√K Collection 2025→2026
Dates｜January 31 (Sat) – March 14 (Sat), 2026
*Closed on Feb 17 – 18 for exhibition changeover
Exhibiting Artists | Tomoaki Ichikawa, Mai Kato, Yuma Kishi, Gil Kuno, Cornelia Thomsen, Mayo Kobayashi, Sareena Sattapon, Tadashi Sugimata, Ruriko Taguchi, Nelson Hor, Akihiro Hasegawa, Kiyoshi Hamada, Sohyun Park, Sung Nam Han, Hiroshi Fujimatsu, Atsuki Fujimoto, Shiori Horie, Yuna Yagi, Rao Wen-Zhen, Liao Yuan Yi, Koichiro Wakamatsu and more
We are pleased to announce √K Collection 2025→2026, opening on January 31, 2026.
This group exhibition brings together artists represented by √K Contemporary, including those introduced at domestic and international art fairs in 2025, artists who have exhibited at our gallery, as well as artists scheduled for exhibitions in 2026. The exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of our program and artistic vision.
Highlights include works by Hiroshi Fujimatsu, presented at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025, works of Akihiro Hasegawa exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2025; Cornelia Thomsen’s Golden Triangle Series, now part of the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Rao Wen-Zhen, who made her Japan debut at Art Asia Fukuoka; and upcoming exhibitors Koichiro Wakamatsu, Tadashi Sugimata, and Shiori Horie. The exhibition will feature a number of works shown for the first time in the Kanto region.
Please note that there will be changeover during the exhibition period
[ Performance Program ]
During the ongoing exhibition “√K Collection 2025→2026,” we are pleased to present a series of performances by two artists who explore, through the bodily expression, the question of what it means to be human amid the accelerating changes surrounding us today.
All performances are free to attend and require no reservation.
Please visit the gallery at the scheduled times below.
– Performance #1 Mayo Kobayashi － “Human ( ) Non-human”
Friday, Feb 6, 6:00 PM
Saturday, Feb 7, 4:00 PM
“Human ( ) Non-human”
This performance reexamines human existence and the potential of the body. Focusing on the dynamism embedded in the etymology of “performance” － per (completely) + form (to shape) + ance (the act of doing) － the work dismantles the self and individuality through movements stripped of meaning and narrative.
Artist | Mayo Kobayashi
Mayo Kobayashi developed a unique perspective on the body, drawing from early experiences in ballet and street dance, as well as a background in clinical practice informed by Jungian analytical psychology with a particular focus on recurring dreams and religious emotions.
Her work centers on the encounters that emerge between the body and digital media, while also exploring interests in astronomy, archaeology, and posthumanism. She pays close attention to the ways in which transformations of the world become observable within various spatial and conceptual configurations.
Rather than drawing boundaries between the digital and the analog, she seeks to merge them－working across a diverse range of medium including two-dimensional works, video installations, and physical performance to create interdisciplinary creation.
Instagram | @mayo_kobayashi_
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Performance #2 Mami Shimazaki － “Becoming a Tube” / “Gazing at Billions”
Friday, Feb 13, 6:00 PM － Becoming a Tube
Saturday, Feb 14, 4:00 PM － Gazing at Billions
Saturday, Feb 14, 6:00 PM － Becoming a Tube
“Becoming a Tube”
Earthworms, annelids with cylindrical bodies, possess organs remarkably similar to our own. Emerging approximately 500 million years ago, they are among the primordial creatures that survived multiple ice ages. This work reflects on such ancestral forms of life.
“Gazing at Billions”
The world is the totality of time and space of the entire universe, which has undergone repeated cycles of creation and extinction over 13.8 billion years. Questioning anthropocentrism and fixed notions of species hierarchy, this performance quietly confronts the perspective that “the world began without humans and will end without humans.”
Artist | Mami Shimazaki
Contemporary performance artist.
Born in Tokyo in 1993. Graduated from the Department of Oil Painting, Musashino Art University. Beginning with an interest in painting, she shifted her practice toward performance art. Her work explores worlds before and after humanity through performative actions.
Instagram | @mami.shimazaki
[ Workshop ]
As part of the ongoing exhibition, √K Collection 2025→2026, we are pleased to present a Zine Making workshop led by participating artist Park Sohyun on Saturday, February 28, at 1:30 PM.
Inspired in part by coursework from The École des beaux-arts de Grenoble in France, this workshop invites participants to create their own original stories through the process of making a zine. Centered around a single theme, participants will explore storytelling, drawing, and the fundamentals of publishing as they develop their narratives. Each participant will interpret the theme in their own unique way, using illustrations and text to freely craft a personal story. By the end of the workshop, each story will be compiled into an original, one-of-a-kind book.
The workshop is open to all generation from children to adults, so families are warmly encouraged to join.
Zine Making Workshop with Park Sohyun
Date & Time: Saturday, February 28, 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM Venue: √K Contemporary Participation Fee: ¥2,000 (Free for children under 5) Eligibility: Children to adults Duration: 2 hours
How to Register: Please send your name and the number of participants to info@root-k.jp.
Please note: Please wear casual clothes as the workshop uses color pencils and markers etc.
Artist | Park Sohyun
Based in France and Seoul, Korea. Park’s works focus on ideas of geographical displacement and, more precisely, on how displacement concerns ideas of territory. Drawing from personal experiences, the imagery of Park’s playful and symbolically potent works is inspired by travel, daily encounters, historical events, and other territorially related experiences that touch on issues regarding memory, history, place, time, and vanity. Park has participated in several exhibitions across Europe, Japan, and Korea.
