Explore the vision and legacy of Japanese designer and creative director NIGO – from street style to music and beyond, in the first UK exhibition showcasing his multifaceted creative work, alongside vintage objects and traditional crafts from his personal collection.

From the back streets of Harajuku, Tokyo, to the global stage, this is the first-ever museum retrospective exhibition outside of Japan that charts the career and life of the Japanese creative director, NIGO, one of the first creatives to bridge the worlds of streetwear and luxury fashion. Over a 30-year career, NIGO has helped define some of the most influential trends in contemporary fashion, successfully crossing fashion, music, architecture and interior design.

This landmark exhibition features over 700 objects, with highlights including a recreation of NIGO’s teenage bedroom, rare designs, ceramics hand-thrown by NIGO himself, and a life-size glass tea house made especially for the exhibition. His work draws on influences spanning vintage Americana, streetwear, hip-hop, traditional Japanese craft and growing up in 1980s Tokyo.

Working across street style, fashion, music, and more, NIGO has been behind some of the most influential designs, ideas and trends in recent streetwear and fashion history. From founding his first fashion brand, A Bathing Ape, in the ‘90s to his current role as artistic director of KENZO, his impact remains as wide-reaching and relevant as ever.

The exhibition gives visitors a glimpse into NIGO’s world, from his personal collection of vintage clothing and objects to his close network of collaborators, and showcases his practice and ability to draw on wide-ranging disciplines and cultural references, which have given rise to some of the most iconic brands.

A major exhibition reframing the history of Japanese photography through the voices and lenses of 27 women working from the 1950s to today.

This landmark exhibition rewrites the story of Japanese photography through the eyes of women. Japanese Women Photographers spotlights the work of 27 groundbreaking artists, from the 1950s to today, whose perspectives have shaped how Japan sees itself, and how it is seen by the world.

Spanning identity, pop culture, fashion and everyday life, the exhibition celebrates internationally renowned Japanese women photographers, alongside those who have long been overlooked. The result is a powerful rebalancing of a history too often told through a single, male-dominated lens. 

From pioneering figures of the post-war era to today’s most daring and experimental voices, the exhibition takes over The Photographers’ Gallery this summer with more than 200 photographs, videos, installations and rare photobooks. Together, Japanese Women Photographers is a vivid, intimate and expansive portrait of Japan, revealing how women artists have challenged conventions, captured social change and redefined photography across generations.

A landmark collaboration between the V&A and the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane.

Rising Voices offers an unparalleled view of the Asia Pacific region’s dynamic creative landscape. Foregrounding First Nations perspectives and diverse artistic approaches, the exhibition features rare works by over 40 pioneering creatives.

A multimedia exhibition from the Taiwanese artist, serving up both humour and societal critique to explore themes of urban life and technological advancement.

The exhibition brings together four works by Musquiqui Chihying, showcasing his imaginative, idiosyncratic and quietly provocative practice.

A Life of Navigation begins with Chihying’s early, quirky attempts to navigate the impacts of our busy and often high-stress urban life.

Alongside these early works, The Jog (2014) and The Toyota (2015), sit two newly produced video installations. These latest works cast a playful yet critical eye on the development of artificial intelligence and gaming culture, alongside the rising tension between manual labour and automation.

All underpinned by a sense of humour and performativity, these new works explore Chihying’s recent interest in unpacking the rarely discussed modern-day colonial attitudes at the centre of our pursuit of technological advancement.

Musquiqui Chihying is a Taiwanese artist known for his humorous practice that navigates between reality and the surreal. Working across installation, video, photography and sculptural objects, and often incorporating performativity, Chihying explores the impacts of modern-day technologies on contemporary societal structures and the human condition.

Presented as part of the RC Foundation Project Space Exhibition Series, with support from the RC Foundation, Taiwan (R.O.C.). Additional support provided by the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan (R.O.C.)

The Korean Cultural Centre UK (KCCUK) is delighted to present The Unclassified, a group exhibition of four leading contemporary Korean and Korean-heritage artists, Meekyoung Shin, Ayoung Kim, siren eun young jung, and Gala Porras-Kim, exploring how museums shape the way we understand, remember, and interpret culture. The exhibition interrogates the limits of the systems and assumptions through which museums produce cultural knowledge, with works that challenge what can be collected, classified and contained.

Unfolding across four key themes, The Unclassified explores the ways in which museums preserve, record, archive and make culture visible. In doing so, the exhibition offers alternative ways of thinking about culture and heritage, examining what museums can and choose to preserve, and what remains beyond their reach.

The exhibition is presented in collaboration with Lush and Somerset House Studios, with site partnerships from SOAS University of London, Delfina Foundation, the Glenfiddich Artist Residency, Soom Restaurant, Café Babka and Gaia Food & Drinks.

Participating Artists:

Meekyoung Shin, Ayoung Kim, siren eun young jung, Gala Porras-Kim

Discover 2,000 years of Korean creativity – through works spanning from around 300 BC to the present day.

Featuring outstanding examples of sculpture, painting and decorative arts over two millennia – up to the present day – the exhibition presents the most comprehensive chronological survey of Korean visual and material culture seen in Europe for over 40 years.

This major exhibition draws almost exclusively from the 23,000 works bequeathed in 2021 by the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee to the National Museum of Korea (NMK) and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA). It offers a dynamic journey through the art and material culture of the last 2,000 years. It also includes many National Treasures or Treasures, objects so designated for their exceptionally high quality and historical significance.

From ancient gold body ornaments and Buddhist icons to 12th- and 13th-century celadon-glazed stoneware, evocative ink landscapes and contemporary works responding to the turbulence of the 20th century, the objects on display tell a panoramic story of the history of Korea. Originally created for settings including royal tombs and palaces, Buddhist temples, scholars' studios, private homes and modern art spaces, most of the objects have never been seen in the UK before.

Every autumn Asian Art in London brings together leading international dealers and auction houses from the UK, Europe, USA and Asia. They specialise in a wide variety of ancient to modern Asian art, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Islamic and Middle Eastern, Himalayan and Central Asian, Southeast Asian. Asian Art in London focuses on galleries and auction houses in central London. Exhibitions showcase and offer for sale important Asian artworks, and are often accompanied by academically researched publications, while the many receptions, lectures and special events create a rich and fascinating schedule dedicated to Asian art.

29 years since it was founded, Asian Art in London continues to attract a worldwide audience, appealing to everyone with an enduring interest in the richness and variety of Asian art, from the dedicated collector and museum curator to those whose curiosity is just starting. Visit each participant’s digital exhibition page below to view and enquire regarding objects, exhibitions, and auctions.