B-OWND, a platform for arts and crafts provided by Tanseisha, will participate in Personal Structures, an official satellite event of the Venice Biennale 2026, which will be held in Venice, Italy from Saturday, May 9, 2026, and will hold a special exhibition titled Relational Logic — Beyond Dualism, a World Reconnected at the historic Palazzo Bembo.
B-OWND will act as the overall curator and Produce of this exhibition, as well as handle the spatial design. The large-scale exhibition will take place in seven rooms, featuring six artists with a background in Japanese crafts, one art collective, and, in special collaboration, Shueisha Manga Art Heritage.
Event key visual
Background of the initiative
"Personal Structures" is an international contemporary art exhibition organized by the European Cultural Center (ECC) and held concurrently with the Venice Biennale. B-OWND's past activities and themes resonated deeply with the exhibition's overall theme of "Confluences," and as such, they received an official invitation from ECC, giving them a rare opportunity to exhibit as a Japanese curator and gallery.
As "professionals in creating spaces that move the heart," Tanseisha has been involved in creating Cultural Spaces for many years. However, Japan's traditional crafts industry is facing challenges such as a lack of successors and a shrinking market. Through B-OWND, Tanseisha aims to redefine the value of craft art and disseminate it to the global art scene, thereby contributing to the development of cultural leaders and the revitalization of the industry. This exhibition marks the culmination of their efforts to date and is a challenge to present to the world a new evaluation axis based on Japanese aesthetic sense.
News Release
Exhibition Overview
| Exhibition name | “Relational Logic — Beyond Dualism, a World Reconnected” (Translation: The Logic of Relations – Beyond Dualism, the World Reconnected) |
|---|---|
| Event name | Personal Structures 2026 (Official satellite event of the Venice Biennale 2026) |
| Session | May 9, 2026 (Sat) - November 22, 2026 (Sun) |
| Venue | Palazzo Bembo（Riva del Carbon, 4793, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy） |
| Organizer/Planner | TANSEISHA Co., Ltd. B-OWND |
| Cooperation | Shueisha Manga Art Heritage, TeaRoom, etc. |
| Contact Us | B-OWND mail:info@b-ownd.com |
Venue: Palazzo Bembo, where history and art intersect
The exhibition venue, Palazzo Bembo, is a historic building located along the Grand Canal overlooking the Rialto Bridge. Completed in the 15th century, it is a magnificent example of Venetian Gothic architecture. As the residence of the Bembo family, one of Venice's most prestigious aristocrats, it was also a gathering place for many intellectuals during the Renaissance. From its Byzantine portal to its grand Renaissance staircase, the palace is imbued with a diverse and multilayered history. Since 2011, it has served as the home of the European Cultural Center (ECC), a global cultural forum where contemporary art and architecture from around the world intersect. This exhibition will occupy the main area on the second floor of this venerable palace. A site-specific space will be created where the profound history of centuries of history collide and fuse with innovative Japanese art and craftsmanship.
Palazzo Bembo, ECC Italy, ©Federico Pilli
About the exhibition concept: "Relational Logic — Beyond Dualism, a World Reconnected"
Modern society tends to be divided by binary oppositions (dualism) such as "good or evil" or "natural or artificial." This exhibition questions this modern system of "separation" and attempts to reconnect divided values based on the ancient Eastern concepts of "en" (relationships) and "ku" (emptiness). Through the process of touring the seven exhibition rooms of Palazzo Bembo, viewers will shift from a perspective of "separation and understanding" to a perspective of "re-examining relationships," and witness a new experience of beauty in which boundaries melt.
About the exhibition and participating artists
[Room 1 | Creating Relationships — From Viewing to Participation]
Art Collective TeaRoom Shueisha Manga Art Heritage x Hirohiko Araki "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure"
Through the installation and tea ceremony by "TeaRoom," which reinterprets the tea ceremony, which has a history of over 500 years, appreciation will be turned into participation. In addition, as a special collaboration, artwork from the manga "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" will also be present. Going beyond the conflicts between tradition and pop culture, high art and low art, the conditions for the generation of value will be multi-layered.
[Room 2 | Ritual for the Universal — The Intersection of Alchemy and Animism]
Noriaki Imamura (ceramics)
Through a creative process that relies on the natural laws of gravity and heat, the artist presents a series of works that blur the boundaries between use and appreciation, creating a new ritual space that fuses Western alchemy with Eastern animism.
[Room 3 | NEO WABI-SABI — Portraits of Serenity and Excess]
Takahiro Koga (ceramics)
He advocates "NEO WABI-SABI," a fusion of the tranquility of "wabi-sabi" and the gorgeousness of "basara." Through his "Hochigoryo Sakazuki" (Clad Armor Cup) and armor designs covered with countless studs, he presents a powerful beauty for surviving in modern society.
[Room 4 | Accumulation and Release of Memories - Towards a "FLAT" Horizon]
Tomoya Sakai (ceramics)
Using potter's wheel techniques, he visualizes the coming and going of consciousness and unconsciousness. Using memory as a medium, he dismantles pre-existing images and values, and expresses as an installation the perspective that life and the world are essentially equal (FLAT).
[Room 5 | Flower Funeral — Silver of Requiem and Rebirth]
Kengo Takahashi (Metalwork)
The exhibit features skulls made using the "flower casting" technique, which uses tens of thousands of fresh flowers as models and then replaces them with 0.1mm thick aluminum. The work neutralizes the binary opposition between life and death, transience and permanence, and presents death as part of a vast cycle.
[Room 6 | Your Ark — A duet of celebration and emergency]
Nakamura Hiromine (doll)
By repurposing a traditional "tiered platform," the artist has created a space where celebration and emergency coexist. Using the motif of an "ark," where humans and animals, the sacred and the profane coexist, the work questions the meaning of choice and salvation in modern society.
[Room 7 | The Way of Interbeing — The Way of Empty]
Tanabe Chikuunsai IV (bamboo crafts)
This gigantic, site-specific bamboo installation invades and reconstructs the historic building. Based on the Buddhist theme of "emptiness," it creates a "path" that connects inside and outside, people and nature, and the past and future, expressing a world in which all existence resonates with one another.
Comment from Ken Ishigami, producer of Tanseisha B-OWND
B-OWND marks its seventh year this year. We have repeatedly experimented with expanding the boundaries between crafts and art, both in Japan and abroad, and this exhibition marks the culmination of these endeavors, marking our largest project yet. We challenge the system of "division" promoted by modernity and reconnect the world through the ancient Eastern concepts of "connection" and "emptiness." This theme, "The Logic of Relationships," is the theme of this exhibition. This ambitious challenge was made possible thanks to the generous support of many people, including the participating artists and cooperating companies. From Venice, a city where multilayered histories intersect, we will powerfully communicate to the global art scene the new possibilities of Japanese aesthetics and culture that transcend dualism.
Comment from Sara Danieli, Co-Director and Head of Art of the European Cultural Centre – Italy
B-OWND has an unparalleled curatorial ability to integrate tradition, innovative technology, and relational aesthetics, using Japanese crafts as a starting point, and elevate them into expressions that resonate globally. Their mission of connecting the past and the future, technology and human sensibilities, was a perfect match for our philosophy of generating dialogue and coexistence. It was crucial that B-OWND curate the entire space and create a place for living dialogue at Venice's historic Palazzo Bembo, a building with a history of serving as a bridge between continents. This outstanding exhibition goes beyond a mere project; it presents a "new humanism" that connects East and West through a real aesthetic experience, not a theory. We are confident that this long-term alliance, not a passing one, will send a powerful message to the world.
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