Emi Kusano Solo Exhibition "Ornament Survival"
Artist Emi Kusano will hold her solo exhibition 'Ornament Survival' at √K Contemporary in Shinjuku, Tokyo, from May 16 to June 20, 2026, featuring the Japan premiere of her new AI-generated art series.
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- 📰 Published: April 25, 2026 at 00:00
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Emi Kusano "Ornament Survival" Main Visual
√K Contemporary (Shinjuku, Tokyo) will hold the solo exhibition "Ornament Survival" by artist Emi Kusano from Saturday, May 16 to Saturday, June 20, 2026.
In this exhibition, the new series "Ornament Survival", which was presented at Art Basel Hong Kong Zero10 in March 2026 and generated significant buzz, will make its Japan premiere. This will be an opportunity to enjoy the evolution of Kusano's creation, displaying this series that has further evolved with new works, alongside her signature works such as "Office Ladies".
Kusano is an artist who has built a unique position as one of the pioneers in the next-generation international digital art scene. Even before AI-based expression became widely popular, Kusano trained customized AI with her own images to create artworks, exhibiting them at domestic and international museums such as M+ and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. She has continuously presented works since NFTs began attracting attention as a new form of distribution and reception for digital art, and in recent years, she has expanded her practice beyond those frameworks into expressions that cross the boundary between physical and digital. Her rich creativity knows no bounds, as evidenced by her first presentation of physical sculptures in the digital art sector ZERO10 at Art Basel Hong Kong 2026.
"Ornament Survival", making its Japan premiere this time.
The desire for approval from oneself and others among modern people swayed by information—this overflowing desire is never satisfied and is transformed into resources within the information capitalist society. Emotions are stripped to their surface, datafied, and eventually replaced by technology. This process blurs even the outlines of our existence. Today, as even the admiration for the 1980s-1990s Japanese culture that Kusano grew up with is being lost amid consumption and restructuring, the boundary between reality and fiction is becoming increasingly uncertain.
In this series, Kusano transforms inner anguish and desires into the energy of role models for women living in this era, overlapping with her childhood desire to transform, "surviving = creating" to build a new world of expression.
Please come and experience the new stage of Emi Kusano at this exhibition.
Exhibition Information
Emi Kusano "Ornament Survival"
Dates | May 16 (Sat) - June 20 (Sat), 2026
Venue | √K Contemporary
Address | 6 Minamicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Opening Hours | 13:00–19:00
Closed | Sunday, Monday
Organizer | √K Contemporary
Cooperation | Tsubasa Koshide, Matsui Mfg. Co., Ltd., Tomoya Kishimoto, Kensho Tambara, Eriko Kimura
Printing | FLATLABO
Exhibition web | https://root-k.jp/exhibitions/emi-kusano_ornamentsurvival/
*Please check the gallery website and SNS for the latest information.
Comment by Kensho Tambara (Curator)
The stylized female figures that repeatedly appear in Emi Kusano's works—1980s Japanese pop idols, magical girls, nurses, and receptionists—are more than just images constituting the visual culture of that time. For many girls growing up in Japan in the 1990s, they were concrete models for envisioning transformation, visibility, and agency; at the same time, these images were inseparable from the femininity formed in the male-centric post-bubble society, accompanied by norms regarding appearance, desirability, and behavior. As narratives of girls transforming became widespread, represented by 'Sailor Moon', these images showed the possibility that 'girls can become someone', yet remained strongly tied to existing norms of how femininity should look and behave.
What is addressed in the new work "Ornament Survival" is this tension. Kusano herself states that while she grew up attracted to these images, she now recognizes in retrospect that they were shaped by gender norms and the male gaze. In this work, which starts from a position where attachment and discomfort overlap internally rather than criticizing from a distance outside, Kusano returns not to abstract typologies, but to the visual environment itself that was deeply involved in the formation of her self-image. It was also the place where concepts like transformation, femininity, and agency were first encountered as concrete lived experiences.
At the center of this work, using Kusano's own body image, multiple self-images...
√K Contemporary (Shinjuku, Tokyo) will hold the solo exhibition "Ornament Survival" by artist Emi Kusano from Saturday, May 16 to Saturday, June 20, 2026.
In this exhibition, the new series "Ornament Survival", which was presented at Art Basel Hong Kong Zero10 in March 2026 and generated significant buzz, will make its Japan premiere. This will be an opportunity to enjoy the evolution of Kusano's creation, displaying this series that has further evolved with new works, alongside her signature works such as "Office Ladies".
Kusano is an artist who has built a unique position as one of the pioneers in the next-generation international digital art scene. Even before AI-based expression became widely popular, Kusano trained customized AI with her own images to create artworks, exhibiting them at domestic and international museums such as M+ and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. She has continuously presented works since NFTs began attracting attention as a new form of distribution and reception for digital art, and in recent years, she has expanded her practice beyond those frameworks into expressions that cross the boundary between physical and digital. Her rich creativity knows no bounds, as evidenced by her first presentation of physical sculptures in the digital art sector ZERO10 at Art Basel Hong Kong 2026.
"Ornament Survival", making its Japan premiere this time.
The desire for approval from oneself and others among modern people swayed by information—this overflowing desire is never satisfied and is transformed into resources within the information capitalist society. Emotions are stripped to their surface, datafied, and eventually replaced by technology. This process blurs even the outlines of our existence. Today, as even the admiration for the 1980s-1990s Japanese culture that Kusano grew up with is being lost amid consumption and restructuring, the boundary between reality and fiction is becoming increasingly uncertain.
In this series, Kusano transforms inner anguish and desires into the energy of role models for women living in this era, overlapping with her childhood desire to transform, "surviving = creating" to build a new world of expression.
Please come and experience the new stage of Emi Kusano at this exhibition.
Exhibition Information
Emi Kusano "Ornament Survival"
Dates | May 16 (Sat) - June 20 (Sat), 2026
Venue | √K Contemporary
Address | 6 Minamicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Opening Hours | 13:00–19:00
Closed | Sunday, Monday
Organizer | √K Contemporary
Cooperation | Tsubasa Koshide, Matsui Mfg. Co., Ltd., Tomoya Kishimoto, Kensho Tambara, Eriko Kimura
Printing | FLATLABO
Exhibition web | https://root-k.jp/exhibitions/emi-kusano_ornamentsurvival/
*Please check the gallery website and SNS for the latest information.
Comment by Kensho Tambara (Curator)
The stylized female figures that repeatedly appear in Emi Kusano's works—1980s Japanese pop idols, magical girls, nurses, and receptionists—are more than just images constituting the visual culture of that time. For many girls growing up in Japan in the 1990s, they were concrete models for envisioning transformation, visibility, and agency; at the same time, these images were inseparable from the femininity formed in the male-centric post-bubble society, accompanied by norms regarding appearance, desirability, and behavior. As narratives of girls transforming became widespread, represented by 'Sailor Moon', these images showed the possibility that 'girls can become someone', yet remained strongly tied to existing norms of how femininity should look and behave.
What is addressed in the new work "Ornament Survival" is this tension. Kusano herself states that while she grew up attracted to these images, she now recognizes in retrospect that they were shaped by gender norms and the male gaze. In this work, which starts from a position where attachment and discomfort overlap internally rather than criticizing from a distance outside, Kusano returns not to abstract typologies, but to the visual environment itself that was deeply involved in the formation of her self-image. It was also the place where concepts like transformation, femininity, and agency were first encountered as concrete lived experiences.
At the center of this work, using Kusano's own body image, multiple self-images...