Omishima Art Museum in Imabari, Ehime is currently hosting "Goen," a 40th-anniversary special exhibition featuring the work of Julien Signolet, a sculptor based in Paris who is active internationally.
The exhibition centers on a space installation and contemporary karesansui (dry landscape) work titled "The Origin of Creation," which the artist created after staying on Omishima from late July 2026, using zelkova wood from Munakata on Omishima and granite from neighboring Oshima. Through this piece, a range of "connections" unfold — between Paris and Omishima, the islands and their people, and people and the artwork itself.
It All Began With a Single Connection
When the artist first visited Oshima and Omishima in the summer of 2024, a "goen" — a bond — formed with the people of the islands. That connection led to this summer's special exhibition at Omishima Art Museum.
Shining a light on this connection with people, and with the cooperation of island residents, the artist used Oshima granite and the sacred tree of Munakata Hachiman Shrine on Omishima as materials, carrying out the on-site work over ten days at Oshima's quarry and the grounds of Munakata Hachiman Shrine.
A "Goen" Linking the Paris Arboretum and Omishima's Contemporary Dry Landscape Garden
The exhibition opens with an art film capturing the current state of "Goen," a sculpture the artist created ten years ago at a Paris arboretum whose form nature continues to reshape. For this project, the artist specially commissioned director Muriel Lacalmontie to produce the film.
This poetic space, transcending time, then extends into the main exhibition hall, connecting to the contemporary dry landscape garden.
The installation's closing work, completing the story of "The Origin of Creation" and its journey, is a set of three family figures carved from the trunk of the sacred tree of Munakata Hachiman Shrine. Using his own direct-carving technique, inspired by Enkū-bori, the artist lets the message of the wood itself emerge.
As a compositional element of his spatial display, he also chose "精樹大楠" (2000), a folding screen by Chinami Nakajima held in Omishima Art Museum's collection. The branches and leaves of the sacred tree of Omishima's Oyamazumi Shrine depicted on this screen merge with the wood carvings, echoing "Goen" at the Paris arboretum.
According to Signolet, the source of creation is "nothingness." The stillness of this dry landscape garden is heightened by sounds that occasionally rise and fade — a collaboration with musician Mathias Durand.
Visitors can experience this "Goen," transcending time and space, at Omishima Art Museum.
Event Overview
- Dates: Thursday, August 13 to Wednesday, September 23, 2026 (Note: the museum will stay open every day during Japan's Silver Week holiday period, September 19–23)
- Venue: Omishima Art Museum, 9099-1 Miyaura, Omishima-cho, Imabari, Ehime 794-1304
- Hours: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (closed every Monday; if Monday falls on a public holiday, closed the following weekday instead)
Exhibition Social Media
- note: https://note.com/omishima_art
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omishima_specialexhibition/
These channels share the story of how Signolet came to hold this exhibition on Omishima, along with interviews with the artist and with people he connected with through "goen."
Julien Signolet
- Website: https://www.signolet.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/signolet_sculpteur/
Julien Signolet has worked from a studio in Paris's 11th arrondissement since 2007 as a direct-carving sculptor, exploring a dialogue with wood and stone on themes of spirituality that bridge East and West. He holds regular exhibitions at Galerie Nichido Paris (8th arrondissement), and has also shown work at museums across France, including the Musée du Revermont (Ain, 2024) and La Cité des Électriciens (Pas-de-Calais, 2024).
In recent years he has expanded into installations that use entire spaces. As a regular participant in Paris's Nuit Blanche festival, he has exhibited in historic buildings such as the Église Saint-Séverin (5th arrondissement, Paris, 2020) and the Église Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles (1st arrondissement, Paris, 2021). His large-scale 2023 installation at the Collège des Bernardins (5th arrondissement, Paris) drew around 10,000 visitors over two months, and this past spring he presented the installation "De la Croix" at the Église Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
In 2023, at the Louvre's Richelieu wing, he presented a three-day sculpture-and-sound performance with longtime collaborator, musician Mathias Durand. He also appeared in "Sola," a performance documentary by film director Muriel Lacalmontie, and created the sculpture featured in the central scene of "Daphné ou la Belle Plante," a work by animation director Sébastien Laudenbach that won the Émile-Reynaud Award at a French film festival — one of many collaborations he actively pursues with artists across a wide range of genres.
At the international contemporary art festival "BIWAKO Biennale" held in autumn 2025, he presented an installation at the Important Cultural Property "Former Nishikawa Residence."
Selected activities in Japan:
- Institut français du Kansai (2013)
- K's Gallery, Ginza, Tokyo (2020)
- "Art Islands Tokyo" contemporary art festival (2019, 2020)
- Yamazoe Tenkodo, Gion, Kyoto (2022, 2025)
- BIWAKO Biennale (Omihachiman, Shiga, 2022, 2025)
Mathias Durand
Mathias Durand is a composer, improviser, singer, and multi-instrumentalist.
Drawing on folk music, electroacoustic music, and Indian classical music (dhrupad), he builds a distinctive musical world through composition and improvisation.
Among his notable past work: he served as music director and performer for James Thierrée's Compagnie du Hanneton on international tours (2020–2024); he composed a series of acousmatic works commissioned by asH! and L'Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, premiered at L'Usine in Geneva, Switzerland (2024); and he composed music for sound installations at Chagall exhibitions in Seoul, South Korea, and Ferrara, Italy (2025–2026). In recent years he has been a core member — on guitar, piano, and bass — of singer-performer Gildaa's concerts.
He has collaborated regularly with sculptor Julien Signolet for more than ten years, including improvised live performances combining sculpture and sound and music for spatial installations.
He is currently working on a new solo album bringing together songs he has performed on stage with guitar-and-vocal and piano.
Muriel Lacalmontie
Muriel Lacalmontie is a film director and contemporary artist.
She has directed numerous advertising films and photographs for major global cosmetics and fragrance brands, including Dior, L'Oréal, Nivea, Dove, Garnier, and L'Occitane, while also producing documentaries and art films on contemporary art and dance and pursuing her own artistic practice. As a contemporary artist, she works across media including drawing and photography in pursuit of expressive, evocative visual work. After graduating from the film school ESEC (École Supérieure d'Études Cinématographiques), she went on to teach there, and has also taught at the Paris graphic design school MJM Graphic Design.
Omishima Art Museum
Omishima Art Museum holds its collection displays under the philosophy of being "a museum that walks and grows together with artists." Its holdings center on early-career works by mid-career and popular nihonga (Japanese-style) painters, alongside works by Imabari-born painter Kyosuke Chinai and sketches and preparatory drawings by Toshio Tabuchi, with a total collection exceeding 1,000 pieces. The museum also holds a strong collection of ukiyo-e prints, offering visitors a wide range of Japanese art. Alongside rotating displays of these collections several times a year, the museum continues to hold special exhibitions drawing on its relationships with artists.
