Jam Session: The Ishibashi Foundation Collection × FUJII Hikaru WHOSE LIGHT?

October 24 [Sat], 2026 - January 31 [Sun], 2027

Since 2020, the Artizon Museum has organized the annual Jam Session series, a collaborative exhibition program in which a contemporary artist engages with works from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection. For the seventh in this series, we welcome Fujii Hikaru, who has explored the intimate relationship between the art, society, and history through detailed research and field work. Fujii is known for his video installations, in which he weaves together cinematic techniques, scripted performance, and documentary approaches to rethink history in his own way. His practice, which critically engages with contemporary social issues, has received international recognition.
For this Jam Session, Fujii focuses on the association of light with truth, the central theme of Plato’s allegory of the cave in Book VII of the Republic. Rather than asking what that light illuminates, he reverses the question to consider “who is casting that light?” critically re-examining the structure of truth itself. In response to this question, the exhibition presents twenty-two works from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection selected by Fujii and a dozen or more of his own works—including new pieces—ranging from antiquity through the Middle Ages and the modern period to the postwar era.

Biography

Photo: SHIIGI Shizune

FUJII Hikaru

Artist. Fujii Hikaru utilizes diverse media, including installation, film, and workshops, to bridge art, history, and society. His practice is rooted in extensive research and fieldwork, often focusing on specific historical moments and social issues. Through his work, he critically examines both contemporary and historical crises, as well as structural violence, exploring their impact and significance on human and more-than-human worlds alike. His work has been exhibited at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; M+; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA); National Gallery Singapore; Centre Pompidou-Metz; Kadist (Paris); and Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), among others. He has also participated in numerous international art festivals, including the Asia Pacific Triennial (2021) and the Rencontres d’Arles (2024). He was awarded the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2020–2022.

Exhibition overview

Exhibition title: Jam Session: The Ishibashi Foundation Collection × FUJII Hikaru WHOSE LIGHT?

Exhibition period: October 24 [Sat], 2026 - January 31 [Sun], 2027

Opening hours: 10:00–18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays) *Last entry 30 minutes before closing.

Closed: Mondays (except November 23, January 11), November 24, December 28–January 4, January 12

Organizer: Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

Venue: 6F Gallery

Concurrent Exhibitions: Selections from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection
The Strangers’ Gaze—Japanese Artists in Europe

Ticket prices (incl. tax)

	On-line ticket	In-Person ticket (purchase at museum)
General	1,200 yen	1,500 yen
University college high school students	Free entry　Advance booking required Please present their student ID upon entry.
Disabled visitors (plus one accompanying assistant)	Free entry　Advance booking not required Please present disabled person’s handbook upon entry.
Children through junior high school	Free entry　Advance booking not required

*Online tickets must be purchased up to 10 minutes before the end of each time slot.
*Booking is not accepted when a time slot is full.
*In-Person ticket may be purchased at the museum, if the time slot is not full.
*This admission fee gives the visitor access to the concurrent exhibitions.

Art works

FUJII Hikaru, The Theologian and The Voice, 2026, Collection of the artist

FUJII Hikaru, Record of Coastal Landscape (U.S. Military): Futaba-gun Fukushima 1947, 2026, Collection of the artist

Jackson POLLOCK, Number 2, 1951, 1951, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

Alberto GIACOMETTI, Bust of Diego, 1954-55, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation Photo: SHIIGI Shizune

FUJII Hikaru, The Primary Fact, 2018, Collection of the artist

FUJII Hikaru, To Spare the Conquered and to Subdue the Proud, 2026, Installation<br />
Installation consists of glass vessels from Syria and Palestine and other regions, and medieval Iranian ceramics from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection Photo: SHIIGI Shizune

FUJII Hikaru, To Spare the Conquered and to Subdue the Proud, 2026, Installation
Installation consists of glass vessels from Syria and Palestine and other regions, and medieval Iranian ceramics from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection Photo: SHIIGI Shizune