Ron Mueck's first major Japanese show in 18 years passes 300,000 visitors and closes 23 September

The Mori Art Museum in Tokyo is showing "Ron Mueck" until 23 September 2026, the Australian-born sculptor's first major solo exhibition in Japan in eighteen years, following his 2008 retrospective at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. The exhibition opened on 29 April.

It is co-organized by the museum and the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, an outcome of the artist's long relationship with the foundation, and was first presented in Paris in 2023 before travelling to Milan and Seoul.

Eleven works trace Mueck's development from early masterpieces to recent pieces, six of them shown in Japan for the first time. The centrepiece is "Mass" (2016-2017), an installation of 100 giant skull sculptures in synthetic polymer paint on fiberglass, held by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, through the Felton Bequest of 2018. The early work "Angel" (1997) is also on view. Mueck works slowly: his total output numbers only around fifty sculptures. Photographs and films by the French photographer and filmmaker Gautier Deblonde, documenting the artist's studio and working process, accompany the sculptures.

The exhibition is curated by Kondo Kenichi, adjunct curator at the Mori Art Museum, with Charlie Clarke as associate curator and Chiara Agradi, curator at the Fondation Cartier. It is presented in special association with the Australian Embassy Tokyo, with a grant from the British Council, corporate sponsorship from Obayashi Corporation and Kajima Corporation, and audio-guide support from artlas.

Attendance passed 300,000 on 11 August, the 105th day of the run. With crowding expected at weekends in the closing weeks, the museum points visitors to weekday evenings, when it stays open until 22:00 (Tuesdays close at 17:00), and notes that the screens over the windows in the "Angel" gallery are raised after dark to reveal the city view. Extended 9:00 openings run on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from June through September. Entry is by timed ticket, at 2,300 yen for adults on weekdays and 2,500 yen at weekends and on holidays, less when booked online.