In October 2023, Kyoto City University of Arts Art Gallery left the location in Horikawa-Oike that it has occupied since 2010 to begin the next chapter in its history as part of the new campus on the east side of JR Kyoto Station. For the inaugural exhibition at its new location, KCUA Art Gallery will hold a solo exhibition by Tsuyoshi Hisakado, a remarkable artist who was born in Kyoto in 1981 and graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts with a degree in sculpture.

In his installation-centered practice, Hisakado draws on his own experience to explore humankind’s relationship with nature and the universe, creating works featuring sculpted objects and intangible phenomena like sound and light inspired by those relationships. With its highly subtle yet rich and deft rendering that conveys a sense of immense phenomena, his internationally acclaimed work appeals to viewers’ physical sensations to stir awareness of the subconscious.

This is Hisakado’s first solo exhibition in Kyoto, the city of his birth and where he remains based. His choice to live in Kyoto, a place away from bustle of the capital and which preserves the memory of human activities from long ago, and then his encounters and learnings from various artists who pursue their work with unique philosophical mindsets at this university that is the oldest art college in Japan have all refined his sensibilities further and deepened his artistic style. Alongside his ability to put together minutely programmed spaces and phenomena, one of the most important elements in his work that gives it an extraordinary sense of tension is his unrivaled skill in shaping things, always engaging with the singular and in-the-moment nature of his practice, as evident not only in the finished works but also the creation process.

This exhibition comprises a large, unique installation especially configured for the gallery space at the new campus. As the title indicates, Dear Future Person, can be interpreted as a grand message from Hisakado as an artist to future individuals in the setting of an art university, a place that attempts to deepen ideas and artistic expression, and understand the world through fresh sensibilities. When we engage with the world of his work, we are each spurred to rethink both our current whereabouts in the present day and what is yet to come.

(Translated by William Andrews)