Tomoyuki Ueno: Like the flowing river

Artist Tomoyuki Ueno creates individual works and installations where nature appears to be in an endless conversation with form, one echoing the other, in repetition.

Like the flowing river invites visitors to come inside, take the time for contemplation, and ask the question, “How might art and the everyday be intertwined, perhaps even interchangeable?” The exhibition title refers to the opening line of Hōjōki, written by 13th-century Japanese Buddhist monk Kamo no Chōmei: The flow of the river is ceaseless, and the water is never the same…

Ueno’s compositions honor the Buddhist philosophy of impermanence. They are a combination of certainty and ephemerality, the back and forth of it all, hovering and hinged between living and loss. Ueno’s specific artistic choices seen in his sculptural works read like poetry, drawings in space and down to earth, too, here and then gone. 

Several of Ueno’s constructions in the installation are created from twigs he foraged during his residency in Michigan. Other selected works explore his inventive interpretations of ikebana, the traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement, and embrace both the presence and absence of form.

Like the flowing river meets this moment. It offers refuge and shelter, no matter how temporary. It encourages us to take the time to witness the greatness of the natural world going past us, and to wonder. 

–Amanda Krugliak, Institute for the Humanities Curator

Tomoyuki Ueno is the 2026 Paula and Edwin Sidman Visiting Artist.

Tomoyuki Ueno was born in Kobe, Japan and lives in Berlin. Through his art practice, Ueno explores our connections to the natural world, often making work from found materials. He holds a Master of Inter Media Art from Tokyo University of the Arts and a Master of Art and Media from the University of the Arts, Berlin. Ueno has participated in residency programs at the Stiftung Insel Hombroich, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Akiyoshidai International Art Village, and the Tusen Takk Foundation. He has shown his work internationally, notably at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art Print Art Triennale and the 6th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art.