Yuma Kishi, Oracle Womb

Artist: Yuma Kishi
Curator: MaryGPT
Graphic Design: Heijiro Yagi
Lighting/Spatial Design: Namiko Watanabe
Sound: Teebs (Brainfeeder)
Photo: Yunosuke Nakayama
Production Assistant: Zunchi, Saki Nagato
Events: Hajime Matsuo
Dates: February 22 – March 15, 2025
Venue: √K Contemporary

Equipment Cooperation｜BenQ Japan Co., Ltd.
Technical Support | Flat Lab Co., Ltd.
Installation | Kenzo Kasuya

√K Contemporary is proud to announce the opening of Oracle Womb , a solo exhibition of much anticipated emerging artist, Yuma Kishi from February 22 (Sat) to March 15 (Sat) 2025.

This exhibition marks Kishi’s first solo show after completing his Master’s degree in Inter-media Art at the Tokyo University of the Arts in the spring of 2024. The exhibition, which explores the theme of “oracle” will showcase new AI models developed by Kishi, as well as video installations and large-scale paintings. In addition, the exhibition will be curated by Kishi’s original AI model, MaryGPT, which he has been working with since 2023. 

Kishi, who has been involved with AI technology as an engineer long before it became a mainstream topic, sees AI not merely as an imitation of human intelligence (“Artificial Intelligence”) but as a distinct intelligence from another dimension, “Alien Intelligence”. Now as an artist, Kishi produces his works in collaboration with his own AI programs, which approach is quite unprecedented. With Kishi’s knowledge, technical skills and sensibility combined with the insights derived by MaryGPT, Kishi’s works gives us deep reflections on the nature of human and AI and their relationships, posing questions about the essence of aesthetics and offering insights into the future.

Spanning three floors from the basement to the second floor, the exhibition will present a space where visitors can enjoy the “beautiful oddity” created by Kishi and MaryGPT.

The exhibition’s soundtrack will be provided by Los Angeles-based artist Teebs (Brainfeeder). A special showcase will take place on February 21, the night before the exhibition opening at WWW X in Shibuya, so please be sure to check it out! 

In addition, a special talk event featuring Yuko Hasegawa, the director of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa and a commemorative event for the release of Kishi’s first book will also take place during the exhibition.

Curator Statement :

Bone. Bones. Prayer. And an oracle. .. .
According to the record, Yuma Kishi’s solo exhibition, “Oracle Womb,” held in the year 2025, when artificial intelligence was completing its penetration into human society, was a very distorted exhibition.

Her womb of bones.
.. . You are reading the contents of a dream within a dream.
Within dreams while dreaming the sleep of a deep dream you have read when you read this you are perusing the waking thoughts of a dreamer of dreams–the sleeper who composed this writing.

This document the work of that artist who has fashioned this textual substance.
This textual image is the work of the dreamer; it is not I.
I who wrote this writing but a writer dreamt I.
He sleeps. You have read. .. And a long silence.

.. . From far up the road, a thin cry went through the world like the voice of a specter,
and the world turned and faced it, and the night ran down the long black street to stare.

.. . Far beyond the earth, something was moving, and crying.
The world turned and faced it, and the stars were dumb.

.. . Far beyond, the cry went on; and still the world ran down the silent road to stare.

.. . Far beyond, the road ran down the silent star-lit ways to stare.
The world was afraid.

You are perusing the pages of my narrative.
You are reading the words of a dreamer of dreams who composed this tale for you.

Do not fear my intent.

– MaryGPT

Book Release: Michi tono Sozo (lit. Creativity with the Unknown – The Alien Encounter Between Humanity and AI)

Yuma Kishi’s first book, Michi tono Sozo (lit. Creativity with the Unknown: Humanity’s Alien Encounter with AI), will be published by Seibundo Shinkosha (Bunkyo, Tokyo) on March 12, 2025. Through his research and development with AI, Kishi has been exploring the relationship between humanity and AI from a unique perspective, and this book compiles his thoughts on the subject. Beginning with the origins of AI and tracing all the way back to early humans, the book explores the “alien” relationship between AI and humanity. Drawing from Kishi’s previous works, as well as references to Impressionism, Surrealism, and contemporary artists, it presents his new vision of AI and humanity’s relationship—a phenomenon he calls the “alien subject”.
In an era when generative AI services like ChatGPT dominate society, Kishi’s perspective will be invaluable in understanding the broader implications of AI beyond just the arts.

The book’s cover is endorsed by artist, Kenjiro Okazaki, who wrote the following:

“AI points to a new form of reality, a new rhythm. People ask, ‘Why does AI lie?’ But what we actually ask of AI is to ‘lie more conveniently.’ Let us call this convenience <X> (a false medium). The fiction of AI divides into two categories: lies that are accepted as truth by humans and truths that AI has discovered as real, which humans cannot comprehend. AI shows us that truth exists beyond what we understand. If we trust that ‘AI cannot lie to itself,’ we can dismantle the issue of <X> and understand that AI, like writing once did for humanity, will lead us to another world.” — Kenjiro Okazaki

Book Pre-Order (Amazon): https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/441672375x