Naoko Tosa: Generative Beings (土佐尚子展「生成されるものたち」) opens Saturday, November 7, 2026, and runs through Sunday, November 22, in the Hall of Light (光の広間), 1F Main Building, at Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, 124 Okazaki Enshoji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. Hours are 10:00–18:00; closed Mondays. Admission is free. The organizer is the Naoko Tosa Exhibition Executive Committee.
A different history of “generation”
While “generation” is usually framed today as generative AI, Tosa has pursued another line of generation since the 1980s: letting sound, vibration, air, gravity, and fluids produce the image, then capturing that instant with high-speed cameras. The artist does not depict nature so much as set conditions in which nature makes the picture — a camera standing in for the brush. For creators and collectors watching how museums talk about generative and media practice, that longer timeline is the point of NFT art coverage like this: the show argues Japanese painting can be renewed through media art without the conventional act of painting.
Per the artist exhibition page and the July 20, 2026 PR Times release, the survey spans roughly forty years — from An Expression (1985), acquired by MoMA in 2011, through new 2026 Tosa Rinpa works premiering in Kyoto.
Four chapters, 1985–2026
The Hall of Light layout, listed on naokotosa.co.jp and the press release, runs in four chapters:
- Chapter 1 — Sensory Translation, the Body, and Transformations of Consciousness (1980s) — including An Expression, ECSTASY, and GUSH!. Tosa’s international debut came in Barbara London’s MoMA program NEW VIDEO JAPAN (1986).
- Chapter 2 — Emotion, Dialogue, and Culture (1990s–2000s) — works such as Neuro-Baby and Interactive Poem.
- Chapter 3 — Cultural Computing (2010–2025) — including Zenetic Computer, Sound of Ikebana, Genesis, UTSUROI (うつろひ), and Sansui (山水).
- Chapter 4 — Nature, Spirit Resonance, and Technology (new works, 2026–) — premiere of Tosa Rinpa: Spirit Resonance (気韻生動) and the sound-vibration folding screen Tosa Rinpa: Fūjin (風神). The press notes 15 of 30 Spirit Resonance pieces and a pair of six-panel screens for Fūjin.
Opening day and how to visit
Saturday, November 7, at the Hall of Light — free, registration required for programs (per the artist site): morning opening talk with collector Takeo Obayashi (10:00–11:30), and an afternoon reception with walkthrough and a live Sound of Ikebana performance (16:00–18:30). Details and the registration form are on naokotosa.co.jp.
Venue: Hall of Light, 1F Main Building, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, 124 Okazaki Enshoji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8344.
Dates: November 7–22, 2026.
Hours: 10:00–18:00; closed Mondays.
Admission: Free.
Organizer: Naoko Tosa Exhibition Executive Committee. Sponsors listed on the press release include Mimaki Engineering and Gloval Stage; supported by Kyoto Prefecture, the City of Kyoto, and the Tosa Laboratory at Kyoto University’s Disaster Prevention Research Institute.
Why it sits next to other museum shows
Kyoto’s free two-week survey lands in the same regional museum conversation as Emi Kusano’s End of Nostalgia museum show in Japan and the timely Hong Kong stop of CryptoZR CONSENSUS — different media, same question of how public institutions stage generative and protocol-aware practice for general audiences. For a European museum angle on chains and collections, see also the Francisco Carolinum blockchain collection.
Primary sources: the artist exhibition page, naokotosa.co.jp layout and opening events, the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum listing, the PR Times press release, and MoMA’s artist page for Naoko Tosa.