Otherworldly art, scenes from a fairytale, and a whole lot of Mika Ninagawa’s flowers and koi fish. This Tokyo exhibition borrows a lot from other digital artists, and as a new TeamLab alternative, it’s going to provide the newest backdrops for everyone’s pictures in Japan this winter.

Mika Ninagawa: Eternity in a Moment

Believe it or not, this fairytale dreamscape of installation art is not from Japan's famous TeamLab art collective.

This is Mika Ninagawa: Eternity in a Moment, the latest exhibition from popular Japanese photographer Mika Ninagawa. Although Ninagawa is best known for her bright photographs of brilliant primary-colored flowers, for this event the artist has worked as part of a team (dubbed "EiM") to create a series of experiential installation art, breezing past the boundaries of her normal 2D work and expanding her photographs and video into entire environments. The end result is an exhibition space that ends up looking a lot like the TeamLab exhibits that so often become the social media highlights of a trip to Japan. However, while the exhibition's overall atmosphere and visual aesthetic will likely be a strong draw for Tokyo's many influencers looking to take new pictures, Ninagawa's unique aesthetic can be seen in every space and every little touch, giving it a different feeling from similar events. The exhibit's moody spaces provide a thrilling artist-led experience for visitors of all ages.

Located in the newly-opened Tokyo Node exhibition space in central Tokyo's Toranomon area, this exhibition is only open until February 25th, 2024, but in those few short months it might just give TeamLab a run for its money.

Mika Ninagawa: Eternity in a Moment (蜷川実花展 Eternity in a Moment 瞬きの中の永遠)
Dates: Dec. 5, 2023 ~ Feb. 25, 2024
Tickets: adults 2,500/2,800 yen | students 2,000/2,200 yen | children 800/1,000 yen
Official Website (en)

at Tokyo Node
Toranomon Hills Station Tower 8F/45F, 2-6-2 Toranomon, Minato City, Tokyo
Hours: 10:00 – 18:00
Official Website (en)

A Tokyo Art Experience

In a world where minimalism drains the color from design, and an era when we're all too distracted to stop and smell the flowers, how do we find the beauty in everyday life? That's the question Mika Ninagawa aims to tackle in her latest exhibition, with the help of EiM creative team member and data scientist Hiroaki Miyata. For this event, the two creative minds came together with directors and producers from the Tokyo Node event space at Toranomon Hills (Isao Kuwana and Ou Sugiyama respectively) to put together a series of rooms, each working with different inspiration and different media to pull visitors out of the humdrum headspace of the everyday. In the words of Ninagawa herself, "if you view the world from a slightly different angle, you might find yourself surprised at its beauty."

To achieve their lofty goal, the artist and her collaborators have used a wide variety of tools, both digital and tactile, to create a truly multi-media exhibition. From the start, the hope was to give visitors to "Eternity in a Moment" an experience that would stimulate all their senses, so the immersive art installations create spaces large and small filled to the brim with textures, sights, and sounds of all kinds. Ninagawa's iconic photos and videos flash across screens in a colorful blur of flowers, koi fish, and street scenes, featuring striking visuals of mundane subjects. Elsewhere, the perfumed scent of flowers floats up in ephemeral waves from the rainbow floors of a fairytale garden, while the sun seems to move across the sky to light the foliage from different directions. In yet other rooms, cushions create bohemian lounge spaces while UFOs seem to float overhead in a dreamy pink floral blur. Music changes from space to space, matching the drama of some rooms while cultivating daydreams in others.

Mika Ninagawa: Eternity in a Moment is a dreamlike experience from start to finish, with some spaces screaming to be photographed, and others welcoming visitors to lay on the floor and zone out for a moment… or an hour. The event is a must-see for fans of the artist, as an immersive new way to enjoy Mika Ninagawa's art from a brand-new angle. It's also a clear choice for anyone who's ever enjoyed a TeamLab exhibition.

The pop-up gift shop is going to be pretty tempting for fans of Mika Ninagawa's colorful photography, too. They have everything from vibrant art postcards to skateboards printed with Ninagawa's photographs, alongside some unique designer apparel pieces that match the vibe of the exhibition.

A quick note for event-goers: getting to Tokyo Node to see the exhibition can be a little confusing depending on where you're coming from! The easiest way to get there is to take the Hibiya Line to Toranomon Hills, and look for the large Tokyo Node signs and elevators a short way out of the ticket gates. For visitors coming from outside of the building, make sure to enter the northwestern doors marked with "Tokyo Node/Office" and take the elevator up to the 7th floor. From the 7th floor, escalators lead up to the ticket counters and another set of elevators, which take you up to the actual exhibition space!

For more info and updates from Japan, check Japankuru for new articles, and don't forget to follow us on X (Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook!