"KAIKA Tokyo by THE SHARE HOTELS," a Fusion of Art Storage and Hotel, Announces Winners of "KAIKA TOKYO AWARD 2026" to Discover Talented Artists
KAIKA Tokyo announces the winners of its 2026 talent discovery award.
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- 📰 Published: March 30, 2026 at 00:53
Revita Inc. (Head Office: Meguro-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kazunori Hasegawa; hereinafter "Revita"), which renovates society and lifestyles to create a rich future for you and the environment, has announced the winners of the "KAIKA TOKYO AWARD 2026," an award aimed at discovering talented artists. This announcement was made at "KAIKA Tokyo by THE SHARE HOTELS" (pronounced: KAIKA TOKYO BY THE SHARE HOTELS), a facility in Tokyo's Asakusa area that combines a hotel with an art storage facility for public viewing of artworks.
For this award, Yuuji Akimoto (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University of the Arts) and Hiromi Kurosawa (Specially Appointed Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts) served as judges. From a total of 353 submissions, three award-winning works and twelve selected works were chosen. These 15 works (award-winning and selected) will be stored and exhibited within "KAIKA Tokyo" for approximately two years starting from March 2026.
"KAIKA Tokyo" is a hub for contemporary art, created by renovating a former warehouse building and integrating it with a hotel, publicly showcasing an art gallery's storage (art storage). Through this award, the aim is to create new opportunities for artists by exhibiting their works in a hotel setting, which attracts numerous visitors from both Japan and abroad.
[KAIKA TOKYO AWARD Special Website]https://www.thesharehotels.com/kaika/award/
■About the Award-Winning Works and Judges' Comments
KAIKA TOKYO AWARD 2026 Grand Prize
"Samsara" by Yuki Nagatomo
・Judge's Comment: Yuuji Akimoto
Yuki Nagatomo's "Samsara" is a work that re-examines the nature of the body and life, triggered by her own experience with breast cancer treatment. The perspective of viewing the human body as a collection of atoms and accepting death as a return to nature contains deep contemplation and a sense of quiet acceptance. This work employs the Yuzen dyeing technique, but unlike the vibrant, multi-colored expressions typically associated with it, it is created with a restrained palette based on black and gray. As a result, the lines of the depicted figures stand out even more, creating an expression that strongly emphasizes the presence of the body. We highly commend the way personal experience is sublimated into a universal question of life and death.
・Judge's Comment: Hiromi Kurosawa
On a ground of spreading cool blue, images are boldly yet delicately drawn with black lines, with smaller figures connecting like clouds around a central body image. A unique order and expanse are created, and the clear contrast between the ground and the imagery brings a calm and serene tension to the screen. The repetition of figures reminiscent of halos evokes a high spirituality, conscious of Buddhist paintings...