From September 16 (Wed) to November 8 (Sun), 2026, POLA MUSEUM ANNEX in Ginza, Tokyo, presents "Invisible Garden," a two-person exhibition by artist Asami Kiyokawa and sculptor Kohei Nawa.
The exhibition takes shape around the publication of Kiyokawa's book Mienai Niwa – Invisible Garden. In an age when information flows without pause and the boundaries between reality and the virtual, nature and the artificial, can no longer be clearly defined, "Invisible Garden" depicts a "niwa" (garden) as a landscape where countless tangible and intangible things — droplets, spores, microorganisms, plants and animals, human memory and time, dreams, and imagination — quietly breathe.
This marks the first two-person exhibition by Kiyokawa and Nawa. Within the exhibition space, each artist's work retains its own presence while resonating with the other, forming an organic whole. Stories woven through Kiyokawa's embroidery and images covered and transformed by Nawa's cells — their colors and outlines quietly emerging within a space unified in white — loosely connect to reveal a single "niwa."
At the center of the exhibition is a new large-scale collaborative work approximately nine meters wide, PixCell-Our New World. Kiyokawa composed the base image (Our New World) from fragments of landscape photographs and AI-generated imagery, which Nawa then covered with transparent cells, causing the image to flicker faintly as it repeatedly divides and unites. The result is a new landscape born where the two artists' expressions intersect. The exhibition also includes new works such as "PixCell-Random," a recent development of Nawa's signature "PixCell" series, and Kiyokawa's "Serendipity."
As visitors move through the space, they layer these fragmentary images over their own memories and senses, gathering traces of the life hidden within. A "niwa" is not a finished landscape but a sensory place that arises where the world and people meet. Through the resonance between the works and the space, "Invisible Garden" slowly nurtures a different "invisible garden" within each visitor's heart.
During the exhibition period, works are also on view at the ground-floor store POLA GINZA, in addition to the third-floor gallery. An installation built around motifs of plants and droplets unfolds there, connecting the two spaces through the world that spreads from Kiyokawa's book — inviting visitors to wander between them and encounter new discoveries and dialogue at every step.
Exhibition Overview
- Title: Asami Kiyokawa | Kohei Nawa "Invisible Garden"
- Dates: September 16 (Wed) to November 8 (Sun), 2026 (open every day during the exhibition)
- Hours: 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM (last entry 6:30 PM); opens at 10:00 AM only on November 6 (Fri) to 8 (Sun)
- Admission: Free
- Venue: POLA MUSEUM ANNEX (POLA Ginza Building 3F, 1-7-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061)
- Official website: http://www.po-holdings.co.jp/m-annex/
- Organizer: POLA ORBIS Holdings Inc.
- Cooperation: ASAMI inc., Sandwich Inc.
Related Program
The exhibition also takes part in Art Week Tokyo 2026. For details, visit the official Art Week Tokyo website at https://www.artweektokyo.com/.
Details are subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances. Please check the gallery's website for the latest information before visiting.
About the Artists
Asami Kiyokawa
Contemporary artist / art director
Born on Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture, and based in Tokyo. Starting from her original approach of embroidering photographs, magazines, fabric, and books, Kiyokawa creates work around the theme of "making the invisible visible." In recent years she has explored memory, mythology, nature, and imagination in the age of AI, working across flat works, installations, public art, video, and publishing.
Her representative works include the series "Our New World," "Dream Time," and "Serendipity." She has held numerous exhibitions in Japan and abroad, including the large-scale public artwork Our New World (Toranomon) at Toranomon Hills Station. She is also active in education, giving special lectures at Osaka University of Arts and taking part in creative projects with children and regional cultural initiatives.
She has illustrated books including Kenji Miyazawa's Night on the Galactic Railroad, and is the author of works such as 千年後の百人一首. In 2026, she plans to publish a new book, Mienai Niwa – Invisible Garden.
Kohei Nawa
Sculptor / director of Sandwich Inc. / professor at Kyoto University of the Arts
Born in 1975 and based in Kyoto. Nawa completed his doctoral degree in sculpture at Kyoto City University of Arts graduate school in 2003 and founded "Sandwich" in 2009. Focusing on the sculptural "skin" as an interface that connects to the senses, he continues to create around the concept of cells — at once biological cells and small granular forms — flexibly reinterpreting the definition of sculpture and generating perceptual experiences that open up the physical qualities of materials to viewers.
In recent years he has also worked on architectural projects such as the art pavilion 洸庭. Since 2015, he has collaborated with Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet on the performance works VESSEL, Mist, Planet [wanderer], and Mirage. In 2018, he presented a special exhibition of his sculpture Throne inside the Pyramid at the Louvre Museum in France, and in 2023 permanently installed the outdoor sculpture Ether (Equality) on Île Seguin on the Seine River in France.
His recent solo exhibitions include "Sentient" (SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo, 2025) and "Photon Camp" (Pace Gallery, Los Angeles, 2026).
