’s cool, incisive gaze at the objects of everyday life, the exhibition expands to include Yoshitomo Nara’s uniquely “neotenic pop,” where his work encounters and converses with Hokusai’s ukiyo-e.

Furthermore, diverse expressions of urban and pop art intersect in this vivid panorama of contemporary sensibilities, including Banksy's poetic resistance from the streets.

"Bomb Love", Banksy (2003)

"I who await the arrival, any moment now, of my art Awaiting the arrival of my heart's glorious consolation Years passed before I knew it Because I felt lonely today I watched a white cloud in the sky", Yayoi Kusama (2021)

"No Nukes", Yoshitomo Nara (2022)

"Campbell’s Soup I: Tomato", Andy Warhol (1968)

City and Pop

4: "Jack & Jill (Police Kids)", Banksy (2005)

5: "Napalm", Banksy (2004)

6: "La Boite en Bois (The Wooden Box)", Hiroshi Sugimoto (2004)

7: "Campbell’s Soup I: Tomato", Andy Warhol (1968)

8: "City tracks (Omron) Tokyo, Shibuya-Ku", Thomas Struth (1991)

9: "In the Floating World", Yoshimoto Nara (1999)

10: "No Nukes", Yoshitomo Nara (2022)

11: ”The Arched Bridge at Kameido Tenjin Shrine, from the series Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces", Katsushika Hokusai (1834)

12: "Bomb Love", Banksy (2003)

13: "Fireworks Flashed in the Darkness", Aya Takano (2003)

14: "untitled", Takashi Murakami (2016)

15: "Yakalina (Bistre)", Mark Ryden (2021)

16: "Yakalina Array", Mark Ryden (2021)

17: "Going to the Field with Shoes On", Yayoi Kusama (1979)

18: "Untitled", Yayoi Deki (2019)

19: "Untitled", Yayoi Deki (2019)

20: "I who await the arrival, any moment now, of my art Awaiting the arrival of my heart's glorious consolation Years passed before I knew it Because I felt lonely today I watched a white cloud in the sky", Yayoi Kusama (2021)

21: "Waves Washing Ashore", Yayoi Kusama (1978)

22: "Untitled (Butterfly Spin Painting)", Damian Hirst (2008)

23: "TELEXISTENCE", Meguru Yamaguchi (2011)

24: "Untitled (Skull Spin Painting)", Damian Hirst (2009)

Permanent Exhibitions

1: "PixCell - Deer #40", Kohei Nawa (2015)

2: "Sowing confusion amongst the titles, or The squatters (Tiger meet Hiller’s Lucidity & Intuition: Homage to Gertrude Stein (2011)", Ryan Gander (2020)

3: "You Be My Body For Me (Unit 3)", Mika Tajima (2020)

25: "Colors of Shadow C1017", Hiroshi Sugimoto (2006)

2F

Gerhard Richter and James Turrell

In the center space of the second floor, a group of works by Gerhard Richter offers a quiet illumination of the subtle fluctuations that drift between materiality and image.

A new permanent exhibition room by James Turrell will also be added.

His immersive light work transforms the act of "seeing" into a sensory experience, returning the viewers to the foundations of perception, dissolving between the visual and the conscious boundaries.

In Turrell's space, light is no longer an object, but becomes the medium of thought itself.

"Kanarische Landschaften I [Canary Landscapes I (Butin 39)]", Gerhard Richter (1971)

"21. Feb. 01", Gerhard Richter (2001)

"Abstrakte Skizze (Abstract Sketch)", Gerhard Richter (1991)

"Abstraktes Bild (P1)", Gerhard Richter (1990 / 2014)

Gerhard Richter and James Turrell

6: "Kanarische Landschaften I [Canary Landscapes I (Butin 39)]", Gerhard Richter (1971)

7: "Abstraktes Bild (P1)", Gerhard Richter (1990 / 2014)

8: "21. Feb. 01", Gerhard Richter (2001)

9: "Abstrakte Skizze (Abstract Sketch)", Gerhard Richter (1991)

10: "untitled (3.11.89)", Gerhard Richter (1989)

11: "Cage 1 (P19-1)", Gerhard Richter (2006 / 2020)

26: "Boris", James Turrell (2002)

Permanent Exhibitions

1: "By physical or cognitive means (Broken Window Theory 13 May)", Ryan Gander (2019 - 2020)

2: "On slow Obliteration, or How are you still hungry", Ryan Gander (2019)

3: "Idiom", Pierre Huyghe (2024)

4: "Eye see you", Olafur Eliasson (2006)

5: "data.scan [n°1b-9b]", Ryoji Ikeda (2011 / 2022)

12: "Matter is Void - Fire", teamLab (2022)

13: "PixCell-Sharpe's grysbok", Kohei Nawa (2023)

14: "State of Being (Skull)", Chiharu Shiota (2015)

15: "State of Being (Two Chairs)", Chiharu Shiota (2012)

16: "Quarantine in Shanghai", Chiharu Shiota (2021)

17: "Quarantine in Shanghai", Chiharu Shiota (2021)

18: "Quarantine in Shanghai", Chiharu Shiota (2021)

19: "Cell", Chiharu Shiota (2021)

20: "Bernini DOB: Carmine Pink and Black", Takashi Murakami x Virgil Abloh (2018)

21: "Our Spot 1", Takashi Murakami x Virgil Abloh (2018)

22: "Just Hanging (no.11 of 16, from the series, Do Not Abandon Me)", Louise Bourgeois x Tracey Emin (2009 - 2010)

23: "It’s what I’d like to be", Tracey Emin (1999)

24: "untitled", Louise Bourgeois (1968)

25: "untitled(for Ad Reinhardt)1b", Dan Flavin (1990)

27: "Slaves, Ex Slaves", Theaster Gates (2021)

28: "Walking on Afroturf", Theaster Gates (2021)

29: "Night Stand for Soul Sister", Theaster Gates (2013)

S1: "Opus for Flute", Theaster Gates & The Black Monks of Mississippi

30: "Prospect Park Theater", Hiroshi Sugimoto (1977)

3F

Geometry and Introspective Compositions – Abstract at Room Temperature

In today's fast-paced and stimulating society, we often find ourselves longing for "tranquility" and "a moderate temperature" of being.

The third floor features geometric abstract paintings that simultaneously evoke a sense of calm and tension.

These works temper emotional intensity and guide viewers toward introspective contemplation. Rather than vocal expressions of emotion, there is a "room temperature" aesthetic that is felt through submergence.

"untitled", Agnes Martin (1995)

"Work E. 369", Masaaki Yamada (1988-89)

"untitled", Anselm Reyle (2005)

"Drone in Search for a Four - Leaf Clover", Sputniko! (2023)

Compositions of Geometry and Introspection - Abstract at Room Temperature

1: "Untitled", Harold Ancart (2012)

2: "Estuary", Kapwani Kiwanga (2023)

3: "untitled", Agnes Martin (1995)

4: "untitled", Anselm Reyle (2005)

5: "Schlosswand", Pius Fox (2019)

6: "DasIächelnde Zeichenspiel", Pius Fox (2022)

7: "Work E. 369", Masaaki Yamada (1988)

8: "Untitled", Kohei Yamada (2023)

9: "Untitled", Kohei Yamada (2023)

10: "Drone in Search for a Four-Leaf Clove", Sputniko! (2023)

11: "Edge, Encounter #4 (Liquid a Place)", Torkwase Dyson (2022)

12: "Am Everything That Will Save Me - Hand to Hand, Heart to Heart 2 (Bird and Lava)", Torkwase Dyson (2024)

13: "SILENCE", Cerith Wyn Evans (2005)

14: "Gravity 2023-6-2", Takesada MATSUTANI (2023)

Permanent Exhibitions

15: "Manatee", Hiroshi Sugimoto (1994)

4F

Narratives and the Aura of Color

On this floor, compelling narratives of personal life and historical memory unfold powerfully through works by artists of diverse nationalities, including artists from Africa.

Interspersed among figurative works composed with vivid colors and bold compositions are abstract works by Bernard Frize and other artists that capture the subtle presence—the aura—of color itself. This deliberate layering causes the boundary between image and abstraction to fluctuate, evoking both story and poetry within the viewer.

"Payback is a motherfucker. The final death of Harlem Carl. Or, in another time, he would have outlived us all.", Umar Rashid (2022)

"CAMELLIA (Narrative)", Aiko Yuno (2022)

"untitled", Wahab Saheed (2022)

"untitled", Izumi Kato (2020)

Aura of Narrative and Color

1: "Madonna of Chancellor Rolin", Roberto Pare (2022)

2: "CAMELLIA (Narrative)", Aiko Yuno (2022)

3: "Fountain of Brotherhood(1)", Moses Zibor (2021)

4: "Kova", Bernard Frize (2022)

5: "untitled", Wahab Saheed (2022)

6: "Untitled", Bernard Frize (2020)

7: "Payback is a motherfucker. The final death of Harlem Carl. Or, in another time, he would have outlived us all.", Umar Rashid (2022)

8: "Red Veil (Not a time to Dance)", John Madu (2020)

9: "untitled", Izumi Kato (2020)

10: "untitled", Izumi Kato (2014/2019)

11: "untitled", Izumi Kato (2012)#1#2#3

12: "Bathers in a warm afternoon", Gideon Appah (2020)

Permanent Exhibitions

13: "Einstein Tower", Hiroshi Sugimoto (2020)

5F

Entanglement of Matter and Emotion

Love and desire, libido and memory—the fifth floor explores the complex emotions surrounding these themes as a tangle of matter and image (entanglement).

The sensual radiance of Jean-Michel Othoniel's red glass sculptures and the intimate portrait of Yoko and Lennon by Nanae Mitobe both center on "love", yet resist reducing to a single meaning.

Clad in a contemporary sensibility of glitch, noise, and hybridity, these works delicately and provocatively reflect our complex and slightly distorted desires and relationships today.

"Bitje", Bernard Frize (2019)

"pink Lotus", Jean-Michel Othoniel (2015)

"The Moon of Jupiter", Marc Quinn (2010)

"remember love", Nanae Mitobe (2022)

Exhibition space as a "blank space"

This exhibition weaves the emotions and questions of contemporary life into the spaces between artworks and across floors. The exhibition space is not merely a stage for display, but a “blank space” where thought breathes and relationships emerge. We hope that by stopping at the blank space and encountering the works anew through their own senses, visitors may begin a creative journey—one that unearths the layered strata of our present time.This is a space that leads to a dual experience, where one is pulled downward by gravity, yet consciousness is released into the beyond.

List of artists scheduled to exhibit

Agnes Martin, Alexis Rockman, Anselm Reyle, Andy Warhol, Ryoji Ikeda, Umar Rashid, Olafur Eliasson, Izumi Kato, Katsushika Hokusai, Kapwani Kiwanga, Gideon Appah, Yayoi Kusama, Cerith Wyn Evans, Gerhard Richter, Theaster Gates, James Turrell, Chiharu Shiota, Jean-Michel Othoniel, John Madu, Sputniko!, Aya Takano, Keisuke Tada, Damien Hirst, Dan Flavin, teamLab, Thomas Struth, Torkwase Dyson, Tracey Emin, Yoshitomo Nara, Kohei Nawa, Nicolas Buffe, Harold Ancart, Banksy, Pius Fox, Bernard Frize, Bosco Sodi, Marc Quinn, Mark Ryden, Michael Kagan, Takesada Matsutani, Nanae Mitobe, Takashi Murakami, Moses Zibor, Kohei Yamada, Masaaki Yamada, Aiko Yuno, Ryan Gander, Ryan Sullivan, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Longo, Roberto Pelle, Wahab Saheed

※Please note that participating artists and exhibited works are subject to change without notice.

Kankuro Ueshima Profile

Founder of "UESHIMA MUSEUM COLLECTION", born in Chiba prefecture, Japan in 1979. Ueshima graduated from Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen Makuhari Senior High School in 1998, then enrolled in the Natural Sciences I at the University of Tokyo. While attending the Faculty of Engineering, he started his own business and has since developed a diversified business as an entrepreneur and investor. Aside from managing his own businesses, Ueshima reaches out to domestic and international auction houses and galleries and continues to collect a wide range of art from leading domestic and international artists to young Japanese artists.
He was selected to be the "Top 200 Collectors 2024" by ARTnews in the US.

Yuko Hasegawa Profile

Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, Kyoto University / Program Director, Department of Art and Design, International House of Japan / Former Director, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (April 2021 - March 2025) / Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University of the Arts / Visiting Professor of Research Institute for Humanity and Nature
Yuko Hasegawa is a curator and art critic, having graduated from Kyoto University with a BA in Law and from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music with an MFA in Art History. She has served as a curator at Art Tower Mito, visiting curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, curator at the Setagaya Art Museum, chief curator and Artistic Director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. She is also Artistic Director of the Inujima "Art House Project". Hasagawa has been honored with the Japan Commissioner for Cultural Affairs Award, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan (2020), the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France (2015), and the Ordem de Rio Branco, Brazil (2017). She has curated numerous international exhibitions, including biennales in Istanbul (2001), Shanghai (2002), São Paulo (2010), Sharjah (2013), Moscow (2017), and Thailand (2021). Major international projects include "Japanorama: New Vision on Art Since 1970" and “Japonismes 2018: les ames en resonance” (“Souls in resonance”) in France, which introduced Japanese culture. In Japan, her notable exhibitions include solo exhibitions of Dumb Type, Olafur Eliasson, and Rhizomatiks at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, as well as co-curation of the "Tokyo Art Meeting" series with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mansai Nomura, and Taku Satoh.

She was the Artistic Director of "Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama" (Date: September 28 – November 24, 2024). Major publications include "Curation: The power to shake knowledge and sensitivity", "Contemporary Art that Begins with 'Why?'", "Destroy, They Say: Women Artists Subtly Traversing Boundaries", "Japanorama: New Vision on Art Since 1970", and "Art and the New Ecology: the Anthropocene as a 'dithering time'".