Simose Art Museum

In April 2025, the Simose Art Museum will present its first-ever contemporary art exhibition, Ambient, Environment, Circumstances – The Topography of Contemporary Art.

This commemorative exhibition celebrates the museum’s receipt of the 2024 Prix Versailles, an international architectural award, and features works by nine artists from Japan and abroad.

As an international exhibition highlighting artists with roots in East Asia—including China, Indonesia, South Korea, Myanmar, and Singapore—it brings together Kaori Endo, Riyoo Kim, Daichi Kukita, Sou Suzuki, and MADARA MANJI from Japan; Omyo Cho from South Korea; Zheng Tianyi from China; Muhamad Gerly from Indonesia; and Soe Yu Nwe from Myanmar.

Among the participating artists, MADARA MANJI and Kim Riyoo, both based in Japan, have developed practices grounded in a deep engagement with materials such as metal and clay, continually exploring new approaches to technique and form.

Uncovered Cube #138, 2024

MADARA MANJI reinterprets the traditional Japanese metalworking technique mokume-gane in a contemporary context, creating sculptural works by layering and fusing different types of metal. His forms, which reveal woodgrain-like patterns, combine a powerful sense of material weight with minimalist contours that exert a striking visual pull. He also develops site-responsive installations that explore spatial relationships. For this exhibition, he presents a new outdoor work that incorporates the concept of Shakkei (borrowed scenery), engaging with the surrounding landscape of the museum.

青紫彩線刻青炎入道,2021

Kim Riyoo is an artist who envisions creating ceramic works that could endure for ten thousand years—objects reminiscent of Jomon pottery and ancient artifacts. Harnessing the raw, primal power of clay, his practice questions the meaning and role of form in contemporary art. His work has garnered critical acclaim not only in Japan but also at international art festivals and curated exhibitions abroad.

Simose Art Museum

Set against the backdrop of Simose Art Museum, where architecture and nature blend seamlessly, the exhibition invites viewers to discover how each artist responds to the site through their work.

Exhibition Poster

Exhibition Information

Exhibition Title: Ambient, Environment, Circumstances
– The Topography of Contemporary Art –
Period: Saturday, 26 April - Monday, 21 July, 2025 (Public Holidays too)
Venue: Simose Art Museum
Open hours: 9:30 – 17:00 (Last admission at 16:30)
Closing day: Mondays (Open if Monday is a public holiday)
Admission: adults 2000 [1800] yen / university and high school students 1000 [800] yen / Otake citizens 1500 yen / free for junior high and under
*Rates in brackets indicate group discount for 20 or more people.

Organiser: Simose Art Museum Foundation / Chugoku Shimbun
Cooperation: TAV GALLERY / Living Together Co.
Website: https://simose-museum.jp/en/