BnA Alter Museum, the art hotel located in Kyoto's Shijo Kawaramachi district, has completed a round of new art room creations and large-scale renovations to mark its seventh year of operation. New rooms by artist Masako Fujikura and an additional room by Mon Koutaro Ooyama have been added, while existing rooms by Akiyoshi Mishima and AOKI Takamasa have been significantly updated. Each space has been designed to balance the stimulation and immersive quality of being surrounded by art with greater comfort as a place to stay.
Art Room Details
Masako Fujikura — "Sunlight Project, Green Steps"
Digital drift through a Green Garden
Room No.: 304 / 404 / 504 / 604
Room Type: Deluxe Quad – 2 Double Beds, Bathtub with Shower, River View
Capacity: 4 | Room Size: 30 sqm
Masako Fujikura's new room "Sunlight Project, Green Steps" quietly conjures the soft sensation of sunlight found in outdoor public spaces — inside a hotel room — through natural light, a stepped structure, and a video work that connects with the view through the window. The act of sitting or lying on the bed, bathed in light streaming through the window, connects to the feeling of leaning against a park curb or a plaza step, creating a sense of being outdoors within the room — an open, settled kind of time.
The room's finish draws on textures and paintwork reminiscent of exterior walls, blurring the boundary between interior and outside. Building on Fujikura's 3DCG color sensibility, vivid greens are rendered in tones that feel comfortable to the body, while red pipes, lighting, and mirrors add a rhythm and visual accent that evoke urban infrastructure. Bed steps, a bench, and mirrors — all simultaneously viewable and physically usable — carry through Fujikura's interest in "sculpture with function," put into practice in a lodging space.
About the artist: Born 1992. Fujikura creates works primarily using 3DCG animation, focusing on the infrastructure that runs across urban and suburban environments and the depth of the surrounding landscape. Recent exhibitions include "Machine Love: Video Games, AI and Contemporary Art" (Mori Art Museum, 2025), "Layered Time: Depicting This World" (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2025), and the Japanese Pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale (2025).
Mon Koutaro Ooyama (#BCTION, DOPPEL) — "NEXTEFX – Abstract Flora – Dawn (901)" / "NEXTEFX – Abstract Flora – Dusk (701)"
360° Immersive Mural & Light
Room No.: 701 / 901
Room Type: Deluxe Quad – 2 Double Beds, Fully Enclosed Shower, Gallery View
Capacity: 4 | Room Size: 30 sqm
Mon Koutaro Ooyama's new art rooms "NEXTEFX – Abstract Flora" pursue Next Effect — a new kind of visual experience. Murals, LED programming, and filtered light respond to one another as the room's entire atmosphere gradually shifts. The "NEXTEFX" series, a core body of work for Mon since 2009, treats murals like sound — experienced through being enveloped by the painting. Where his two previous rooms at this hotel evoke an ancient sky (501) and a midday sky (601), these two new rooms take plant vitality and the energy of flowering as their motif: 〈Dusk〉depicts an evening sky, while 〈Dawn〉captures the morning. The brushwork becomes softer, with more fluidity and space, inviting the viewer's imagination from within that ambiguity. Lying in bed and being surrounded by murals as the light shifts is a stay-in art experience that evokes not intense stimulation but a gentle, nostalgic feeling.
About the artist: A street artist based in Nara Prefecture. Graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts. Formed the live-paint duo "DOPPEL" in 2001. In 2014, organized and oversaw the art project "#BCTION" using a building slated for demolition, now run as a fluid art collective. Also active as a DJ and track maker under the name "Yabugarashi."
Akiyoshi Mishima — "MY ROOM"
Hypnotic Kinetic Vortex Room
Room No.: 302 / 402
Room Type: Deluxe Triple – 2 Double Beds, Bathtub with Shower
Capacity: 3 | Room Size: 30 sqm
Akiyoshi Mishima's art room has been renewed in conjunction with updated artworks, transitioning from a minimal spatial composition to a Japanese-modern interior with a sense of the future. At the center of the room is a phenakistoscope — an early animation device invented in the 19th century — which uses a rotating painted disc viewed through a slit to animate still images, layering scenes of Kyoto into a moving animation. The visual experience is rooted in the body rather than mediated through screens or monitors. Mishima conceived the room as a space for experiencing "dependent origination — the boundary between self and world." The arrangement of the disc and the bed creates a structure for confronting the quality of the overnight time itself, and the changes in consciousness before and after sleep. The images symbolically condense 1,300 years of Kyoto's history and energy into a single frame, unfolding as a "mandala-like" attempt to layer the world on one surface.
About the artist: Born 1978. Joined Enlightenment as a graphic designer in 2001. Began creating artwork from 2006, exhibiting in Japan and abroad at venues including NANZUKA (Tokyo) and Nagel Draxler (Berlin/Cologne). Moved to Nara in 2017. Involved in multiple projects including art collective MuSuHi and Nankai Electric Railway viaduct project Nanigotoya Republic.
AOKI Takamasa — "TRAVELING ROOM"
Audiophile's Listening Room
Room No.: 902 / 1002
Room Type: Deluxe Quad – 1 King Bed, 2 Single Beds, Bathtub with Shower
Capacity: 4 | Room Size: 30 sqm
AOKI Takamasa's art room — an immersive acoustic space designed for audiophiles — has been refreshed with new furniture that evokes speakers and records, along with adjustable lighting. Surrounded by three-dimensional sound imagery, the room has been updated to be more livable while remaining deeply experiential. The room features music recorded exclusively for this space: natural sounds of forests, streams, and seashores recorded at locations across Japan, blended with electronic and instrumental sounds. Particular emphasis is placed on low frequencies and oscillations that resonate with the "pulse of the earth," creating the sensation that the entire space breathes. The system uses a 4.1 surround configuration including two musikelectronic geithain speakers, with the center of the bed positioned as the sweet spot where sound is most three-dimensional. AOKI's consistent focus is on "a sound field experienced by the body" rather than merely listened to — guiding guests toward deep relaxation and a state between waking and sleep. The experience transcends age, nationality, and language.
About the artist: Born 1976 in Osaka. Musician. Since releasing his debut album SILICOM in early 2001, AOKI has maintained an international career centered on live performance, DJing, and composition. Based in Europe from 2004 to 2011, then returned to Japan. Also works as a remixer, producer, mixer, and photographer.
Related Exhibition: "Ecotone of Guest Rooms"
Coinciding with the renovation, BnA Alter Museum is hosting an exhibition featuring past works by the participating artists.
- Artists: Masako Fujikura, Mon Koutaro Ooyama, MuSuHi (Akiyoshi Mishima + Harumitsu Takaoka), AOKI Takamasa
- Period: February 14 – June 14, 2026
- Venue: BnA Alter Museum 1F / 2F
- Admission: Free (open every day during the period)
The exhibition explores the space between art rooms — defined as artworks within a hotel — and artworks shown in an exhibition context, while also offering a broader look at the participating artists' activities to date.
Reservations
Room-specific bookings are available from March 1, 2026.
- Reservations: bnaaltermuseum.com
Access
BnA Alter Museum is located in the Shijo Kawaramachi area of Kyoto.
- Address: 267-1 Tenmamachi, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto
- Access: 6-minute walk from Hankyu Kawaramachi Station / 7-minute walk from Keihan Gion-Shijo Station / 3-minute walk from Kawaramachi-Matsubara bus stop
- Tel: 075-748-1278
- Web: bnaaltermuseum.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/bnaaltermuseum
