Akiko Nakayama’s Solo Exhibition “Forms of Foam” at The Museum of Art, Kochi from November 7; Her First Canvas Work, “CHROMA”

Akiko Nakayama, who lives in Susaki, Kochi Prefecture, will hold the solo exhibition “ARTIST FOCUS #06 Akiko Nakayama: Forms of Foam” at The Museum of Art, Kochi (Kochi City) from Saturday, November 7, 2026 to Sunday, January 17, 2027. Nakayama is known for “Alive Painting,” a painterly practice in which she sets liquid paints flowing and shows the traces of their changes. In addition to recent works in the series and documentary footage of past works, the exhibition presents “CHROMA,” a new painting installation using canvas, a first for Nakayama.

Who is Akiko Nakayama? A painter who shows the flow of color as real-time video

Nakayama was born in 1988 and completed the fine arts program in the Faculty of Art and Design at Tokyo Zokei University in 2014. She develops a form of painting in which colors are set in motion and the moments of their change are projected as real-time video. She also collaborates with artists in other fields, such as dance, music and theater.

In recent years she has taken part in media art festivals around the world, including Ars Electronica and MUTEK Montréal. She has shown work in “BVLGARI KALEIDOS: Colors, Cultures and Crafts” (The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025) and “VOCA 2024” (The Ueno Royal Museum, 2024). Her activities cross genres, from providing visuals for the opening sequence of the NHK historical drama “Dear Radiance” (2024) to taking part in the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

What is “Alive Painting”? Capturing with a camera what happens within a few square centimeters

According to the museum, Alive Painting is created as the painter manipulates liquid paint at her fingertips, within an area just a few centimeters square, and captures with a camera the phenomena that arise there. The museum notes that the result is a world of color unimaginable from its actual scale.

Her materials are not limited to paint. Using the physical reactions of materials with distinctive properties, such as melting ice and magnetic fluid drawn by magnets, she creates dynamic abstract images that change from moment to moment. The museum regards Nakayama’s practice, which treats even the time over which matter changes as a medium, as an attempt to fix a vanishing moment in the “here and now” while following the grammar of painting.

Highlight: “CHROMA,” her first work on canvas

The new work “CHROMA” is Nakayama’s first painting installation using canvas. Having worked with flowing paint itself until now, Nakayama here combines oil painting with light from projectors, taking on a form of painting in which colors change over time.

According to the museum, the work focuses on the principle by which “color” emerges from the relationship between light and matter, developing her explorations of light, color and matter in a form different from Alive Painting. The museum describes it as “a work showing new ground for Nakayama as a painter.” In Gallery D, recent Alive Painting works and documentary footage of past works are also shown.

As for the exhibition title, “Forms of Foam (Utakata no Katachi),” the museum asks how forms that shift as soon as they arise can be captured and held.

Why see it now? “ARTIST FOCUS,” a series introducing artists with ties to Kochi

ARTIST FOCUS is an exhibition series introducing artists with ties to Kochi, recommended by the museum’s curators regardless of genre or age, and this is its sixth edition. The curator in charge is Mari Tsukamoto.

In Susaki, where Nakayama is based, the solo exhibition “Akiko Nakayama: Colors That Meet (Aimiru Iro)” will also be held at Susaki Machikado Gallery / Former Miura Residence from Saturday, November 14 to Sunday, November 29 (closed on the 16th and 24th; free admission). During the same period, her work can be seen both at the prefectural museum and in the town where she is based.

During the run, “150 Years after His Death: Ekin Narrating, Ekin Narrated” (until January 11, 2027) is also on view on the museum’s 2nd floor. Visitors can compare, on the same day, the theater-scene screens of a Tosa painter of the late Edo period and contemporary paintings made with liquid and light.

Related events and tickets

An artist talk will be held from 13:30 on the opening day, Saturday, November 7, and a gallery talk by the curator in charge from 13:30 on Saturday, December 19, both in Gallery D on the 1st floor (exhibition ticket for the day required). From 13:30 on Sunday, January 10, 2027, Nakayama and Tsukamoto will hold a cross talk (1st-floor lecture room, free, capacity 50).

There are two workshops. In “Philosophical Dialogue: Unraveling Artworks to Find New Questions,” from 15:00 on Saturday, November 21, the philosopher Tomokazu Baba, professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Hosei University, and Nakayama serve as facilitators. It is open to third-grade elementary school students and older, with a capacity of 10, and an exhibition ticket for the day is required. Telephone reservations open at 10:00 on Sunday, November 8.

From 13:30 on Saturday, January 9, 2027, with Hiroshi Tamura, a maker of Tosa handmade washi, as guest, participants will try “suminagashi” (ink marbling) on Tosa washi. Participation is free with a capacity of 10, and telephone reservations open at 10:00 on Sunday, December 6.

Admission is 400 yen for adults and 280 yen for university students, and free for high school students and younger (groups of 20 or more: 320 yen for adults, 220 yen for university students). The ticket also gives same-day admission to the Yasuhiro Ishimoto Collection exhibition. Opening hours are 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), and the museum is closed from December 27 to January 1. It is a 5-minute walk from the Kenritsu Bijutsukan-dori tram stop on the Tosaden Kotsu line, and there is free parking.

Overview

Name: ARTIST FOCUS #06 Akiko Nakayama: Forms of Foam
Dates: Saturday, November 7, 2026 – Sunday, January 17, 2027
Hours: 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: December 27 – January 1
Venue: The Museum of Art, Kochi, Gallery D (1st floor)
Address: 353-2 Takasu, Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture
Admission: Adults 400 yen, university students 280 yen, high school students and younger free (groups of 20 or more: adults 320 yen, university students 220 yen)
Organizer: The Museum of Art, Kochi (Kochi Prefectural Culture Foundation)
Grant: The Asahi Shimbun Foundation
Cooperation: Ferrotec Corporation, arsaffix Inc.
Special project: Akiko Nakayama: Colors That Meet (Susaki Machikado Gallery / Former Miura Residence, 1-16 Aokimachi, Susaki City, Kochi Prefecture; November 14–29; free admission)
Official website: https://moak.jp/event/exhibitions/artistfocus_06.html
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Exterior of The Museum of Art, Kochi, February 2008 (photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from The Museum of Art, Kochi and information on its official website (as of October 19, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team