e ex to Open BlackBoxKyoto, a New Contemporary Art Video Space in Kyoto

e ex Inc., based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, will launch BlackBoxKyoto, a new space in Kyoto dedicated to contemporary art video. Its opening program, Nao Yoshigai Archives: Hottamaru Biyori, will run from May 22 to July 18, 2026. BlackBoxKyoto reconsiders video works not merely as something to be watched, but as cultural assets that can be revisited, preserved, and passed on. The venue also presents, as a spatial experience, the ideas and practices behind an international content distribution support system that e ex began developing around 2021 and conceptualized further in 2024. The name “BlackBox” expresses a quiet objection to the mythologized white cube. Rather than a bright, open gallery space, it creates a dark box with few places for the gaze to escape, allowing the body to encounter video works directly and making the act of viewing deeper and more private. The venue is an intimate space with around 10 to 12 seats in front of the screen, offering a dense viewing environment distinct from a conventional cinema. The opening program features works by filmmaker and choreographer Nao Yoshigai. Her practice sensitively reveals the relationships between body, time, and space while making visible both the materiality and poetry of the video medium. e ex sees her body of work as one of the clearest expressions of BlackBoxKyoto’s philosophy. Program: BlackBoxKyoto Opening Program, Nao Yoshigai Archives: Hottamaru Biyori Dates: May 22 to July 18, 2026 Venue: BlackBoxKyoto, Taniguchi Building 3F, 171-1 Kashiwaya-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto Hours: 1:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m. Tickets: Three programs, A/B/C, each screened twice; ¥1,500 on weekdays and ¥1,800 on weekends and holidays; complete seat turnover system. Nao Yoshigai was born in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1987. She studied dance at Japan Women’s College of Physical Education and completed a master’s program in media and film at the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. Starting from bodily sensation, she treats the changes that occur in the mind and body when trying to understand the world through the five senses as “dance,” working across film, video, performance, and stage. e ex Inc. was founded in 2020. The startup designs and develops systems for ownership, distribution, and revenue sharing for digital art and immaterial works using information and communications technologies such as Web3 and AI. BlackBoxKyoto is one attempt to open that practice to society as a physical space.