Installation Exhibition

Spinning Ghost Colors

By Kito Kengo

Exhibition

Art Tour

Art Talk

KITO Kengo — Color, Light and Connections Across Space

Hundreds of colorful hoops stretch across space. Light, reflections and afterimages emerge from objects found in Hanoi. For his first solo exhibition in Vietnam, KITO Kengo brings these two worlds together in Spinning Ghost Colors.

The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam is honored to present KITO Kengo’s large-scale installation using one of his signature materials: colorful hula hoops and a new work developed through his research in Hanoi. Known for transforming familiar, everyday materials into immersive spatial experiences, he connects numerous brightly colored hoops and extends them through the gallery and into the garden. These circles recall brushstrokes drawn on the “canvas” of space in which individual ones become part of a larger, web-like composition that links one area to another.

The second installation begins with KITO Kengo’s encounter in Hanoi. While researching the city’s streets and markets, he discovered a self-rotating lantern that became the starting point for new work. Combined with colored filters and mirrors, the rotating lanterns create shifting layers of light, reflection and afterimage. As these effects accumulate, the familiar form of the lantern becomes less distinct, transforming an ordinary object found in Hanoi into a new visual experience. Through the simple mechanism and calculated spatial arrangement, KITO Kengo leads the viewers to a hidden world of what can be felt but not held tangible, which floats gently above the physical world of objects – the stream of light and colors continuously spreading then withdrawing on the surface of the material.

Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1977, KITO Kengo has exhibited widely not only in Japan but also internationally, and currently a Professor of Contemporary Art at the Graduate School of Kyoto University of the Arts. He received the Kyoto City New Artist Award in 2019, and his works are held in public collections including the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art and The National Museum of Art, Osaka. His career includes major presentations at Mori Art Museum, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Hara Museum ARC and Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art.

For inquiries on the program, please contact:

Ms. Ngoc 024-3944-7419 (ext. 113) / Ms. Ushio (ext. 160)

The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam

27 Quang Trung, Cua Nam, Hanoi, Vietnam                                              TEL 024-3944-7419

https://www.facebook.com/japanfoundation.vietnam/                     https://hn.jpf.go.jp/

About the Artist

KITO Kengo was born in Aichi Prefecture in 1977. He graduated from the Western Painting Course, Department of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts at Nagoya University of the Arts, and later completed a Master’s degree in Oil Painting at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Kyoto City University of Arts.

He began his artistic practice while still a student at Nagoya University of the Arts. During this period, he helped establish and run Art Space dot, an artist-run space in Aichi Prefecture. In 2008, he spent a year in New York with support from the Goto Memorial Cultural Foundation. In 2010, he moved to Berlin, Germany, as a fellow of the Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists administered by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. After returning to Japan in 2015, he based his artistic practice primarily in Gunma Prefecture. He is currently a Professor at the Graduate School of Kyoto University of the Arts.

[Selected Solo Exhibitions]

• 2015   Migration, The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, Gunma, Japan
• 2017   YCC Temporary – Kengo Kito, YCC Yokohama Creativecity Center, Kanagawa, JapanKito Kengo: Multiple Star, Hara Museum ARC, Gunma, Japan
• 2020   Full Lightness, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan
• 2021   KENGO Kito Untitled (hula-hoop), The Ueno Royal Museum Gallery, Tokyo, JapanRECONNECTING, Japan House, Los Angeles
• 2022   Lines, KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre, Kanagawa, Japan
• 2023   Unity on the Hudson, Hudson River Museum, New York, USA
• 2024   buoyancy of color, anonymous art project, ZeroBase Jingumae, Tokyo, Japanuntitled (hula-hoop), National Taiwan Sport University, Taoyuan Land Art Festival 2024, Taoyuan, Taiwan
• 2025      anonymous art project, Collateral Exhibition of the Japan Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.Courtyard and Exhibition Galleries of the National Archaeological Museum of Venice (P.za San Marco, 17/52, Venezia, Italy), Venice, Italy

[Selected Group Exhibitions and Art Projects]

• 2005    very very human, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
• 2007      Roppongi Crossing 2007: Future Beats in Japanese Contemporary Art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
• 2011    Ways of Worldmaking, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Osaka, Japan
• 2012    Carpe Diem. Seize the Day, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
• 2018    Roppongi Art Night 2018, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
• 2019      Takamatsu Art Museum Collection + The Secrets of Techniques, Takamatsu Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan
• 2021      DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow 2021, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
• 2022    Traces of Life, Arts Maebashi, Gunma, Japan
• 2022    Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival, Grand Front Osaka, Osaka, Japan
• 2024      “anonymous art project: Sterling Ruby + Kei Takemura, Kengo Kito, “Dwelling of the Chimera – The Method of Cultivating Power –“, OMOTESANDO CROSSING PARK, Tokyo, Japan
• 2025      The CAPS – Contemporary Art Practice, Osaka Art & Design 2025, Takashimaya Osaka, Osaka, Japan

■ Credits

 Organized by: The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam

Artwork credit: Kito Kengo

■ Images for PR and references

Remarks: For the usage of the following images for your media, please kindly put the credit and information below, and please get the original size of the images at: (PR Kit/Ảnh PR)

All photos credit: ©️Kito Kengo