Echigo-Tsumari MonET Special Exhibition Series Vol. 11: Ryosuke Higo, “Cancer Queen”

Events

Echigo-Tsumari MonET Special Exhibition Series Vol. 11: Ryosuke Higo, “Cancer Queen”

Summary

exhibition

A series of Special Exhibitions that has been held at the Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET since 2023. For each Special Exhibition, a guest curator selects artists and organizes the exhibition. The duration of each Special Exhibition is one year.

On the Occasion of Our Series of Special Exhibitions

The Echigo-Tsumari Art Field has been working to revitalize the region through art. To further develop the festival as a community-rooted event, we will explore new possibilities for the relationship between the region and art, connect with artists who will shape the future, and foster new collaborations. At the Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET, guest curators select artists who will broadly shape the future of art, and solo exhibitions are held every two months.This has been held as a long-term series of consecutive Special Exhibitions since 2023.

Kitagawa Fram (General Director, Echigo-Tsumari Art Field)

Event Overview

[Guest Curator] Hiyama Maaru (Curator / Recruit Art Center)
[Duration] June 27 (Sat), 2026 – August 31 (Mon), 2026
[Admission] Adults: 1,200 yen / Elementary and Middle School Students: 600 yen

*Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, except on national holidays. *Open on Wednesday, August 12.
*Admission includes access to both the Permanent Exhibition and Special Exhibitions at the Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET.

The title of this exhibition, “Cancer Queen,” is derived from the science fiction novel of the same name by Tommaso Randolfi. “Cancer” shares the meaning of both the constellation Cancer and the disease cancer; in the novel, the spaceship named “Cancer Queen” moves back and forth between metaphors of crustaceans and disease as the story unfolds.Ryosuke Higo, too, has made it a central theme of his artwork to layer metaphor upon metaphor, bringing certain elements together, making leaps of association, and creating yet another (yes, yet another!) metaphor. Within the genre of science fiction—which has always drawn particularly strong inspiration from the imagination regarding the unknown and the new—Higo makes no secret of his influence from the cyberpunk subgenre.With a greater emphasis on imagery and worldview than on plot or structure, the intuition required to understand words becomes even more important than language itself. In this exhibition, this cyberpunk style of expression is taken a step further, as the artist seeks to incorporate the style itself into his creative process.
Artists once said they wanted to create something like infrastructure; they said they would build a free port, a server, a score, or a musical instrument. However, they say all of these are merely metaphorical expressions. Perhaps we do not need to correctly understand the artists’ words; rather, what is required in this exhibition—no, in this world—is an understanding of the differences in their modes of expression.

Photo by Nakamura Osamu

Photo by Nakamura Osamu

Photo by Nakamura Osamu

Photo by Nakamura Osamu

Photo by Nakamura Osamu

Related Events

“The Ruler of Imagination: Let’s Measure the Distance to Cancer”
A “light-year” is a unit of distance used to measure the distance from us to the stars. When we’re dealing with distances so astronomically vast that we can only imagine them, we need a new unit of measurement—not just an existing one. That’s right—units are tools we use to imagine the distance between things. In this workshop, we’ll attempt to measure the length of the inner perimeter of MonET in our own unique ways, for example, by walking around the pond or spreading out your hands. Together, we’ll decide on our own unit for these rulers and let our imaginations wander to the distance to Cancer.

Date & Time: Sunday, August 2, 1:00 PM–
Venue: Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET Entrance Hall
Admission: Free (Museum admission fee required)

Click here to apply

Author Profile

Ryosuke Higo

Born in Hokkaido in 1995.In 2024, he completed the Doctoral Program (Advanced Course) in Fine Arts, Conceptual Design Track, at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Kyoto City University of Arts. He holds a Ph.D. in Fine Arts. He views blind spots in circulating information—such as “phantom islands erroneously marked on Google Maps” and “non-existent words”—as relics, and by examining phenomena and situations created unconsciously or intentionally by society and individuals, he attempts to pass them on in new forms.Major exhibitions include the solo exhibition “Osaka Directory 5 supported by RICHARD MILLE: Ryosuke Higo” (Osaka Nakanoshima Art Museum, Osaka, 2023); the solo exhibition “Criterium 97: Ryosuke Higo” (Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Gallery, Ibaraki, 2020); “Parallel Circuit” (Tokyo University of the Arts Museum Exhibition Hall, Tokyo, 2025);“VOCA Exhibition 2024: Perspectives on Contemporary Art—New Artists in Two-Dimensional Art—” (Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, 2024), and “828.45K Come & Go” (Seoul City University Gallery Red Brick, Seoul, South Korea, 2024), among others.

Photo by Nakamura Osamu

Guest Curator Profile

Hiyama Maaru (Curator / Recruit Art Center)

Born in Osaka Prefecture in 1994. Has been working at Art Center BUG since 2023. Recent curatorial projects include the 2023 exhibition “Yosuke Amemiya Solo Exhibition: Amemiya Miya-Ame to I” at BUG, Tokyo.2023: “Natsuko Tanihara’s Kitakagaya Tales” at CCO Creative Center Osaka, among others. Currently preparing for a solo exhibition by photographer Aya Fujioka, to be held at Art Center BUG starting in October.

Echigo-Tsumari MonET Special Exhibition Series: Overview

Vol. 1: Saturday, July 1, 2023 – Sunday, August 27, 2023
“Material Shop Katarsis no Kishibe: Tokamachi Branch & ‘Unused Data Grand Prix 2022–2023’ Archive Exhibition”
Artist: Katarsis no Kishibe
Guest Curator: Noi Sawaragi (Art Critic)

Vol. 2: Saturday, September 9, 2023 – Sunday, November 5, 2023
“Print Report: The Path Moves”
Artist: Yu Matsumoto
Guest Curator: Kenjiro Hosaka (Director, Shiga Prefectural Museum of Art)

Vol. 3: Saturday, November 18, 2023 – Sunday, December 24, 2023
“Sequel to ‘Song of Parallel Small Boats’: Emerald Vessels”
Artists: Kazuyuki Takezaki + Yu Nishimura
Guest Curator: Mari Tsukamoto (Chief Curator, Kochi Prefectural Museum of Art)

Vol. 4: Saturday, January 13, 2024 – Sunday, March 10, 2024
“Reverse String”
Artist: Tanaka Ai
Guest Curator: Hiyama Maaru (Curator / Recruit Art Center)

Vol. 5: Saturday, April 13, 2024 – Sunday, June 9, 2024
“I Can’t Bring Myself to Do It”
Artist: Kyoko Dezu
Guest Curator: Kenjiro Hosaka (Director, Shiga Prefectural Museum of Art)

Vol. 6: Saturday, November 23, 2024 – Monday, January 13, 2025 (Public Holiday)
“Danger Everywhere”
Artist: Koichi Mitsuoka
Guest Curator: Hiyama Maaru (Curator, Recruit Art Center)

Vol. 7: Saturday, January 25, 2025 – Sunday, June 22, 2025 [Period Extended]
“The Colorless Person”
Artist: Kan Miyake
Guest Curator: Noi Sawaragi (Art Critic)

Vol. 8: Saturday, September 27, 2025 – Sunday, November 30, 2025(Sun)
“Drinking with You, Inside the Basket”
Artist: Ayako Ohno
Guest Curator: Mari Tsukamoto (Chief Curator, Kochi Prefectural Museum of Art)

Vol. 9: Saturday, January 24, 2026 – Sunday, March 22, 2026
“THE NEVER ENDING BUILDING”
Artist: Tomonosuke Kurachi
Guest Curator: Kenjiro Hosaka (Director, Shiga Prefectural Museum of Art)

Vol. 10: Saturday, April 11, 2026 – Sunday, June 14, 2026
“Ryosaku Miyasaka: ART at 75”
Artist: Ryosaku Miyasaka
Guest Curator: Noi Sawaragi (Art Critic)

Vol. 11: Saturday, June 27, 2026 – Monday, August 31, 2026
Artist: Ryosuke Higo “Kansa Queen”
Guest Curator: Hiyama Maaru (Curator / Recruit Art Center)

Vol. 12: Saturday, September 12, 2026 – Monday, November 23, 2026 (Public Holiday)
Artist: Ryohei Usui “Things that remind us we exist.”
Guest Curator: Mari Tsukamoto (Chief Curator, Kochi Prefectural Museum of Art)

Summary

Date and time	Vol. 11: Saturday, June 27, 2026 – Monday, August 31, 2026 Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (except holidays) Open on Wednesday, August 12 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (Last admission at 4:30 p.m.)
Venue	Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET
Admission	Adults: 1,200 yen / Elementary and Middle School Students: 600 yen Admission fees include access to the Permanent Exhibition and Special Exhibitions at the Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET. Valid for use with the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field 2026 Common Ticket.