Image: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo will present ‘Minami Tada: Light, Calm and Swaying’ from August 29 to December 6, 2026. The exhibition is described as the first major retrospective after the artist’s death, bringing together around 70 works and materials across more than seven decades of practice.
Tada is presented in the source material as an abstract sculptor and installation artist whose career unfolded in postwar Japan. The exhibition traces her development from early paintings through sculptures and lighting works, alongside archival material including photographs and sketches. According to the museum information, the show will occupy the museum’s special exhibition space on the B2 level.
A central theme of the presentation is Tada’s use of industrial materials and the shifting effects of light on form. The source material notes that she worked with stainless steel, glass and acrylic, using reflection, transmission, refraction and subtle movement to create works that change with their surroundings and with the viewer’s motion. Her art is also framed as spanning not only sculpture but architecture and design.
The exhibition includes works associated with buildings and public sites as well as studio pieces. The source material states that Tada completed roughly 200 sculptures and about 500 architectural-related works over her lifetime, with pieces installed in museums, parks, stations, city halls, hotels and theatres. Among the works singled out in the coverage are ‘Frequency 373055MC’ from 1963, ‘Space Eye No. 4’ from 1975, and ‘Light Wall: Dawn’ from 1970.
The show also features reconstructed or recreated works. One highlight is a full-scale reconstruction of the no-longer-extant chandelier ‘Chain Deliar’, originally made for Matsuya Salon in Ginza in 1963. Another is a partial recreation of the light sculpture ‘Zuiun’, made for the RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka Vignette Collection, using about 3,000 original crystal-glass parts from the period of its making.
According to the source, the exhibition will let visitors follow Tada’s roughly 70-year creative trajectory through not only finished works but also archival materials tied to architectural forms, photography and sketches. The museum has set regular opening hours at 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with Friday evening opening in November until 8:00 p.m., and the exhibition will remain on view through December 6, 2026.
