Kei Takemura: All Things Move
July 25, 2026 —October 12, 2026 10:00-18:00 (no admittance after 17:30)
Kei Takemura (b. 1975–) uses the act of sewing to create works that bring a new perspective to their subjects in response to an ever-changing world marked by the flow of time, movement of people and objects, natural disasters, and chance occurrences. Beginning with A. N.’s living room in Tokyo, premonition of earthquake (2005), an early work which seeks a form of preservation resilient enough to withstand even earthquakes by recreating a scene from a friend’s joyful life and recording it through needle and thread, Takemura’s practice encompasses two-dimensional embroidered works that layer fabric onto photographs and drawings, sculptural works in which broken everyday objects are wrapped in cloth and “renovated,” and Time counter, whose intricate stitches evoke the passage of time and an emotional connection to the world. Consistent among the artist’s diverse oeuvre is her enduring desire to create works that capture individual memories and experiences in a state of tentativeness, connecting each existence in the present to the future.
This exhibition, Takemura’s largest solo exhibition to date, explores themes of memory, loss, and the irreversibility of time and human action through a wide range of projects and works. These include the artist’s representative “Renovated: Series” from the 2000s, a new installation work exploring natural disasters and our recovery from them, and workshops that invite participants to reflect on the question of repair with the city of Mito as their stage.
We live today in a world of instability, where values and truths are easily overturned, and even the question of how to face this reality has no certain answers. Is the world sustained by constant flux, or something more lasting? As we navigate the transitions between past, present, and future, how will we decide what to inherit and what to pass on? Through Takemura’s steadfast engagement with a changing world, this exhibition offers an opportunity to consider how we can relate to our experiences and the memories they leave behind.
The exhibition contains displays using strong blue LED lights. It is recommended to wear LED cut glasses if you are sensitive to those lights.
Kei Takemura
Profile
Born in Tokyo in 1975, Kei Takemura completed Graduate Course at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Masters of Fine Art), before studying at Berlin Art Academy in Germany. In 2015, she relocated to Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, where she continues to live and work while presenting her work both in Japan and internationally.
Among her major exhibitions in Japan are Nagashima Yurie x Takemura Kei “Now ⇆ Then at The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (2019), which brought two distinctive artists' work together to explored themes such as family, memory and time, and the solo exhibition Which Second is the Most Excited? at Pola Museum of Art (2018), in which she focused on playing cards as a motif to question the beauty of chance and border-crossing.
Her recent exhibitions include WhereDoWeStand?--Art in Our Time at The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (2025); Catch and Release at Taka Ishii Gallery Maebashi (2025, solo exhibition); Does the Future Sleep Here? – Revisiting the museum’s response to
contemporary art after 65 years at The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (2024); Home Sweet Home at The National Museum of Art, Osaka (2023) and Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa (2024); and the special exhibition Before/After commemorating the reopening of Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (2023).
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