Yuko Mohri’s “Recompose” at Yokohama Museum of Art Until November 23; Homecoming Exhibition from the Venice Biennale Japan Pavilion

“Yuko Mohri: Recompose – The Homecoming Exhibition of the Japan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale” is on view at the Yokohama Museum of Art (Nishi-ku, Yokohama). The venue is Gallery 9, and it runs until Monday, November 23 (national holiday). Yuko Mohri represented the Japan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 with the solo exhibition “Compose.” This homecoming exhibition reconstructs that presentation in a glass-walled gallery newly created during the museum’s renovation. It opened on Friday, July 24, and admission is free.

Why a homecoming exhibition in Yokohama?

According to the Yokohama Museum of Art’s press materials (June 16, 2026), homecoming exhibitions of the Venice Biennale Japan Pavilion are usually held at the Artizon Museum in Kyobashi, Tokyo. This time, it was realized at the Yokohama Museum of Art in Kanagawa Prefecture, where Mohri was born. In 2024, Mohri held “Jam Session: The Ishibashi Foundation Collection × Yuko Mohri, On Physis” at the Artizon Museum. For Ei Arakawa-Nash, who represented the Japan Pavilion at the 61st edition in 2026, a homecoming exhibition is scheduled to open at the Artizon Museum on June 19, 2027 (our article on the 61st Venice Biennale).

The Yokohama Museum of Art closed for more than three years from 2021 for its first major renovation since opening and fully reopened on February 8, 2025. At that time, Gallery 8 and Gallery 9, which can be visited free of charge, were newly created. Gallery 9 is a glass-walled gallery that passersby can look into from outside, and the museum describes this exhibition as the first special exhibition held there. The space takes in the ever-changing scenery and light of the park in front of the museum (Art Plaza).

The exhibition is organized by the Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama Arts Foundation) and Melco Group Inc. Cooperators include Sook-Kyung Lee, curator of the Japan Pavilion exhibition, Yutaka Kikutake Gallery and JA Yokohama.

What was “Compose,” the Japan Pavilion exhibition in Venice?

According to the Japan Foundation’s press materials (April 16, 2024), the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia ran from April 20 to November 24, 2024. Its overall theme was “Foreigners Everywhere,” and its artistic director was Adriano Pedrosa, artistic director of the São Paulo Museum of Art. The commissioner of the Japan Pavilion was the Japan Foundation, which has organized the Japan Pavilion since 1976.

The curator was Sook-Kyung Lee, then director of the Whitworth at the University of Manchester in the UK; according to the foundation, she was the Japan Pavilion’s first non-Japanese curator. In her curatorial notes, Lee explained the original meaning of “compose” as “to put together.” The exhibition asked what it means for scattered people to be placed together and to dwell together in a world facing division and conflict.

Most of the materials were sourced locally, and Mohri worked in the Japan Pavilion for about two months before the opening. According to the foundation’s materials, “Moré Moré” dealt with water leaks deliberately caused in the Japan Pavilion by means of everyday items gathered from secondhand shops and flea markets around Venice, with the branching water circulated by pumps. In “Decomposition,” electrodes were inserted into fruit collected from greengrocers and farmers, converting changes in moisture content into sound and light.

What can be seen? “Moré Moré” and “Decomposition”

The exhibition consists of two series: “Moré Moré (Leaky)” and “Decomposition.” “Moré Moré” is a sculpture series Mohri has pursued for more than 10 years. Inspired by the frequent water leaks in Tokyo subway stations and by station staff dealing with them using whatever tools are at hand, it forms improvised water circulation systems out of various everyday items.

In “Decomposition,” fruits placed on tables decay over time. Through electrodes inserted in the fruit, irregular sounds and light arise from changes in the moisture content inside.

The exhibition page carries the artist’s statement (July 2026). According to it, the more than 400 pieces of fruit used in Venice turned into leaf mold over several months in a large compost container left on the pilotis of the Japan Pavilion after the Biennale closed. At the end of March 2025, the leaf mold was spread under the slope of the Japan Pavilion and in the garden in front of the German Pavilion. The fruit had been donated by a greengrocer near the Giardini after the artist heard that unsold produce would be thrown away.

The installation, shipped from Venice to Japan and stored for a time, is “recomposed” in the glass-walled gallery in Yokohama. In her statement, Mohri writes that the work will likely take on a new form as it responds to the rhythms of a different country and environment.

Who is Yuko Mohri? International exhibitions and awards

Yuko Mohri was born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1980. According to the Yokohama Museum of Art’s artist profile, she creates installations and sculptures that combine ready-made objects and self-made devices, focusing on events that change with the environment.

In recent years she has had a series of solo exhibitions abroad. In 2025 she held “Entanglements” at Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan, followed in 2026 by a solo exhibition of the same title at Centro Botín in Santander. Also in 2025, she held “Piano Solo: 12th January, 1900” at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul, and in 2024 “Moré and Moré” at the Aranya Art Center in Qinhuangdao.

At international exhibitions, she took part in the 34th Bienal de São Paulo (2021), the 23rd Biennale of Sydney (2022) and the 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023). Her awards include the Nissan Art Award Grand Prix (2015) and the Kanagawa Culture Award Future Prize (2016). She received the 67th Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts (New Face Award) in 2017 and the Calder Prize in 2026.

In Japan, she is listed among the artists in Gallery 4, “Laboratory of Inheritance,” in the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa’s last special exhibition before its closure, “From Today to Tomorrow”, which opened on October 31. Her name also appears in the list of participating artists of the Boso Triennale (Art × Mix 2027), which opens on March 6, 2027.

Admission, opening hours and access

Admission is free. Opening hours are 10:00–18:00, with last entry 30 minutes before closing, and the museum is open until 20:00 on November 2, 7, 14, 20, 21 and 22. It is closed on Thursdays but open on November 19. At the same museum, the paid special exhibition “Marie Antoinette Style” is also on view until November 23.

The Yokohama Museum of Art is at 3-4-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama. It is a 3-minute walk from Exit 3 of Minatomirai Station on the Minatomirai Line via MARK IS Minatomirai (Grand Galleria). From Sakuragicho Station on the JR and Yokohama Municipal Subway lines, it is a 10-minute walk using the moving walkway.

Overview

Name: Yuko Mohri: Recompose – The Homecoming Exhibition of the Japan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale
Dates: Friday, July 24 – Monday, November 23 (national holiday), 2026
Hours: 10:00–18:00 (until 20:00 on November 2, 7, 14, 20, 21 and 22; last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Thursdays (open on November 19)
Venue: Yokohama Museum of Art, Gallery 9
Address: 3-4-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture
Admission: Free
Organizers: Yokohama Museum of Art (Yokohama Arts Foundation), Melco Group Inc.
Cooperation: Sook-Kyung Lee, Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, Minatomirai Line, JA Yokohama, Koma Iketani
Official website: https://yokohama.art.museum/exhibition/202607_mohriyuko/
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Main visual of Yuko Mohri’s “Recompose” (from a press release by the Yokohama Arts Foundation)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from the Yokohama Museum of Art (June 16, 2026) and information on its official website, as well as press materials from the Japan Foundation (April 16 and July 4, 2024).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team