2026.11.20 [Fri] _11.24 [Tue]
12:00-20:00 Admission Free
Organized by: NEW
Art Center NEW is proud to present Talking to the Animals in the End of the World, a retrospective of Shiro Masuyama, as a special five-day programme.
Moving from one artist residency to the next around the world, Masuyama has developed site-specific projects that involve local communities. Residencies at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin and, in 2009, at Flax Art Studios in Belfast led him to settle in 2010 in Northern Ireland, UK, a region still marked by the legacy of conflict. He continues to work there as the only Japanese visual artist based in Northern Ireland.
This retrospective focuses on one of the most popular strands of Masuyama’s diverse practice: works on the theme of animals, realised in locations around the world.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, Masuyama began to seriously question the rapid spread of globalisation and the contemporary ways of life in Japan and the West. In response, working with local people and animals in different parts of the world, he turned to traditional techniques of animal-fibre craft, now in decline as consumerism spreads worldwide. The result is Self Sufficient Life, a four-part series featuring sheep in Ireland (2012), alpacas in Peru (2014), camels in Mongolia (2015) and muskoxen in the Arctic (Alaska, USA, and Greenland, 2023).
The exhibition brings together eight works that were well received at the solo exhibition of the same name held at CAI03 in Sapporo as part of the open-call programme of the Sapporo International Art Festival (SIAF2024): the four works of Self Sufficient Life, together with flies in Ireland (2016), chickens in Thailand (2017), donkeys in Cyprus (2022) and elephants in India (2023). Alongside these, two works will be shown in Japan for the first time. Matatabi (2024) is a project in which Masuyama peddled matatabi (silver vine), a treat for cats that is not sold in Europe, at markets in Northern Ireland and Vienna to spread the word. Parallel Past and Present — In Search of Truffles (2026) is a two-channel video work comparing the pigs traditionally used for truffle hunting in France with the dogs trained for the task today. In total, ten works will be presented together.
Although the works deal with animals, a motif that feels familiar to many visitors, they carry a sharp perspective on social conditions in each country and pose questions to all of us living today, making this an exhibition rich in insight.
Admission to the exhibition is free, with the exception of the two talk events (held in Japanese only).
Photo:“Parallel Past and Present — In Search of Truffles”, Périgord, France (2026)
Dates: Friday 20th – Tuesday 24th November 2026
Hours: 12:00–20:00 *Last entry 30 minutes before closing
Venue: Art Center NEW
(B1F, Shin-Takashima Station, 5-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 220-0012, Japan)
Admission: Free — only the two talk events held in Japanese during the exhibition require a ticket (¥1,000 per event)
Organized by: Ongoing Association
Supported by: The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, The Asahi Shimbun Foundation
Installation support: Hirose Gai (Kyojima Station)
Friday 20th November 2026 17:30–
Admission: Free
Drinks available for purchase
