BUG, operated by Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Hisayuki Idekoba) is pleased to present BUG School 2025: Moment Scape from Wednesday, December 17, 2025, with independent curator Kaho Ikeda joining as guest curator.
This project serves as a platform to introduce multiple artists, with seven artists presenting small-scale exhibitions and diverse programs. By creating opportunities to engage with the artists’ thoughts and works, it aims to expand the potential of the art center. It is a learning space designed to be enjoyed by a wide range of people, including working adults and students who may not have had previous exposure to art.
BUG School is an art project combining a group exhibition with participatory programs. Conceived collaboratively by independent curator Kaho Ikeda and BUG, this marks its third iteration. It creates opportunities to purchase artworks while engaging in dialogue and mutual learning with the artists. Based on BUG’s policy of supporting artists’ careers, it provides opportunities to artists with limited experience selling their work. It supports artists in expanding their activities by involving them in the process of creating sales documents and considering pricing and sizing. All proceeds, minus the artist’s share and shipping costs, will be donated to Save the Children.
Additionally, “BUG School” features a Learning Space. This area serves as a venue for participatory programs and allows visitors to read books recommended by exhibiting artists, deepening understanding of the artists beyond the exhibition itself. It is a space open to everyone, to relax between viewing with children or friends, discussing the artworks, or simply taking a break. Please note that BUG Cafe beverages are available exclusively within this Learning Space.
Curator’s comment
Artists create works, and viewers receive and interpret expressions. At Bug School, we prioritize relationships that transcend this framework—where viewers feel and think for themselves through works and participatory programs, and where unexpected dialogue and discoveries arise between artists and audiences.
Continuing this approach, we are launching Bug School 2025: Moment Scape, a 40-day limited art project created in collaboration with seven artists to cultivate more multi-layered connections.
The title combines “Moment” and “Scape,” embodying our desire to reexamine the nature of life and living by using various “moments” as clues—such as the experiences that accumulate in daily life or the sudden, sensory realizations that arise unexpectedly.
We shared two keywords with the artists as hints for their creations.
・Pile of Moment
Example: How the accumulation of daily experiences and thoughts shapes our activities.
・Catch Moment
Example: How opening our senses enables a different way of seeing things than usual.
We left the interpretation of these keywords to the artists. Some began with one keyword, while others moved between both during their creation. We hope that through viewing experiences and participatory programs, visitors’ thoughts and senses will intersect with these diverse artistic practices, and as different perspectives and moments overlap, this project will take shape as an open space, unfolding like a landscape.
Ikeda has been researching art collectives, DIY cultures, and cultural activism since 2016, principally in Southeast Asia. After gaining experience as an assistant at the Mori Art Museum, she became independent in the spring of 2023. Currently, she serves as co-program director of Yamanaka Suplex and guest curator at Art Center BUG. Recent major exhibitions and learning programs include, BUG School 2024:Feeling Cities with Wild Sense (BUG, 2024), Go Alone? Arrive Faster? Aim Further? Die Together? (Yamanaka Suplex, 2024), Kobe Rokko Meets Art 2024 beyond (Hyogo, 2024). Additionally, selected for the T3 NEW TALENT (T3 PHOTO FESTIVAL TOKYO) curator category. Guest juror for the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre [ACAC] Open Call AIR2025. Participated in the Sharjah Biennial 16 Curator Program.
About the exhibition
Exhibition by 7 Artists
This exhibition presents works that reexamine the nature of life and living, using various “moments” as their starting point—accumulated experiences within daily life, or sudden, intuitive realizations. By carefully selecting the materials and angles of the exhibition walls and utilizing the multi-layered depth of the BUG space, we aim to create a space where the overlapping of works and the viewing experience itself generate rhythm and change.
Participatory Programs
Participatory programs led by exhibiting artists will be held during the exhibition period. We plan workshops where participants can experience the artists’ creative processes hands-on, as well as workshops that extend the works’ worldviews while utilizing the urban space around BUG. Each program incorporates a “Learning” perspective, aiming to create practices where people from diverse backgrounds gain insights and learn through interactive communication.
Purchase of Artwork
During the exhibition period, the displayed artworks are available for purchase (excluding some pieces). You can enjoy artworks that caught your eye during the exhibition or pieces by artists you became a fan of through our programs in your own home. Our learning space also introduces ways to display artworks in your room.
*The artwork list is updated regularly. Please check the website below for details.
https://bug.art/exhibition/bugschool-2025/purchase/
Information
Aokid, Mizuki ASHIKAWA, KANOKO TAKAYA, Kai SAKAMOTO, Tatsuru HATAYAMA, Eri YAGI, Katsunobu YOSHIDA
2025.12.17 (WED)– 2026.2.8 (SUN)
11:00–19:00
Tuesdays and from December 29(Mon), 2025 through January 6 (Tue),2026
Free
BUG
