As war and natural disasters spread uncertainty and confusion across the globe, social and political conditions and historical revisionism are also demonstrably being projected onto contemporary art, in a proliferation of socially-critical expression. For its part, the Mori Art Museum serves as a showcase for contemporary art reflecting diverse viewpoints from around the world, and believes that encountering different cultures, learning about differences, and turning our imaginations to the other, are absolutely vital for multiple values to coexist successfully. Yet hand in hand with this understanding of the need for diversity lies a similar need to consider the human and universal qualities common to all cultures. Mori Art Museum exhibitions for the 2026 fiscal year will thus take a fresh look at the fundamental questions of what it means to be human, what are emotions, where we come from, and where we are going.

Ron Mueck, whose show will open at the end of April 2026, is renowned worldwide for his superrealistic sculptures of people. Presenting human figures of different genders and all ages from newborn to elderly as sometimes rather small, and other times, on a giant scale, Mueck expresses with exquisite skill emotions shared by all humans, such as loneliness, unease, and the fear of aging. Mariko Mori, whose show will run from the end of October, first gained attention in the 1990s for her performances and photographic works inspired by the worldviews of science fiction and Japanese popular culture, after evolved to explore ancient philosophies, religious views, and spiritual realms around the world, taking the concept of a "Oneness" connecting people across national and cultural divides, and turning it into art.

We are pleased to present these two major solo exhibitions delving deeply into the meaning of humanity while simultaneously encouraging us to ponder the magnificence and mystery of the universe.

Kataoka Mami, Director, Mori Art Museum