From September 3 to December 8, 2025, Tokyo’s National Art Center in Roppongi invites visitors to step through a prism of time and vision in Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010. This exhibition traces two transformative decades of Japanese art, capturing the burst of creativity that followed the end of the Shōwa era and unfolded through the Heisei years.
A first-of-its-kind collaboration between the National Art Center and Hong Kong’s M+ museum, Prism of the Real brings together a global perspective on Japan’s artistic landscape. Opened in 2021, M+ collects and showcases works spanning design, architecture, film, and visual culture of the 20th and 21st centuries—a lens through which the exhibition offers fresh insight into Japan’s own creative evolution.
During a brief visit to M+ earlier this year, I was struck by the way Japanese artists like Yasumasa Morimura and Tatsuo Miyajima sit alongside multi-generational Chinese art, creating unexpected dialogues. M+’s installations of Kisho Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower and Shiro Kuramata’s sushi bar “Kiyotomo” also reveal how architecture can mirror shifts in lifestyle—a reminder that art and daily life are inseparable.
In a world where travel has been limited and perspectives confined, Prism of the Real offers a rare opportunity: to see Japanese art through both local eyes and those from afar, uncovering nuances that might otherwise go unnoticed. Featuring the work of over fifty artists, from Makoto Aida and Miyako Ishiuchi to Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, the exhibition invites viewers to explore, reflect, and rediscover the vibrant pulse of Japan’s art from 1989 to 2010.
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Pure Spectacle! Every Work in the Exhibition Is a Must-See
First, let’s talk about the sheer grandeur of Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010. This exhibition boasts an exceptional lineup of artists. From Takashi Murakami, Shinro Ohtake, Miyako Ishiuchi, and Rieko Shiga to international figures like Christo, Joan Jonas, Dumb Type, Hito Steyerl, and Matthew Barney, the roster combines fame, skill, and influence—true stars who have defined their era.
Featured Artists
Makoto Aida, Matthew Barney, Cai Guo-Qiang, Christo, François Curlet, Dumb Type, Miran Fukuda, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, David Hammons, Pierre Huyghe, Miyako Ishiuchi, Joan Jonas, Emiko Kasahara, Makoto Kawamata, Sachiko Kazama, Akirō Koizumi, Lee Bul, Sharon Lockhart, Tatsuo Miyajima, Mariko Mori, Yasumasa Morimura, Takashi Murakami, Yurie Nagashima, Kodai Nakahara, Masato Nakamura, Yoshitomo Nara, Minako Nishiyama, Shinro Ohtake, Oscar Oiwa, Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Philippe Parreno, Navin Rawanchaikul, Rieko Shiga, Michihiro Shimabukuro, Motohiko Shitamichi, Yutaka Sone, Simon Starling, Hito Steyerl, Thomas Struth, Tsuyoshi Tanaami, Takashi Takemine, Fiona Tan, Yuken Teruya, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Noboru Tsubaki, Franz West, Hito Nishikyo, Chikako Yamashiro, Miwa Yanagi, Kōsuke Yanagi, Kenji Yanobe, Tomoko Yoneda, and related archival materials.
Note: Listed in alphabetical order by surname.
From the official website
Right: Shinro Ohtake, Retina (Wire Horizon, Tangier) (1990–1993), Collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
The works on display include pieces that are emblematic of the artists themselves or pivotal in their careers, such as Kōsuke Yanagi’s Ant Farm series, Kenji Yanobe’s Atom Suit (Protective Gear), and Miwa Yanagi’s photographs inspired by elevator girls.
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
With such a diverse lineup of artists, the exhibition spans painting, photography, crafts, sculpture, installation, and video, creating a dynamic and varied experience. Each work has a striking individuality, giving the overall space an intense, concentrated energy. Every piece on display is a highlight in its own right.
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Early Heisei Art: The Prologue & Introduction
Next, we dive into each chapter of the exhibition, highlighting artists and works that make a lasting impression. Before the first chapter, the Prologue and Introduction set the stage. In the years leading up to 1989, as Japan experienced rapid economic growth, exchanges with international artists such as Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik began to flourish. The gallery displays archival items like the chalkboard Beuys used during dialogue sessions at Tokyo University of the Arts, alongside documents recording Japanese artists’ participation in major international art events such as documenta and the Venice Biennale.
This period also saw artists breaking away from traditional materials, experimenting with everyday objects. Kodai Nakahara’s LEGO, Takashi Murakami’s Polyrhythm crafted from plastic models, and Noboru Tsubaki’s monumental urethane sculpture Aesthetic Pollution are prime examples. Bold in concept and striking in appearance, these works heralded the arrival of a new era in Japanese art.
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
The soldiers are modeled using Tamiya 1/35 American Infantry Figures (Western European Theater).
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
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Confronting the Trauma of War: A Unique Exploration
Chapter 1, Ghosts of the Past, features works related to war.
Immediately upon entering, visitors are struck by Yoshitomo Nara’s deceptively cute figures. His painting of a wide-eyed child bears the title Agent Orange, referencing the chemical weapon used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. The child’s head resembles a soldier’s helmet, and the contrast between the figure’s innocence and the weight of its title evokes a subtle but unsettling tension in the viewer.
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
Continuing along, a brightly colored kimono immediately catches the eye. It is Yui, You-I by Yuken Teruya, dyed using Bingata, a traditional Okinawan technique dating back to the Ryukyu Kingdom. On closer inspection, among auspicious motifs like pine and cherry blossoms, paratroopers descend from the sky, fighter jets and helicopters appear, and even what seems to be a dugong—displaced from its habitat—can be seen. These unsettling motifs, hidden within the beauty of a garment made with traditional techniques, create an eerie tension. The work makes one acutely aware of how such scenes and issues exist within everyday life in Okinawa.
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
Other works in the chapter revisit historical and political issues through contemporary lenses: Makoto Aida’s Beautiful Flag (War Paintings RETURNS) revives war paintings for the present; Tomoko Yoneda’s Japanese House series focuses on Japanese-style residences built in Taiwan during the colonial period; and Simon Starling’s Project for a Masquerade (Hiroshima) reexamines history through sculptures in Hiroshima and Chicago. These works collectively highlight how artists confront and reinterpret historical and political challenges.
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
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Challenging Identity and Gender: Self vs. Other
Chapter 2, Self and Other, brings together works that question identity and gender. While many female photographers emerged during this period, they were rarely recognized as fully fledged artists. Here, the exhibition traces the paths these women forged through their creative practice.
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
Among the striking works by Yurie Nagashima, Emiko Kasahara, Mariko Mori, and Lee Bul, Minako Nishiyama’s monumental installation The Pink House stood out for its commanding presence. Resembling a life-size room from a shōjo manga or a dollhouse, the installation employs pink—a color long associated with femininity and eroticism—to sharply evoke questions of gender. Equally memorable was Sharon Lockhart’s video work Goshogaoka, which captures the disciplined practice of a middle school girls’ basketball team, conveying a subtle, delicate atmosphere that lingers with the viewer.
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
In the following space, works by Miran Fukuda, who references famous paintings in her practice; Yasumasa Morimura, who challenges fixed ideas through Western art history; and Matthew Barney, who produces videos and photographs rooted in Japanese culture, are on display. These artists consciously reflect on the tension between their own identities and the outside world, creating works with distinct perspectives, conceptual concerns, and a unique sense of distance.
Right: Yasumasa Morimura, Bodegon – Vase (1992), Collection of the Artist
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
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Exploring New Connections: Chapter 3 – The Future of Community
In the final chapter, The Future of Community, the exhibition highlights works and projects that explore new forms of connection. Before Instagram existed, Tsuyoshi Ozawa produced the handwritten Nasubi Newspaper via fax; Cai Guo-Qiang carried out community-based projects in Iwaki, Fukushima; and Yu Sone’s Her 19th Foot, a bicycle that appears ordinary but shares a wheel, requiring communication to ride, demonstrates the possibilities of collaborative interaction. The exhibition reveals how communities can emerge outside the logic of the market economy, fostering resilient and inventive forms of exchange.
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
Chapter 3 features particularly dynamic and unique works, with sound, video, and light filling the exhibition space. The chaotic energy of these creative expressions seems to embody the spirit of the era itself.
Created for the exhibition that toured Seoul, Tokyo, and Osaka, the work uses the barber’s pole as its subject. In Korea, however, a brightly colored, rotating pole can sometimes signify a sex-related business.
Exhibition view at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025, from Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
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A Rare Lens on Japan’s Role in Shaping Creativity
1989 was the year of Emperor Shōwa’s passing and the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany, marking the beginning of globalization both in Japan and abroad. The roughly two decades that followed, up until the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, were marked by the collapse of the bubble economy yet relative political stability. At the same time, the spread of the internet and smartphones brought sweeping changes to the quality and quantity of information, as well as to prevailing values.
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (gift of the Foundation for the Promotion of the Van Abbemuseum)
This work was created in response to an invitation by artists Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno, who had acquired the copyright to the Japanese character “Ann Lee” and called on others to produce a series around her. The project points to the conditions of a society increasingly networked through the internet.
Exhibition view of Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010 at the National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025
At the venue, visitors are invited to encounter the work of renowned artists within the broader contexts of their times, seen against the backdrop of society and in dialogue with their contemporaries. Rather than experiencing each piece in isolation, the exhibition encourages reflection on Japan itself as a platform, a fertile ground that enabled artists to create a wide range of works and flourish on an international stage.
The title Prism of the Times captures this approach, vividly suggesting a reexamination of art’s trajectory through intersecting perspectives, an attempt to view it afresh without being bound by fixed narratives of history.
Collection of The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
The red and green digital counters shift from 1 to 9, but never display 0, which represents death, instead going dark. While embodying technology, the work expresses transformation, interconnection, and eternity. It stands as one of the emblematic pieces of this exhibition.
Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
Exhibition view at The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2025
This exhibition also conveys, through art, the direct impact of the social climate of the time and its chemical reactions with other cultures. The official website offers a rich glossary of keywords, while the exhibition space features a detailed chronology. Together they provide a rare opportunity to experience the trajectory of recent Japanese art not only as knowledge but also as sensation, and to reflect on what lies ahead.
Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010
Exhibition Period
September 3, 2025 (Wed) – December 8, 2025 (Mon)
Venue
The National Art Center, Tokyo, Special Exhibition Gallery 1E
7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8558
Closed
Tuesdays (except open on Tue, September 23, public holiday, and closed on Wed, September 24)
Opening Hours
10:00 – 18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays)
Last admission 30 minutes before closing
Admission
General ¥2,000 [approx. USD 13]
University students ¥1,000 [approx. USD 7]
High school students ¥500 [approx. USD 3]
Free for junior high school students and younger
Free for visitors with disability certificate and one accompanying person
Organizers
The National Art Center, Tokyo / M+ / Japan Arts Council / Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Co-organizer
The Nikkei, Inc.
Support
Mondriaan Fonds
Official Website
https://www.nact.jp/exhibition_special/2025/JCAW/
