Dates: Sep 19 – Oct 27, 2026
Location: Taka Ishii Gallery Maebashi

On the occasion of the inaugural Maebashi Biennale 2026, Taka Ishii Gallery Maebashi is pleased to present “Small Architectures: Light, Void, and the City,” a group show bringing together photographs, an architectural drawing, a maquette, and seminal modernist chairs. Set within Maebashi Galleria (designed by Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office), this presentation connects with Maebashi’s ongoing creative revitalization. Inside the gallery, each work forms its own “small architecture” in dialogue with Hirata’s structural canopy and the surrounding city, exploring how architecture is shaped not just by physical structures, but by light, space, and human presence.

The exhibition features the works of three artists who redefine architectural space through optical phenomena, structural absences, and the psychological grids of modern cities. Ryuji Miyamoto brings this spatial transformation to life at full scale with “Naoshima Pinhole,” made using a camera obscura where light projects the inverted surrounding landscape onto interior walls, turning architecture into an optical instrument. While “Underground / River” series explores the hidden subterranean spaces of Tokyo’s sewer systems and the encased Shibuya River, Naoya Hatakeyama’s “Untitled / Osaka” captures the repurposed Osaka Stadium from an elevated view. Together, both works reveal the overlooked gaps within urban landscapes and the dynamic process of the city’s metabolism. Connecting his landmark photo-essay “Homes for America” with his pavilion prototype “Model C,” Dan Graham traces over fifty years of his anthropological engagement with architectural control. By shifting from suburban picture windows to curved two-way mirror glass, Graham turns passive viewing into an interactive loop where visitors simultaneously look and are seen looking, physically realizing the ideas he first documented on paper before his passing in 2022.

Providing the structural blueprint to this conversation, Akihisa Hirata’s Tree-ness House drawing functions as a conceptual map where solid concrete boxes collapse into layered terraces, voids, and organic openings, unearthing the genetic lineage of Maebashi Galleria itself.

Placed throughout the venue, a selection of modernist chairs highlights furniture as architecture’s smallest, most intimate unit where a building meets the human body. Jean Prouvé’s Démontable and Standard chairs utilize hollow sheet steel for lightweight efficiency, while Pierre Jeanneret’s Library and Easy chairs reflect the aesthetics of Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh. This expands through Charlotte Perriand’s carved wooden Tabouret Stool, Lina Bo Bardi’s organic Deck Chair, Marcel Breuer’s porous steel-and-rattan Bauhaus pieces, and domestic designs by Luis Barragán and Clara Porset. Together, these works demonstrate how spatial design continually shapes, absorbs, and mediates human experience.

This exhibition is held in collaboration with the Maebashi Biennale 2026. Admission requires presentation of the Biennale’s passport tickets.

Passport tickets for the Maebashi Biennale 2026 can be found here

【Maebashi Biennale 2026】
Dates: Sep 19 – Dec 20, 2026
Location: Maebashi City
Hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (Last admission 17:30)
Closed on Wednesdays
For more information
– Please note that the venues will open on Wednesday, Sep 23 (National Holiday), and will be closed the following day, Thursday, Sep 24, in observance.
– During the Maebashi Festival on Saturday, Oct 10 and Sunday, Oct 11, select venues may close temporarily to manage overcrowding.
– Certain public works can be viewed anytime.
– Closing dates may vary by venue. Please check the schedule for each work.

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