Emi Kusano

Emi Kusano (b. 1990, Tokyo) is a multidisciplinary artist and a leading figure in the global Generative AI art scene. She began her career as a teenage street photographer documenting Harajuku fashion, with early works featured at the Victoria and Albert Museum. These early experiences in fashion and photography informed her vision of how mass media shapes individual and collective identities.
Since then, her practice has evolved to integrate emerging technologies—positioning AI as a collaborative partner rather than a defining element. Through this process, she critically explores nostalgia, pop culture, and collective memory in the digital age.
Her work has been exhibited internationally in over 20 countries at major institutions including M+ Museum (Hong Kong), Saatchi Gallery (London), Grand Palais Immersif (Paris), Museum Francisco Carolinum (Linz), and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. She has also participated in major international art fairs such as Frieze and Untitled Art Miami. Notably, her acclaimed series Office Ladies was featured at Paris Photo, garnering global attention for its unique fusion of photographic sensibilities and AI generation.
Kusano’s market presence continues to rise, highlighted by her participation in a Gucci-Christie’s auction in 2023 and a charity auction by Christie’s and UNHCR in 2024. Beyond visual art, she is the founder and lead singer of the music group Satellite Young, reinterpreting 1980s J-POP through a contemporary sci-fi lens at global events like SXSW. In 2025, she was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Most recently, Kusano held her first New York solo exhibition, Ego in the Shell, a collaboration with cyber punk anime series Ghost in the Shell, which received strong critical acclaim. She was the sole Japanese artist selected for the digital art section, Zero10, at Art Basel Hong Kong 2026, where her work attracted significant attention.

[Exhibitions]

• 2026-03: Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 — Zero10 Sector (Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong)

• 2025-12: Bodyscapes — Group Show (Load Gallery, Miami, The United States)

• 2025-12: Media Under Dystopia 6.0: Looking at Models (MUD Foundation, Hong Kong)
• 2025-12: SCOPE Art Show @SCOPE Pavilion, Miami Beach, The United States
• 2025-11: uni form: Broken Twill – Berlin Edition (P61 Gallery, Berlin, Germany)
• 2025-11: Paris Photo 2025 — Digital Sector (Grand Palais, Paris, France)
• 2025-10: Ghost in the Shell × Emi Kusano: Immersive Solo Exhibition “EGO in the Shell” (Offline Gallery, New York)
• 2025-10: MEET YOUR ART FESTIVAL 2025 (Tennozu Canal area in Tokyo, Japan)
• 2025-10: Perspectives from Currents Art Award 2024 (WALL_alternative, Tokyo, Japan)
• 2025-09: Frieze Korea (Coex Exhibition Centre, Seoul, Korea)
• 2025-09: CONFIRMED UNIVERSE adidas (SFACTORY, Seoul, Korea)
• 2025-06: Console Spirituality (Feral File, Online)
• 2025-06: We Emotional Cyborgs: On Avatars and AI Agents (Digital Art Mile, Basel, Switzerland)
• 2025-05: Source Data Artist Group Show (Kinetek | Gallery on the MASS MoCA, North Adams, United
  States)
• 2025-05: Asian Avant-Garde Film Festival, M+ Museum, Hong Kong 
• 2025-05: New Dimensions: Expanded Consciousness, Mikke Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 
• 2025-03: Office Ladies, ArtVerse, Paris, France 
• 2025-03: RIVALS – Photography vs. Promptography, Galerie Guelman und Unbekannt, Berlin, Germany 
• 2025-01: The Second-Guess, House of Electronic Arts, Basel, Switzerland 
• 2024-12: AI: The Expo, Discovery Museum, Kerkrade, Netherlands 
• 2024-11: TOKYO ART BOOK FAIR, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan 
• 2024-11: AI Biennale: Essen Reimagine Tomorrow, 1954–2024, Stiftung Zollverein and Digital Campus Zollverein, Essen, Germany 
• 2024-11: 19th Digital Art Festival Taipei, Art Space IV, Future Square Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab, Taipei, Taiwan 
• 2024-10: Artificial Dreams, MEET Digital Culture Centre, Milan, Italy 
• 2024-09: Art of Punk, Museum Francisco Carolinum, Linz, Austria 
• 2024-03: Artificial Dreams, Grand Palais Immersif, Paris, France 
• 2024-03: Now in Digital Art: Game Room, Akbank Sanat, Istanbul, Turkey 
• 2023-12: Neural Fad: AI Dreams Nostalgia, NIPPON TV IMAGINARIUM AWARD 2023 Jury Presentation, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan 
• 2023-12: The Gateway Miami – Art Basel Miami, Ferena Forum, Miami, United States 
• 2023-10: DXP (Digital Transformation Planet): Towards the Next Interface, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan 
• 2023-10: Long Live London, Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom 
• 2023-09: E-Motions, UNIT London, London, United Kingdom 
• 2023-07: Christie’s 3.0 presents Future Frequencies: Explorations in Generative Art and Fashion in collaboration with Gucci, Rockefeller Center, New York, United States 
• 2023-06: Non Fungible Conference, Carlos Lopes Pavilion, Lisbon, Portugal 
• 2023-05: Bright Moments Tokyo, Shibuya Parco, Tokyo, Japan 
• 2020-08: Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom 
• 2019-11: SIGGRAPH ASIA Art Gallery, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia 
• 2018-03: Art Hack Day, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Tokyo, Japan 
• 2011-04: Japan Fashion Now, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, United States