Latest news with #NakanoshimaMuseum
CNA
12-08-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
Louis Vuitton's Visionary Journeys exhibition in Osaka has over 1,000 objects on display
The immersive exhibition at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka, Japan, celebrates the French luxury house's 170th anniversary as well as its long-running cultural dialogue with Japan. The exhibition runs until Sep 17.
CNA
11-08-2025
- CNA
What does the kimono have to do with Louis Vuitton? A new exhibition in Osaka looks at the Japanese connection
Louis Vuitton recently opened their latest Visionary Journeys exhibition at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka, Japan. The third such exhibition after Bangkok and Shanghai, it celebrates the French luxury house's 170th anniversary as well as its long-running cultural dialogue with Japan. Curated by renowned fashion historian Florence Muller and designed by architect Shohei Shigematsu, the immersive exhibition, which runs until Sep 17, unfolds across 12 thematic chapters. There are over 1,000 objects on display, with around 200 of these specifically related to Japan. The journey starts at the museum's atrium, where eight monumental trunk columns made from monogram washi paper greet visitors. There's also a dome-shaped installation made from 138 trunks covered in different design patterns, both contemporary and from the archives. The show traces Louis Vuitton's origins in the Parisian suburb of Asnieres where founder Louis Vuitton opened his atelier in 1854. He had his heart set on making the finest trunks and the remarkable savoir faire of the artisans in the area attracted him. From this base, he became the official packer and box maker for Empress Eugenie de Montijo, wife of Napoleon III. This section of the exhibition also includes archival images and footage, as well as artist drawings that mark the rise of the brand. The workshop in Asnieres is still very much in operation and the savoir faire, or know-how, continues to be passed down until today. No Louis Vuitton tale would be complete without the mention of flat-top trunks and Steamer bags they made famous. Quintessential travel companions of the well-heeled set of yore, these archival pieces are among the exhibition's highlights. Custom trunks were also popular, and on display at the show are some rugged travel pieces packed with history. These include waterproof zinc and copper trunks that belonged to Claude de Pimodan, a French count who used these on his travels through what Europeans called the Far East. There are also folding beds and desks that explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza once owned, as well as custom picnic trunks that British families took with them on their trips to the countryside. Visitors will do well to spot the then-revolutionary lock system on many of these cases – back in the day, the ingenious system replaced the use of keys and was a gamechanger. As a nod to the brand's long ties with Japan, some of the country's artefacts from the collections of international museums as well as Vuitton's own collection, are also on display. Japanese aesthetics had long had a strong influence on the brand, when the Japonisme movement was in full swing in France from the late 1800s onwards. Gaston-Louis Vuitton, the grandson of Louis Vuitton, collected Japanese art, which informed much of his designs. This can be seen in the Art Nouveau design of the iconic monogram. Incidentally, an original sample of the monogram from 1897 is being exhibited for the first time, after it was rediscovered in the Paris archives. This admiration for Japan during Louis Vuitton's early years was shared by subsequent artistic directors. Nicolas Ghesquiere, Virgil Abloh and Mark Jacobs drew inspiration from all things Japanese, including the kimono, Kabuki theatre and Kendo uniforms. The connection also came in the form of collaborations with contemporary artists such as Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama, as well as designers Kansai Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo and Nigo. In fact, the collaboration with Murakami some 20 years ago kickstarted the mainstream trend of cross-pollinating fashion and art. Other fashion houses subsequently followed suit. And speaking of fashion, one-of-a-kind couture pieces worn by celebrities such as Rila Fukushima, Sophie Turner and Cate Blanchett are showcased in display niches that evoke the dressing rooms at Louis Vuitton's flagship store at the Vendome in Paris. Saving the best for last, there's a gift store at the end of the exhibition, which not only includes exhibition merchandise but also a selection of the brand's latest offerings including bags, small leather goods, jewellery and perfumes.
Japan Times
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Times
What can Kenji Yanobe's cosmic cats teach us about humanity?
On a placid lake at the Nordic-themed Metsa Village park in Hanno, Saitama Prefecture, a giant inflatable feline in a neon-orange spacesuit lies curled on its own island. A peek inside reveals it's a nesting cat doll of sorts, filled with smaller cats diving, napping or painting classical art. Called 'Ship's Cat Island,' this creation of artist Kenji Yanobe can be accessed only via boat and is part of Hyper Museum Hanno's inaugural exhibition of the same name that runs through Aug. 31. Yanobe has been tackling thorny social issues with various lovable characters since the 1990s, and his spacesuited felines will be familiar to those who have visited the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka or Tokyo's Ginza Six shopping complex last year. In front of the former, a cat statue stands as if a guardian, while in the mid-air display titled 'Big Cat Bang' in Ginza Six, two space mousers ride through the lofty atrium on a spacecraft modeled after Tower of the Sun, the postwar artist Taro Okamoto's avant-garde monument for Expo '70 in Osaka. The exhibition 'Ship's Cat Island' at Hyper Museum Hanno also includes an island installation of the same name that features a giant inflatable space cat. | Hyper Museum Hanno The spacesuited cats in Yanobe's art are imagined as products of an eruptive event occurring billions of years ago that sent them hurtling through the cosmos, with some of them landing on Earth. | Hyper Museum Hanno Yanobe has long considered Okamoto an aspirational figure , saying in interviews that he considers Tower of the Sun the measure by which he gauges his own works. According to Yanobe's fantastical mythology, his cosmic cats are an update to Okamoto's 'Tree of Life' theory of evolution portrayed with a sculptural installation inside the Tower of the Sun. Yanobe also says that his felines embody Okamoto's maxim 'Art is an explosion' as they are imagined as products of an eruptive event occurring billions of years ago that sent them hurtling through the cosmos. Some of the alien kitties landed on our planet, specifically Hanno's Lake Miyazawa, as explained in the newly detailed fable presented at the exhibition. From there, they preserved life on Earth through five extinction phases until humans emerged, when they began teaching us cave painting and other art fundamentals. That's the story, anyway. As outlandish as it may seem, like all of Yanobe's wild tales, it serves a purpose: to cultivate what he calls the 'grand fantasies' needed to create a future even while humanity threatens its own existence. Ruins of the future Future fantasies are Yanobe's original source of creativity. The Osaka native grew up in the shadow of Expo '70, predecessor of the world fair that is currently being held in the city 55 years later. Having visited the site after its closure, Yanobe describes seeing its deconstructed pavilions as limitless potential for creation and re-creation. 'It was like a time trip to the ruins of the future,' the artist says. 'I realized there that I could create anything.' Yanobe repeatedly returns to the Tower of the Sun in his work, both physically and metaphorically. In 2003, he reenacted a Vietnam War protester's infiltration of the tower during the 1970 expo. Yanobe, wearing an atomic radiation protection suit, scaled the structure in what he called 'a search for another exit to the future,' a daring feat described in the film "Tower of the Sun Hijacking Project: Special Edition" (2007) and also discussed in a documentary screened at the current exhibition. The artist seems to still be looking for this portal — the theme of living in an untenable world riddled with conflict and environmental destruction is deeply rooted in his art. After 2011, Yanobe, whose art warns of disasters, pivoted to more whimsical expression but with the same message. | Hyper Museum Hanno Early in his career, an accident at the Mihama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture in 1991 started Yanobe down the path of building mecha-like sculptures meant to withstand apocalyptic disaster. 'Yellow Suit' (1991) is a set of lead and steel armor for protection against radiation. Fitted with a Geiger counter, it comes with a matching outfit for a pet dog. 'Survival System Train' (1992-97) is a locomotive unit that can lay its own tracks. Equipped with food, water and oxygen, it is designed as a self-propelling escape device. The culmination of Yanobe's preoccupation with catastrophe was his visit to Chernobyl in Pripyat, Ukraine, in 1997. There he staged a photoshoot documenting himself wandering through the nuclear evacuation zone in an Astro Boy-inspired antiradiation suit — this time created as much for function as symbolism. After returning to Japan, those experiences were embedded in his future artworks. In 1998, he posed for a photo with the Tower of the Sun (still standing in Expo '70 Commemorative Park) in his helmeted Chernobyl costume; he faces the camera with his back to the back of the tower, where a black face representing the past is painted. The image is open to multiple interpretations: perhaps Yanobe is saying with his physical stance that he's looking in the opposite direction, to the future; maybe he's suggesting through the juxtaposition that Okamoto's generation has sent his into exile, toward some brave new world. From survival to revival The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, which saw a triple disaster of earthquakes, tsunami and nuclear plant meltdowns in the Tohoku region, marked an inflection point in Yanobe's career. Disheartened that the warnings of his art had failed to prevent calamity, he decided a new approach was required and shifted his focus 'from survival to revival.' The tone of his works changed as well, from irony-laden grimness to pop-driven cheerfulness. Still, Yanobe insists his message is as serious as ever, it's just the delivery that is different. He says he does not believe that art with a weighty subject necessarily needs to feel heavy. 'If anything, I think that can backfire,' he told The Japan Times at Hyper Museum Hanno last month. 'I want to create accessible works inviting further thought.' Having spent time as a child near the site of the Osaka Expo '70 and playing under Taro Okamoto's Tower of the Sun monument, Kenji Yanobe's work often references Okamoto's work. | Hyper Museum Hanno Collaborations with Japanese lacquer artisans and animators are also on show, and a Roomba-mounted kitty moseys around the room. | Hyper Museum Hanno This stance also seems to be the modus operandi for his current exhibition. Displays include large and small sculptures of the white cat, illustrations (some hand-drawn and others AI-generated), and even an NFT project in which backers can 'return' a Ship's Cat figurine to 'space.' A balloon launch from Oarai Sun Beach in Ibaraki Prefecture is planned for later this summer. Collaborations with Japanese lacquer artisans and animators are also on show, and a roomba-mounted kitty moseys around the room. Outside, a 3-meter-tall Ship's Cat with wings looms sphinxlike in front of the building. 'Ship's Cat Island' also exhibits other characters and their recent iterations. 'Lucky Dragon Concept Maquettes' (2009/24) is a large metal ark alluding to a 1954 incident in which a U.S. hydrogen bomb test near Bikini Atoll hit a Japanese fishing boat with radioactive fallout. Yanobe's ship is filled with several of his self-made icons addressing issues of atomic weaponry and power. Another noteworthy piece is 'Blue Cinema in the Woods' (2006), a set of sculptures featuring Torayan, the character based on a ventriloquist dummy invented and publicly performed by Yanobe's father. Footage of Torayan's adventures plays on a mini theater perched on the back of an aluminum-plated elephant. Anyone curious about the evolution of Yanobian lore and the relationships among his characters should watch the four films about the artist at the exhibition, shown with English subtitles on loop for a total of 120 minutes. Outside Hyper Museum Hanno a 3-meter-tall Ship's Cat with wings looms sphinxlike. | Hyper Museum Hanno There is, however, a nagging contradiction between the message of Yanobe's works –– a stark warning about human-led environmental destruction –– and the questionable sustainability of producing them, many of which are massive metal and plastic objects. NFTs and AI have also generally been criticized for their sizable carbon footprints. 'I think it's about balance,' Yanobe said, explaining that he feels artists with a social conscience do have an obligation to be consistent in how they make their works, but that to truly leave no trace, he would need to abandon his art entirely. 'I want to make work with a broad vision that speaks to but looks beyond its time,' he said. 'I hope its impact will override its imperfections.' 'Ship's Cat Island' runs through Aug. 31 at Hyper Museum Hanno in Hanno, Saitama Prefecture. For more information, visit
