Yuko Mohri: sound in motion

Screening and in-conversation with artist Yuko Mohri and Barbican curator Inês Geraldes Cardoso

Join us at Japan House London for a special event exploring the artistic practice of Yuko Mohri, ahead of her exhibition at the Curve gallery at the Barbican, opening on 1 October 2026.

Yuko Mohri is a Tokyo-based artist whose work spans kinetic sculpture, sound, film, photography and painting. Known for repurposing everyday and found objects, Mohri creates chains of reaction activated by ‘unstable elements’ – including magnetism, electricity, gravity, dust and water, often with humorous and unexpected results. Rather than presenting a finished composition, she choreographs environments where changing inputs generate unpredictable outputs, manifesting as sound, motion and scent within continuously transforming installations.

This event highlights Mohri’s collaborations with pioneering sound artist Akio Suzuki and acclaimed Japan-based musicians Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O’Rourke. It includes screenings of two filmed performances: Piano for Four Hands and Four Feet and an excerpt from Sound Performance by Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O’Rourke with Yuko Mohri. These are followed by a conversation between the artist and Inês Geraldes Cardoso, curator of her forthcoming Barbican exhibition. Together, they will discuss these collaborations and the broader role of sound and liveness in Mohri’s work – from the audio frequencies generated by decomposing fruit in her Decomposition (2021–) series to the sonic dimensions of kinetic installations such as I/O (2011–) and Moré Moré (Leaky) (2015–).

Introduced by Sam Thorne, Director General & CEO of Japan House London and organized in collaboration with the Barbican, the event takes place during Mohri’s residency as she develops a new site-specific commission for the Curve gallery. Responding to the gallery’s distinctive architecture, environmental conditions and the presence of visitors, the installation will be on view from 1 October 2026 to 24 January 2027.

About the performances featured in the screenings

Piano for Four Hands and Four Feet is a collaborative performance by Akio Suzuki and Yuko Mohri, originally staged as the opening of Piano Solo: 12 January 1900, Mohri’s 2025 exhibition at MMCA Seoul.

Sound Performance by Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O’Rourke with Yuko Mohri brings together improvisational and experimental sound practices in dialogue with works from Entanglements, Mohri’s 2025 exhibition at Pirelli HangarBicocca.

About the speakers

Yuko Mohri
Born in 1980 in Kanagawa, Yuko Mohri is a Japanese artist who lives and works in Tokyo. She has held solo exhibitions in Japan, Spain, Italy, China and Norway. In 2024, Mohri represented Japan at the Venice Biennale. She has participated in major group exhibitions, including the Gwangju Biennale (2023); Biennale of Sydney (2022); Asian Art Biennial (2021); Bienal de São Paulo (2021); Glasgow International (2021); and Tai Kwun Contemporary (2021). Her work has been acquired by international institutions including Centre Pompidou in Paris, M+ in Hong Kong, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, The National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. In 2025, Mohri was awarded the Calder Prize.

Inês Geraldes Cardoso
Inês Geraldes Cardoso is Assistant Curator at the Barbican and the curator of Yuko Mohri's 2026 Barbican exhibition in The Curve. At the Barbican, she has worked on acclaimed exhibitions and commissions by Francis Alÿs, Julia Phillips and Julianknxx.

Yuko Mohri’s exhibition is supported by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and the Barbican Commissioning Council, with a residency enabled by the Japan House London Trust.

Please note that filming and / or photography may take place at this event. Photos and footage of the event may then be used to promote Japan House London, helping more people to discover what we offer. If you have any concerns, please contact us online or contact a member of the team on site.

Please note that the event title has been updated from Yuko Mohri: unstable elements to Yuko Mohri: sound in motion.

Image: Performance by Akio Suzuki with Yuko Mohri at MMCA, Seoul, 2025.
Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Koshiro Shikine.