Tokyo: Mariko Mori's thirty-year retrospective opens at the Mori Art Museum
· BehindLines newsroom
The Mori Art Museum in Tokyo opened "Mariko Mori: All That Shines" on 31 October 2026, a retrospective devoted to the Japanese artist, on view until 28 March 2027 on the 53rd floor of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. According to the museum, the show follows her work from the mid-1990s, when she explored identity and technology, to her recent interest in spirituality, nature and humanity's connection to the cosmos. Designboom says the exhibition gathers about forty works spanning more than three decades.
The first in twenty-four years
According to Metropolis magazine, this is Mariko Mori's first major retrospective in Japan since "Pure Land" at MOCA Tokyo in 2002. According to the museum's press release, the show is co-curated by Alexandra Munroe (Guggenheim) and Mami Kataoka (director of the Mori Art Museum), in collaboration with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The title, "All That Shines," refers, according to Metropolis, to a Japanese word meaning "brilliantly shining" and to the central idea of her practice: light as a link between the physical and the metaphysical.
The sections of the show
The museum describes a chronological route divided into several sections. "Birth of a Star" gathers early works that blend anime, video games, cosplay and fashion, before her turn toward Buddhist cosmology. "Connected World" brings together immersive mid-career projects developed with international scientists. "Primal Memory" draws on Celtic and Jōmon cosmologies, including the installation "Shrine." "One with Nature" presents the Faou Foundation sculptures, made with local communities, and a new video work. Two further areas offer a chronology (exhibition history, early modelling photographs, reviews) and a look at her studio (sketches, notebooks, ancient objects from her collection). Metropolis adds, however, that the layout is meant as a walk through the evolution of her work rather than a strictly chronological survey.
Works to look for
The museum highlights "Wave UFO" (1999-2002), a large biomorphic pod in which visitors' brain activity drives projected imagery meant to connect participants with one another; only a limited number of people can enter at a time. It also lists "Pure Land" (1996-1998), a large photograph layered in glass and stainless steel in which the artist appears in deified forms in remote landscapes, and "Tom Na H-iu" (2006), a totemic sculpture whose LEDs respond in real time to neutrinos detected by Japan's Super-Kamiokande observatory. The "Cyborg" series (1994-1995) and "Birth of a Star" (1995) cast her as a post-human woman in ordinary urban settings. Metropolis adds two outdoor works, "Primal Rhythm: Sun Pillar" (Miyako Island) and "Ring: One with Nature" (Rio de Janeiro), aligned with the winter-solstice sun, permanently installed on site and shown in the exhibition by a video.
Practical information
According to the museum's page, the exhibition is open daily from 10:00 to 22:00 (Tuesdays 10:00 to 17:00), with a few modified hours; last admission is 30 minutes before closing. On weekdays an adult ticket costs 2,800 yen (2,600 yen online); on weekends and holidays, 3,000 yen (2,800 yen online). High-school and university students pay 1,700 yen on weekdays, and children up to junior high school enter free. Museum tickets can be booked online. Its guide states that the "Wave UFO" experience is free with a museum ticket valid that day; places are limited and allocated on arrival, without advance reservations. This is the information published by the museum and should be checked before a visit.