Japanese artist Eugene Kangawa (b. 1989) and A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE unveil a new collaborative project born from a three-year creative exchange between Kangawa and designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae and his team.
The partnership began when Miyamae saw Kangawa’s Light and shadow inside me series at his 2021–22 solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, sparking a series of workshops and shared experimentation.
The result debuts in a special exhibition designed by Paris-based architect Tsuyoshi Tane—known for the Estonian National Museum and the Al Thani Collection—and a 2023 Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres recipient.
The show centers on a newly developed textile at the heart of the collaboration, presented alongside test pieces, artworks, and the tools that shaped them. Guided tours by Kangawa and Miyamae, plus a hands-on workshop, invite visitors into the creative process.
After Paris, the exhibition will travel to Tokyo and Osaka, offering a rare look at the fusion of Kangawa’s visual language with A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE’s forward-thinking textile design.
Light and shadow inside me (2022–): Reimagined in Textile
Eugene Kangawa’s Light and shadow inside me (2022–) is a signature body of work created entirely through light. Early pieces used paper coated with water-based dye, folded into polyhedral, origami-like forms and exposed to sunlight over several weeks to develop natural gradations. Later works took this further—using folded photographic paper exposed to artificial light in a darkroom to create monochrome photograms. Kangawa’s process relies solely on light and shadow as both medium and material, exploring themes of presence, absence, and the limits of physical existence.
A New Textile Innovation
Inspired by Kangawa’s work, the A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE team developed a groundbreaking textile that translates his light-based technique into woven form. Taking cues from the silver particles in photographic paper, they created a fabric where the gradient from black to white emerges purely from variations in weave density—without using dyes or different colored threads. This “bit-level” textile marks a major innovation in textile design, echoing Kangawa’s exploration of form through the interplay of light and shadow.
Eugene Museum: Opening in Bali, 2026
Light and shadow inside me will be part of the permanent collection at the Eugene Museum, set to open in Tabanan, Bali, in Summer 2026. Located in a UNESCO World Heritage area, the museum will feature over 15 works by Kangawa, including both existing and newly commissioned pieces. Initiated by a network of Asian art collectors and developed by a local organization, the project embodies a regional, community-driven approach to contemporary art.
Designed by acclaimed Indonesian architect Andra Matin, the museum spans more than one hectare, with 5,000 square meters of built space and over 15 gallery rooms. Constructed on revitalized rice fields, the museum preserves existing trees and integrates terracotta bricks handcrafted by local artisans—blending architecture, landscape, and art into a seamless whole.
