“Seeds and Roots: Cultivating the City” at Tokyo Opera City Until December 20: Ten Artists from Art, Architecture and Fashion

The exhibition “Seeds and Roots: Cultivating the City” opened at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (Hatsudai, Tokyo) on Saturday, October 17, and runs until Sunday, December 20. Through works by ten artists in contemporary art, architecture and fashion, it considers how city dwellers who live surrounded by artificial things can restore their connection with nature. According to the organizers, many new works made for the exhibition are on display. Open 11:00–19:00; closed on Mondays. Admission is ¥1,800 for adults and free for junior high school students and younger, and the concurrent collection exhibition and “project N” can be seen with the same ticket.

Thinking from the ecosystems that arise in the city’s “gaps”

According to the organizers, the exhibition looks at the new ecosystems that appear in the gaps of the city. At a time when the boundary between natural and artificial environments is becoming blurred, it seeks a way of living that neither resists change nor returns to the past, but gradually accepts change, like a seed that puts down roots and draws nourishment wherever it falls. Through the works, it aims to reawaken the feel of soil and bodily sensations.

The gallery lists the following four highlights.

• Artists from different fields, including contemporary art, architecture and fashion, take everyday activities such as “living,” “wearing,” “eating” and “excreting” as starting points to reconsider the relationships among the city, nature and people

• An exhibition layout in which works connect loosely, like a community garden, to form a single landscape

• Numerous new works made for the exhibition on the theme of connection with nature

• Performances and artist talks held in the galleries during the exhibition

The exhibition uses Galleries 1 and 2.

Ten artists, from painters to an architect and a fashion designer

The ten participating artists are as follows. Years and places of birth are according to the organizers’ announcement.

• Yuriko Asano (born 1990, Miyagi Prefecture): Paints regional food cultures and the uses of plants, together with inherited wisdom

• Rui Itasaka (born 1993, Hyogo Prefecture): An architect who designs so as to harmonize fragments of the surrounding environment. Her works include “Hanmugi Hat” on Awaji Island (2019, co-designed with Tetsuo Nishizawa)

• Aya Imamura (born 1982, Aichi Prefecture): Creates watercolor collages and encaustic works using beeswax, with flowers as a motif

• Yasutaka Iwana (born 1987, Mie Prefecture): Based in the Iga region, he paints the nature and memories of daily life in depopulating villages, and also collaborates with local residents and a compost plant

• Mika Kato (born 1975, Mie Prefecture): Living with her family in a small wood, she expresses affection for nature and living things in her work

• Yoko Utenahara (born 1989, Chiba Prefecture): Turns everyday scenery and urban nature into textile works by tufting wool

• Akane Saijo (born 1989, Hyogo Prefecture): Creates sculptures focusing on the hollow spaces inside ceramics and glass, and performances in which the body responds to them

• Hatsune Suzuki (born 1995, Kanagawa Prefecture): Makes works by processing natural materials such as Jerusalem artichoke stems, sand, soil and lime from shells

• Takeo Hora (born in Shiga Prefecture, based in Chiba Prefecture): Through repeated fieldwork, places living things, non-living things and humans on the same plane

• Yoshikazu Yamagata (born 1980, Tottori Prefecture): Head of the fashion label “writtenafterwards,” he presents works focused on circulation that recombine used clothing and natural materials

Performances and talks during the exhibition

Performances and talks will be held in the galleries during the exhibition. All require a same-day exhibition ticket, and the talks are in Japanese only.

• Saturday, November 7, 16:00–16:30: Performance by Akane Saijo. Five performers interact through Saijo’s ceramic works and carry out joint tasks such as watering the plants of Takeo Hora’s work “home” (no reservation required)

• Saturday, November 21, 15:00–16:00: Artist talk by Yasutaka Iwana (capacity 30; online registration on a first-come, first-served basis from October 23)

• Saturday, December 5, 15:00–16:00: Artist talk and performance by Rui Itasaka and Kaitaro Kai (capacity 30; online registration on a first-come, first-served basis from October 23)

• Sunday, December 6, 13:00–14:00: A roving performance through the venue by Takeo Hora (no reservation required)

• Thursdays, November 12, November 26 and December 10, 14:00–14:30: Gallery talks by curators (no reservation required)

Admission, tickets and hours

Opening hours are 11:00–19:00 (last entry 18:30). The gallery is closed on Mondays; it is open on Monday, November 23 (national holiday) and closed the following day, Tuesday the 24th.

Admission is ¥1,800 for adults and ¥1,100 for university and high school students. Junior high school students and younger, and holders of a disability certificate or similar with one companion, are free. Discounted prices (¥1,600 for adults, ¥900 for university and high school students) apply to groups of 15 or more and others. Discounts cannot be combined, and tickets are non-refundable. Admission includes the concurrent Collection Exhibition 088, “Autumn Landscapes from the Terada Collection,” and “project N 104: Ai Tanaka.”

No advance reservation is needed, and tickets can be bought at the venue reception or online (e-tix). The gallery’s visitor information asks visitors to generally refrain from photography and sketching in the galleries (this varies by exhibition).

The venue is on the 3rd floor of Tokyo Opera City Tower, within a 5-minute walk from the east exit of Hatsudai Station on the Keio New Line, which is directly connected to the Tokyo Opera City Building.

Frequently asked questions

Isn’t the Dan Graham exhibition being held?

The gallery originally planned the exhibition “Dan Graham” for this period and announced it in its fiscal 2026 exhibition schedule released in December 2025. In June 2026, however, it announced that the exhibition had been canceled “due to various circumstances.” This exhibition is being held in the same period.

Do I need a reservation?

No. You can buy same-day tickets at the venue reception or online.

Can I also see the concurrent exhibitions?

With the same ticket, you can see Collection Exhibition 088, “Autumn Landscapes from the Terada Collection,” and “project N 104: Ai Tanaka.”

How do I take part in the events?

The performances on November 7 and December 6 and the curators’ gallery talks require no reservation; a same-day admission ticket is enough. The talks on November 21 and December 5 have a capacity of 30, and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis through the online form provided by the gallery.

Editor’s perspective

A distinctive feature of this exhibition is that, rather than lining up works one by one, it advocates an “organic exhibition layout” in which works respond to one another like a community garden. It treats the galleries as a single ecosystem, and which works are placed next to which, and how they appear connected, become clues to interpreting the theme. The performances during the exhibition also set relationships between works and between works and bodies in motion within the galleries, with performers interacting through works and watering the plants in another artist’s work.

The lineup of participants also goes beyond the bounds of fine art. With architect Rui Itasaka and fashion designer Yoshikazu Yamagata, the exhibition considers the city through units of daily life such as “living” and “wearing.” At 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT in Roppongi, Tokyo, “Learning from Hojoki: Small Architecture That Reweaves Living,” directed by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, presents an attempt to reweave daily life through small architecture (our article on the Learning from Hojoki exhibition). The methods differ, but the perspective of reexamining the city from the unit of daily life overlaps, and seeing the two exhibitions together gives the issues more depth.

The venue is a gallery inside a complex that also houses a concert hall and other facilities. The very experience of confronting works about soil and roots in a place surrounded by artificial environments resonates with the exhibition’s question. Incidentally, the exhibition originally planned for this slot was devoted to Dan Graham, who was active on many fronts, with works in the form of magazine advertisements, photography, video, architectural sculptures and criticism. Major autumn and winter exhibitions are also introduced in our 20 recommended exhibitions in Tokyo, and contemporary art exhibitions in our guide to contemporary art exhibitions.

Exhibition overview

Title: Seeds and Roots: Cultivating the City
Dates: Saturday, October 17 – Sunday, December 20, 2026
Hours: 11:00–19:00 (last entry 18:30)
Closed: Mondays (open Monday, November 23, national holiday), Tuesday, November 24
Venue: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (Galleries 1 and 2)
Address: Tokyo Opera City Tower 3F, 3-20-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Admission: Adults ¥1,800; university and high school students ¥1,100; free for junior high school students and younger (discounted prices: adults ¥1,600, university and high school students ¥900). Includes the concurrent Collection Exhibition 088 and project N 104
Organizer: Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation (sponsor: Nippon Life Insurance Company; cooperation: Sogo Bussan Co., Ltd.)
Official website: https://www.operacity.jp/ag/exh303/
*Information as of October 30, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: The Galleria at Tokyo Opera City (Photo: Edomura no Tokuzo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press releases from the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (June 8, July 31 and October 14, 2026) and information from its official website (exhibition page, visitor information and access).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team