17 best art exhibitions in Tokyo right now

This September, Shimokitazawa welcomes the return of its annual lunar art festival that will coincide with the upcoming autumn moon. Back for its fifth edition, Moon Art Night Shimokita will span several venues in the neighbourhood, including the open plaza in front of the station, Shimokita Senrogai Open Space near Shimokitazawa police box, the rooftop of Higashi-Kitazawa Station, and the Bonus Track complex.

Exhibits include an outdoor moon installation by UK artist Luke Jerram, whose giant floating model features striking details of the moon’s surface as captured by Nasa. This particular installation – titled ‘Museum of the Moon’ – is set to be on show every day at the vacant lot of the Shimokita Senrogai complex. Nearby at Shimokitazawa Station Square, you’ll find an installation of phosphorescent cubes that absorb sunlight during the day and release it as a soft glow by nightfall. Produced by Midori Kawano, the installation, titled 'Afterglow', draws on the idea that moonlight is a reflection of the moon as it was 1.3 seconds earlier, offering a literal glimpse into the past.

The festival is also hosting Tokyo-based contemporary artist Shoei Matsuda, whose giant eight-metre-tall inflatable recreates the iconic 'tears of joy' emoji at the Bonus Track complex. Inspired by the evolution of emoji from a feature of Japanese mobile phone culture into a universal visual language, the interactive installation explores the relationship between the digital and physical worlds. Visitors can also use an AR filter to transform their own faces into the 'tears of joy' emoji and share the results on Instagram, blurring the boundaries between online expression and real-world experience.

Moreover, Japanese sculptor and artist Teppei Kaneuji is participating with an interactive installation titled ‘A Thousand Faces of the Moon’ at the paid Higashi-Kitazawa Station rooftop venue. Inspired by the idea that while there is only one moon, its appearance and meaning can vary depending on where you are and your own perspective, the work invites visitors to throw, roll and photograph a collection of moon-shaped sculptures. Kaneuji will also host a silkscreen printing workshop, where participants can create and take home their own moon-themed artwork.

Aside from the art exhibitions, the festival will feature several immersive theatre performances, live music, video installations and pop-ups. Several shops around Shimokitazawa Station will also offer full moon-inspired food and beverages and limited-edition products during the festival.

Tickets to access paid venues and performances are on sale via the official website.

One of Tokyo’s premier contemporary art galleries, Nanzuka has opened its brand-new flagship space in Shibuya Axsh, marking the gallery’s return to Shibuya after a 20-year absence. The inaugural exhibition celebrates contemporary artist Keiichi Tanaami with his solo show ‘Do Not Bomb’. Spanning works from the 1960s to unreleased pieces made before the artist’s death in 2024, the exhibition explores Tanaami’s memories of war through around 60 works, including silkscreens, collages, paintings, animations, sculptures and videos.

The work closest to the entrance is ‘Do Not Bomb’, created while Tanaami was preparing for a large-scale solo exhibition in 2024. Made against the backdrop of ongoing wars around the world, the piece features a goldfish at its centre, flying towards the viewer like a cannonball.

The exhibition also features Tanaami’s ‘No More War’ series, which connects to ‘Do Not Bomb’. Created in 1967, the series was submitted to an anti-war poster contest hosted by American magazine Avant Garde in 1968, where it was selected as an outstanding work. Influenced by pop art, the silkscreen prints reflect Tanaami’s early interest in reaching a wider audience through reproduced imagery.

The exhibition runs until October 17. Check the gallery website for more details.

Sound, visual art and site-specific elements blend together in innovative and challenging ways at Ambient Kyoto, a multisensory, immersive exhibition that now makes its first foray into Tokyo, landing at Azabudai Hills Gallery. The display centres on the installation ‘async – immersion’, envisioned by the much-missed Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani of Dumb Type and first presented in Kyoto in 2023.

Inspired by Sakamoto’s 2017 album async, ‘async – immersion’ features visuals by Takatani and spatial audio design by sound engineer ZAK, whose fingerprints are all over many of Sakamoto’s late-career projects. At Azabudai Hills, the work has been reconstructed exclusively for the venue, with the setup including a 26-metre-wide screen for displaying the video elements of the installation.

True to the title of the work, the aural and visual components are aligned but not fully synchronised; their constantly shifting relationship rewards attentive viewing and encourages visitors to approach the work on their own terms.

Minami Tada (1924–2014) was a quietly radical figure in post-war Japanese art whose practice unfolded across sculpture, relief, lighting and architectural space. Working at the intersection of art, design and emerging industrial technologies, Tada developed a distinctive visual language that embraced transparency, reflection and light – materials and phenomena closely tied to Japan’s rapid economic growth. As a pioneering female artist operating in a male-dominated field, her work anticipated many later conversations around spatial perception and the expanded field of sculpture.

From August 29 to December 6, the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo presents the artist’s first solo exhibition in Tokyo in 35 years. This long-overdue retrospective traces the arc of Tada’s career, from early paintings to her most emblematic sculptural works, as well as large-scale pieces created for architectural settings. Drawing on industrial materials and contemporary technologies, her works explore how light interacts with form and space, producing effects that shift with the viewer’s movement.

The exhibition also includes archival materials that shed light on the artist’s process and intellectual context, situating her practice within broader developments in post-war Japanese art and design. At a moment when interest in overlooked modernist figures is growing both in Japan and internationally, ‘Still, shimmering light’ offers a timely reassessment of an artist whose work feels strikingly current. Elegant, experimental and forward-looking, the exhibition reintroduces Tada as a vital voice in the history of contemporary art.

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum hosts an exceptional exhibition showcasing masterpieces borrowed from one of the world’s most iconic institutions. Founded in 1753, the British Museum houses the most comprehensive collection of Japanese art outside Japan, reflecting over a century and a half of fascination with Japanese aesthetics.

‘Edo in Focus’ brings together a carefully curated selection from the museum’s 40,000-piece collection, including folding screens, hanging scrolls and narrative handscrolls from the Edo period (1603–1868). You’ll also encounter celebrated ukiyo-e prints by eight masters, including Utamaro, Sharaku, Hokusai and Hiroshige, that capture the vibrancy of Edo culture.

Beyond the artworks themselves, the exhibition sheds light on the history of Japan-UK cross-cultural exchange and the figures who shaped it, such as the surgeon and early collector William Anderson. By tracing how Japanese art inspired and connected people across continents, the show invites visitors to reflect on the enduring dialogue between Japan and the world, and on Edo’s timeless artistic spirit.

A master of immersive installations that merge video, sculpture, sound, light and language, Tony Oursler is one of the most influential multimedia artists of his generation. He’s been a pioneering figure in video projection and media-based art since the 1980s, probing the uneasy intersections between technology, psychology, belief systems and contemporary society. Drawing equally from pop culture, science, conspiracy theories, religion and the paranormal, Oursler’s work gives form to the invisible forces shaping modern life, be they data streams, surveillance or spirits, through a poetic blend of humour and unease.

‘Tony Oursler: Tech/Gnosis – Magic, Media, Art’ at Tokyo Node is the artist’s first large-scale solo exhibition in Japan, offering a comprehensive survey of Oursler’s practice from the early 1990s to the present. Key works such as Private (1994–1997), Specular (2021) and the psychologically charged installation Lock 2, 4, 6 (2010) are shown alongside previously unpublished projects and extensive archival materials drawn from Oursler’s personal collection of more than 3,000 items related to science, magic and unidentified phenomena.

A highlight is the world premiere of Empty (2000), a long-gestating collaboration with David Bowie and composer Glenn Branca, realised here for the first time. The exhibition also debuts Chimera (2026), a monumental, site-specific work conceived for Tokyo Node’s soaring 15-metre-high space, where mythical hybrid creatures appear to float above the city. In an age shaped by AI, surveillance and renewed spiritual curiosity, Oursler’s work resonates with striking urgency, challenging you to reflect on how belief, technology and imagination entwine.

Meguro River is becoming one with art this September, with a four-kilometre stretch of the river transformed into a giant ‘instrument’ on September 4 to 6 and 18 to 22.

At the heart of the project is Kaze – body, a sound installation by artist Ray Kunimoto. Made up of countless metal plates, the installation sits on a boat that travels along the Meguro River, from Tennozu at the river’s mouth to the area in front of Hotel Gajoen Tokyo. Exploring the relationship between invisible forces such as gravity, wind and water and the physical environment, the work turns the energy of the wind into sound, as the metal plates sway and collide with one another.

Kaze – body will operate from 6pm to 9pm on September 4 to 6 and 18 to 22. Designated viewing points include the promenade along the Meguro River and Gotanda Fureai Waterside Square, where visitors can stroll along the riverbank, wait for the artwork to arrive and listen to its sounds.

At Gotanda Fureai Waterside Square, speakers installed on streetlights will play sounds synchronised with Kaze – body. This allows visitors to experience not just the artwork on the boat, but the entire riverside environment – including the time spent waiting for the boat to pass – as one expansive sound installation. On opening day, September 4, a documentary by Kunimoto and Kaori Yamane about the creation of Kaze – body will also be projected onto the riverbank.

Moreover, on September 12, a one-day-only live music performance will take place at Higashi-Shinagawa Kaijo Park. DJs and food trucks will kick off from 3pm on the park side, followed by live performances from 5pm on a special stage set up on a houseboat. Alongside Kunimoto’s work, the performance line-up includes duo Tatsuro Murakami & Shin Araki, and duo Shöka feat. Kei Matsumaru. Meanwhile, DJ Emerald and Grrrden will be spinning DJ sets.

Check the event website for more details.

From August 1, the Yokohama Museum of Art unveils a dazzling exhibition dedicated to one of history’s most iconic queens. Known as the ultimate symbol of elegance and excess, Marie Antoinette (1755–1793) transformed the aesthetics of 18th-century France and continues to shape fashion, design and visual culture today.

Curated by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and making its Japan debut in Yokohama, the exhibition traces how the young queen’s refined taste, from her ornate gowns and glittering jewels to her whimsical interiors at Versailles and the Petit Trianon, established a new mode of sophistication that bridged courtly grandeur and personal fantasy.

Through exquisite dresses, jewellery and furniture from her era, ‘Marie Antoinette Style’ explores the queen’s bold creativity and her role as a forerunner of modern self-expression. It also reveals how her image has been endlessly reinvented in art, cinema and haute couture, from rococo opulence to contemporary runways.

A celebration of beauty, rebellion and individuality, the exhibition invites visitors to rediscover the woman behind the legend – a monarch whose influence still defines the art of style.

Revered for his ability to capture the human condition in all its complexity, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), the Dutch master whose genius extended across painting, drawing and printmaking, revolutionised the medium of etching, transforming it into a vehicle of artistic expression equal to painting. The Leiden native’s mastery of light, shadow and texture, combined with a deep empathy for his subjects, continues to define the essence of the Baroque spirit.

The National Museum of Western Art’s ‘Rembrandt the Etcher: His Challenges and His Impact’ – a special exhibition co-organised with the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam – brings together two notable collections. It traces Rembrandt’s relentless experimentation with etching techniques, revealing how he expanded the expressive potential of printmaking.

The exhibition’s second half explores Rembrandt’s enduring influence on later generations of artists, from Goya and Whistler to Matisse, who rediscovered his innovations centuries later. Featuring artworks as well as rare books and drawings, the display celebrates the timeless impact of Rembrandt’s art and his transformative vision as a printmaker.

Art gallery Ultrasupernew Kura in Higashi is hosting a new exhibition featuring works by artist and illustrator Danilo Kato. Born in Brazil and raised in Japan, Kato’s work reflects the strong influence of both cultures. The exhibition, on display from August 28 to September 25, is a collection of works inspired by a ‘thousand shapes of fantastic creatures spread unchecked in a universe from another dimension,’ creating a dreamlike experience where thoughts, sentiments and memories take on physical form.

Visits are by appointment only on weekdays, while walk-ins are welcome on Saturdays. The exhibition is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Reserve a spot on the official website.

Food is one of the most universal aspects of human life, yet it’s also deeply personal, shaped by memory, place, community and social change. This summer, the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum explores these connections in ‘Tomorrow’s Dining Table’, an exhibition drawn from the museum’s collection of approximately 39,000 photographic and moving-image works.

Bringing together works by fourteen artists, including Rinko Kawauchi, Ikko Narahara, Tokuko Ushioda and Tatsumi Orimoto, the exhibition examines food as a lens through which to consider human relationships and contemporary society. Structured into four thematic sections, it traces the many meanings attached to eating and sharing meals.

The opening chapter focuses on personal and family memories, presenting intimate photographic reflections on everyday dining experiences. ‘Between Food and Place’ shifts attention to the connections between food and local environments, from fishing communities to urban landscapes, highlighting how geography shapes culinary culture.

‘Within the Environment’ addresses pressing contemporary issues, including ecological change, food production and the long-term consequences of environmental disasters. The final section, ‘Tomorrow’s Dining Table’, considers the future of eating in an aging society marked by solitary living and changing social structures.

When the boundless imagination of Pablo Picasso meets the vibrant creativity of Sir Paul Smith, fireworks follow. Picasso (1881–1973), one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, revolutionised modern art with his radical innovations in form and colour. British designer Smith, noted for his playful approach to tailoring and his masterful sense of colour and pattern, brings his unique sensibility to the table, transforming the NACT’s galleries into a dialogue between art and fashion, and tradition and reinvention.

‘Adventure of Playful Spirits’ offers a fresh encounter with approximately 80 works from the Musée National Picasso-Paris. Following the success of the 2023 Paris exhibition ‘Picasso Celebration: The Collection in a New Light!’, this Japan edition invites visitors to rediscover the painter’s creative evolution from his early Portrait of a Man to the tender Paulo as Harlequin, through Smith’s imaginative spatial design.

From colour-splashed walls to whimsical décor, every element of the exhibition reflects Smith’s joyful spirit and his fascination with artistic play. This meeting of two creative giants – one who shaped modern art and another who redefined contemporary design – conjures up a vibrant, immersive world where curiosity, humour and craftsmanship intertwine.

Ron Mueck has long been celebrated for redefining figurative sculpture through extraordinary craftsmanship and emotional acuity. After early work in film and advertising, the Australian-born, UK-based artist emerged on the contemporary art scene in the mid-1990s, gaining international attention with Pinocchio (1996) and Dead Dad (1996-97), the latter exhibited in the landmark ‘Sensation’ show at London’s Royal Academy in 1997.

Over the decades, his meticulously crafted human figures, rendered at startlingly altered scales, have probed themes of vulnerability, solitude, resilience and the fragile complexity of existence. With a rare and limited oeuvre of about fifty works, each sculpture distills months or even years of observation and reflection, resulting in pieces that feel at once hyper-real and quietly enigmatic.

From April 29 to September 23, the Mori Art Museum hosts the artist’s first solo exhibition in Japan in eighteen years. Organised in collaboration with the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, the exhibition gathers eleven works tracing Mueck’s evolution, including six making their Japanese debut. Its monumental centrepiece is the Japan premiere of Mass (2016-17), an immersive installation of 100 giant skulls reconfigured to reflect the museum’s architecture. Other highlights include Angel (1997), Woman with Shopping (2013) and the iconic In Bed (2005), each inviting viewers into a deeply intimate emotional space.

Complementing the sculptures, photographs and films by Gautier Deblonde offer a glimpse into Mueck’s studio practice, revealing the quiet rigour behind some of contemporary art’s most affecting works.

The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo’s summer exhibition centres the café as one of the most vital laboratories of modern art. In late 19th-century Paris, cafés, cabarets and dance halls became informal studios and debating chambers, where artists such as Manet and the future Impressionists exchanged ideas, challenged conventions and distanced themselves from the authority of official salons. Art, for the first time, began to mingle with the rhythms of everyday urban life.

Through approximately 130 works, the exhibition charts how these spaces shaped new artistic sensibilities. Paintings and prints by Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and their contemporaries reveal cafés as sites of pleasure, isolation and observation – places where modernity’s contradictions came into focus. The narrative then extends beyond Paris to Barcelona, where in 1897 the Catalan artist Ramon Casas opened Els Quatre Gats (‘Four Cats’), inspired by Montmartre’s famed Chat Noir (‘Black Cat’). The café became a creative hub for a young Pablo Picasso, whose encounters with its bohemian atmosphere would feed directly into the emotional intensity of his Blue Period.

A particular highlight is Casas’s Madeleine, a masterpiece shown in Japan for the first time in 35 years. Together, the works illuminate how the café functioned as a catalyst for some of the most enduring innovations in modern art.

A visionary who worked along the boundaries between art, design and everyday life, Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Italian design. Rising to prominence in the 1950s through his groundbreaking work for the typewriter and computer manufacturer Olivetti, Sottsass redefined industrial design by infusing functional objects with emotion, symbolism and wit. His restless creative spirit culminated in the 1981 founding of the Memphis Group, an international collective whose bold colours, playful forms and radical aesthetics came to define post-modern design and reshape global visual culture.

‘Design begins where magic begins’ at the Artizon Museum is the first comprehensive retrospective of Sottsass’s work in Japan. Drawing from the Ishibashi Foundation’s extensive collection, the exhibition brings together 112 works spanning the entirety of its subject’s long and prolific career, from early experiments to later, more philosophical creations.

Through furniture, industrial design and conceptual works, the exhibition traces Sottsass’s lifelong challenge to strict rationalism and his belief that design should reflect the emotional and spiritual dimensions of human life. Humour, colour and sensuality emerge as tools with which he sought to illuminate the lived experiences, desires and contradictions of modern society. Offering a rare opportunity to encounter Sottsass’s work in depth, the exhibition reveals a visionary who insisted that true design begins with imagination and magic.

Alongside the rise of humanism, classical mythology regained prominence in 15th- and 16th-century Italy. Stories of ancient gods and heroes were no longer viewed as relics of the past, but were reinterpreted as allegories conveying moral, philosophical and political meanings. As copperplate printing spread across the country, sophisticated images illustrating these tales circulated widely among educated audiences, helping to shape the visual language of court culture.

The National Museum of Western Art’s ‘Myth, Allegory, and Celebration: Print Works and the Courts of Italy from the Renaissance to the Baroque’ explores the rich visual culture that flourished in the courts of Renaissance and Baroque Italy. Showcasing approximately 50 prints from the museum’s collection, the exhibition examines how mythology, allegory and public spectacle became intertwined within the intellectual and political life of the period.

‘Myth, Allegory, and Celebration’ also highlights decorative prints used as models for artists and craftsmen, revealing the role of printmaking in disseminating artistic ideas across regions. Particular attention is given to prints documenting court festivities, especially those of Medici Florence, where mythological imagery, heraldic symbols and elaborate celebrations projected political authority and cultural prestige. 

Through these remarkable works, visitors are invited to discover how printmaking served as a powerful instrument for shaping identity, memory and spectacle in early modern Italy.