Keita Miyazaki in Venice: Water, Material and a Dialogue Between Japan

Keita Miyazaki in Venice: "From Water To Form"

From May 9 to September 13, 2026, the Museo d’Arte Orientale at Ca’ Pesaro presents From Water To Form, a solo exhibition by Japanese artist Keita Miyazaki. Curated by Pier Paolo Scelsi, Ilaria Cera and Riccardo Freddo with scientific direction by Elisabetta Barisoni, Marta Boscolo Marchi, Daniele Ferrara and Stefania Portinari, the show investigates water as a generative and transformative element.

Miyazaki’s practice, previously shown at sites such as the Nymphaeum of Villa Giulia, finds in Venice a resonant environment: a city suspended between liquid element and architecture, and home to one of Europe’s most important Edo-period Japanese collections. Water operates here as a symbolic material that erodes, shapes and renews.

The exhibited works engage in dialogue with the museum’s permanent holdings, highlighting craftsmanship as a ritual practice where gesture, time and technique become tools of knowledge and transformation. The exhibition emphasizes modularity and processes of material change, mapping continuities between tradition and contemporary expression.

Complementing the museum presentation, the project includes a public art intervention on the island of Giudecca in collaboration with CREA Cantieri del Contemporaneo: a site-specific modular sculpture conceived for Venice and its workshop traditions.

Why visit

• To see how water is translated into sculptural language and process.
• To experience the conversation between contemporary works and historic Edo artefacts.
• To visit a site-specific installation that engages public space on the Giudecca island.

Practical information

• Venue: Ca’ Pesaro – Museum of Oriental Art, Santa Croce 2076, Venice
• Dates: May 9 – September 13, 2026
• Opening hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:00)
• Museum contact: [email protected]
• Organisers and patrons: Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Veneto – Museo d’Arte Orientale, Galleria Rosenfeld, CREA; supported by the Consulate General of Japan in Milan and the Japan Foundation.

Note: The exhibition is part of the program connected to the 61st Venice Biennale and combines museum displays with public art, offering an extended interpretation of the intersection between contemporary Japanese practice and Venice’s layered history.