“Contemporary Japanese Photography vol.23” at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum; Five Artists Who Assemble Images with Generative AI and Self-Built Devices

“Reassembling: Contemporary Japanese Photography vol.23” is on view in the 3rd-floor gallery of the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (Meguro-ku, Tokyo) from Wednesday, September 30, 2026 to Sunday, January 17, 2027. The participating artists are Sayuri Ichida, Taro Karibe, Zai Nomura, Baku Hashimoto and Asako Fujikura. Focusing on the relationship between photography and video and memory, materials, technology and context, the exhibition introduces the processes by which the artists assemble their works. The list of works includes 34 pieces.

The “Contemporary Japanese Photography” series since 2002, and the 23rd edition’s question

The museum has held its “Contemporary Japanese Photography” exhibitions since 2002. The aim is to support creative activity that takes on the challenges of photographic and video expression, discover promising artists and provide a venue for new creative work. This exhibition is the 23rd in the series.

This time, the starting point is the “visible” and the “invisible” contained in photographs and video, and the wavering boundary between reality and fiction. The museum positions the exhibition as one that asks anew what to believe and how to perceive the world in a daily life where we are often misled about whether information is true or false. The five artists’ methods range widely, from image-generating AI and a self-built stop-motion device to the light of burning photographs and silkscreen printing on blackboards.

What can be seen? The five artists and their works

Zai Nomura: recording the light of burning portrait photographs

Zai Nomura was born in 1979. He completed an MFA at Goldsmiths in 2009 and a doctoral program at Musashino Art University in 2013. He has explored the relationship between “existence” and “memory” through photography, sculpture and mechanical devices. He has shown work at the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale (2025) and the 17th shiseido art egg (2024), among others.

At the center of his presentation are 10 works from the series “How Brightly the Biophotons Shine.” He burned portrait photographs he had collected and recorded the light of the flames with long exposures, outputting the images as UV-curable inkjet prints on glass. The titles carry subtitles such as “(A little sister pointing at the sky, and her 12-year-old older sister gently holding her hand, 1944).” He also shows “Upward” (2026), which uses a gravestone.

Taro Karibe: misusing image-generating AI as a “metaphysical camera”

Taro Karibe was born in 1988. After working in psychology, public health, finance and IT, he began his career as a photojournalist. He treats image-generating AI as a “metaphysical camera” and deliberately misuses it in his work.

He shows 10 works from the series “Shoot the Rock You See in That Sea with Your Bow” (2022–26, inkjet prints). He created glitch noise by causing a poor connection in a television’s receiver, photographed and processed the resulting images, and then fed them into a generative AI’s landscape recognition system. Among artists who bring AI and other new technologies into their work, Emi Kusano’s solo exhibition “End of Nostalgia” opens in Hanno, Saitama Prefecture, on November 14.

Sayuri Ichida: printing fragments of school buildings on blackboards

Sayuri Ichida was born in 1985. She graduated from the photography department of Tokyo Visual Arts in 2006, worked as a studio assistant and then moved to the UK, earning a master’s degree from the University of Westminster in 2022. Through the body and sculptural objects, she explores the nature of emotions. In 2024 she received the UK’s “Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 5.”

“Kūseki (Empty Seats)” (2025) is a series of silkscreen prints on the theme of time spent at school, reconstructing fragments of school buildings using blackboards as the support. Six blackboards measuring 1700 × 1080 mm are on display. According to the museum, this is the first time the installation has been shown in Japan.

Baku Hashimoto: stop-motion filming while carving with a CNC milling machine

Video artist Baku Hashimoto has independently created 3DCG and stop-motion animation, music videos, interactive works and more. In recent years he has also conducted research in human-computer interaction (HCI), with papers accepted at ACM UIST. He received the Tokyo TDC Grand Prize in 2025 and the New Face Award at the 19th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2015.

His new work “Milling Stop-Motion (tentative title)” (2024–) is a two-channel video installation. Using stop-motion filming with a self-built device, it shows the process by which an image emerges. The “CNC stop-motion filming system,” assembled from a six-axis motion control rig, a camera, a milling machine and the stop-motion filming software “Koma,” is also on display. During the exhibition, he works in public at the venue, carving material with the CNC milling machine while shooting frame by frame to complete a single animation. The footage is posted on the artist’s website from time to time during the exhibition.

Asako Fujikura: building an imaginary city with live action, CG and AI

Asako Fujikura was born in Saitama Prefecture in 1992 and lives in Tokyo. Focusing on infrastructure connecting cities and suburbs and the landscapes that accompany it, she has worked mainly in 3DCG animation. In 2025 she took part in the Mori Art Museum’s “Machine Love: Video Game, AI and Contemporary Art” and in the Japan Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

Her work “4 Tales of Open Sunrise City” is a two-channel video installation (24 minutes). Using live-action footage, CG, AI and other means, it constructs an imaginary city and the society within it. Also on display are “Adobe Brick Chair” and the mixed-media work “A Series of Furniture Made of Adobe Bricks and Red Frames, and the Horizon of Origin.”

Artist talks and gallery talks

Talks by participating artists and guests are held in the 1st-floor hall from 14:00 to 15:30. Each has 190 seats and is free. No application is required; numbered tickets are distributed at the 1st-floor information desk from 10:00 on the day (entry in numerical order, unreserved seating). Sign language interpretation and captioning are provided. The upcoming schedule is as follows.

• Sunday, November 1: Taro Karibe × Kazeto Shimonishi (philosopher)

• Sunday, December 13: Baku Hashimoto × Koichiro Tsujikawa (video director)

• Sunday, January 10, 2027: Asako Fujikura × Yoshikazu Nango (sociologist, professor at Hosei University)

Gallery talks by the curator in charge are held on Fridays, November 13 and December 11, from 14:00 (meet at the entrance to the 3rd-floor gallery; with sign language interpretation). A ticket for the exhibition valid on the day, or a document showing eligibility for free admission, is required.

Tickets and prices, with free admission for students on Thursday and Friday evenings in November

Admission is 700 yen for adults, 560 yen for students and 350 yen for high school students and those aged 65 and over. Groups of 20 or more paying visitors pay 560 yen, 440 yen and 280 yen respectively. Junior high school students and younger, and holders of a disability certificate with up to two caregivers, are admitted free. Date- and time-specified tickets can also be bought online through an external site.

From 17:00 to 20:00 on Thursdays and Fridays from Thursday, November 5 to Friday, November 27, discounted prices apply for the special night openings: university and high school students are free, and adults and those aged 65 and over pay the group rate; a student ID or proof of age is required. On the third Wednesday of each month, those aged 65 and over are admitted free, and admission is free for everyone on Saturday, January 2 and Sunday, January 3, 2027.

The catalogue is a modified B5 format and costs 2,420 yen. It includes an essay by Kaho Yamazaki (curator, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum) and statements by the five artists.

Access and opening hours, plus the “Duet” exhibition on the 2nd floor

Opening hours are 10:00–18:00 (until 20:00 on Thursdays and Fridays), with last entry 30 minutes before closing. The museum is closed on Mondays (or the following weekday if Monday is a holiday) and over the New Year period from December 28 to January 1. It is located in Yebisu Garden Place, about a 7-minute walk from the East Exit of JR Ebisu Station and about a 10-minute walk from Ebisu Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line. The museum has no parking of its own.

During the same period, “Duet: Asian Contemporary” is on view in the 2nd-floor gallery. The second installment in a series introducing contemporary photography and video from China and Japan, it features Toshiya Murakoshi, fumiko imano and others (admission 900 yen for adults). From October 31 to November 23, the 50th Kimura Ihei Award Commemorative Photography Exhibition is also held in the B1F gallery. Photography exhibitions and festivals, including those at the museum, are compiled in our [2026–2027] guide to photography exhibitions and festivals.

Overview

Name: Reassembling: Contemporary Japanese Photography vol.23
Dates: Wednesday, September 30, 2026 – Sunday, January 17, 2027
Hours: 10:00–18:00 (until 20:00 on Thursdays and Fridays; last entry 30 minutes before closing). Special night openings 17:00–20:00 on Thursdays and Fridays from November 5 to 27
Closed: Mondays (or the following weekday if Monday is a holiday), New Year period (December 28 – January 1)
Venue: Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, 3F Gallery
Address: Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
Admission: Adults 700 yen, students 560 yen, high school students and those 65 and over 350 yen. Groups of 20 or more paying visitors: adults 560 yen, students 440 yen, high school students and those 65 and over 280 yen. Free for junior high school students and younger, and for holders of a disability certificate and caregivers (up to two)
Organizers: Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture; The Tokyo Shimbun
Sponsor: Tokyo Photographic Art Museum Supporting Members
Official website: https://topmuseum.jp/exhibition/5423/
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Sayuri Ichida, from “Kūseki (Empty Seats),” 2025, silkscreen print on blackboard, collection of the artist ⓒSayuri Ichida (from a press release by the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on information on the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum’s official website (as of October 19, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team