For over 15 years, Japanese art duo ZUGAKOUSAKU & KURIEITO have been working together, meticulously recreating ordinary environments entirely from cardboard. At an exhibition at Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the pair turn their childlike creativity to the grimy streets of Tokyo. Specifically, Roppongi. Everything from manhole covers and tactile pavement to signage and litter on the ground have been hand-crafted from cardboard and then painted, revealing slightly off kilter worlds.
ZUGAKOUSAKU & KURIEITO are artists Kishikawa Nozomu and Okamoto Waki. Together, they create altered landscapes through cardboard patchwork that evoke an imperfect world. One that seems like it has been put together by elementary school children. “Supported by this unadorned impulse, the work quietly evokes an awareness that the world is as ephemeral as cardboard, and that everyday emotions and memories are easily lost and this all the more precious.”
The artwork is part of the group exhibition “Roppongi Crossing” going on at Mori Art Museum now through March 29, 2026.
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