The 3rd BUG Art Award finalists exhibition

A newly reconstituted award panel welcomes two new judges for this finalists exhibition

The BUG Art Award limits the term of its judges to three years. This is because we believe the Award must continue to evolve in response to changes in the art world. This year, we are delighted to welcome artists Aya Momose and yang02 as new judges. Momose addresses the multi-layered quality of communication with others, adopting a self-referential methodology that applies video to a reconsideration of its own medium. yang02 looks to explore and expose how technology has concealed, or rendered us unaware of, issues of politics and privilege. The addition of these two new judges has had a transformational impact on the pool of award applicants and finalists. We believe that this will give visitors the opportunity to experience shifts in the art world and encounter new forms of expression distinct from previous sets of finalists. Keep an eye out for further developments at the BUG Art Award!

Events and final public screening during the exhibition period

Exhibition tours and mini-talks by the six finalists
During the exhibition period, tours and mini-talks will be hosted by the six finalists from 19:00 on September 24 (Wed) and October 18 (Sat). The enjoyable programming for both days will enable visitors to get to know the artists by engaging with them on a range of topics, such as explanations of their works, why they applied to the BUG Art Award, and their daily creative practice.

Featuring: LIO, Ayumi Okita, Mizuki Takahashi, Xu Qiu Cheng, Ryohei Yoshihara, and Ayu Zenyoji

Date and time: 19:00–20:30, September 24 (Wed) and October 18 (Sat), 2025

Participation: In-person only Registration: Free registration, via Peatix, is required in advance of the events (for more information, please refer to the BUG website, and our social media). Register here.

Final public screening

At a final public screening on September 30 (Tue), the six finalists will present their plans for the solo exhibition they intend to hold, should they be awarded the Grand Prize. The judges will deliberate and select a winner following evaluation of the following three elements: the presentations, exhibited work, and plans for the solo exhibition. The entire final screening will be broadcast online (via live stream) to those who have registered in advance. *Please note that BUG will be closed on the day of the final screening. Accordingly, we ask that you avoid visiting the venue on this date, as neither the exhibition nor the final screening will be open to the public on-site. We look forward to welcoming you on another date during the exhibition’s run.

Date and time: 15:00–19:30, September 30 (Tue), 2025
Participation: web only
Registration: Free registration, via Peatix, is required in advance of the events (for more information, please refer to the BUG website, and our social media). Register here.

This exhibition showcases six finalists selected from among 418 entrants

The six finalists are active in a diverse range of media, including painting, installation, video, and media art. We present the finalists’ comments on the exhibition plan below (in alphabetical order by name).

LIO Purple Black (media art/video/performative bodily expression)
Visitors sit in a hammock to view footage in which the artist themself lip-syncs a dialogue that features interwoven references to the BDS movement—which calls for action to stop the genocide in Palestine—experiences of police racial profiling, and issues around misgendering. Drag serves as a form of resistance to the gender binary. The hammocks are provided as a way of creating a setting in which the visitor can listen in a state of suspension to topics around race and gender that are stigmatized in Japanese society.

Ayumi OKITA The Rites of Fruition(painting/installation)
Are the forests actually thriving? People talk about global warming and deforestation, but the deterioration of neglected satoyama (managed woodland) is also a problem in many areas. Once, people connected with nature through kami (deities), performed agricultural rituals to celebrate harvests, and imagined megami (female deities) inhabiting the mountains. But now our connection to the forests is becoming ever fainter. This work engages in a dialogue with urushi lacquer—a material that defies human control—during the act of painting, in a search for new ways of connecting with nature in our present age.

Mizuki TAKAHASHI Staring at the Hands of a Broken Clock(media art)
What was that cabinet, manufactured over two decades ago and sold off cheap as dead stock, meant to store away? And what about that light, discarded as useless despite the fact it still works, what was it supposed to illuminate? Focusing on the latent historicity of such entities, I hope to be there to witness the moment when something new comes into being. This work is an experiment in the ritual use of a drawing machine as a device to induce invisible forces.

XU Qiu Cheng Ripples: The Great Earthquake – 200 Years Later(media art/video/performative bodily expression)
This work is built around the theme of “post-memory,” and was created using a videogame engine. It opens with the creation myth surrounding the origin of Japan, and culminates in humanity’s migration into space and evolution into extraterrestrial lifeforms. And then, as the narrative turns back from the end, the now extraterrestrial descendants of humanity seize upon the myths of their ancestors—those who first set foot on this new planet—in an effort to imagine the Earth of old, and use advanced technology to simulate it. It is at the intersection of these two timelines that “I” exist.

Ryohei YOSHIHARA The Great Lakes (media art/illustration/land art)
I used Google Maps to search for lakes that resembled each of the Great Lakes, five lakes along the Canada-US border, and will release one GPS-tracked log into each of these unnamed lakes. Five fish tanks, also corresponding to the five lakes, will be arranged at the venue. Visitors will be able to scan QR codes floating in the tanks, and use their phones to check the current location of the logs as they float around the lakes.

Ayu ZENYOJI Generated Pimples(media art/installation)
In this work, I juxtapose three images of AI-generated women with mechanical pimples. The images of women that circulate in advertising and on social media perpetually reproduce the “ideal face” to drive consumption. In this context, imperfections like acne are made invisible, and the reality of the body is eliminated. By layering issues of homogenization brought about by generative AI over the problem of how women have been represented in everything from the history of art to advertising, I challenge the way in which “appeal” has been constructed through the collusion of visual culture and consumption.