Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) has named Han Ishu and yang02 as winners of the sixth Tokyo Contemporary Art Award (TCAA) 2026–2028. The award ceremony and symposium took place on 4 March 2026 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.
About the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and TOKAS established the TCAA in 2018 to support mid-career artists based in Japan who show strong potential for international breakthroughs. Each winner receives a cash prize of JPY 3 million (approximately USD 19,000), additional funding of up to JPY 2 million for overseas activities, a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, and a published monograph.
Han Ishu
Han Ishu was born in Shanghai in 1987 and lives in Tokyo. He completed his doctoral programme at the Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Film and New Media in 2025. Through performance-based videos and installations, he uses his own body as a starting point to make visible the norms, systems, and structures of the social gaze — often with subtle humour. His practice probes the complex relationship between the self and society, drawing on diasporic experience.
yang02
Kanagawa-based yang02 builds installation works in which machines replace human-centred actions typically associated with the art system — such as creating, viewing, and installing works. In recent years, he has slowed down toy racing cars and transformed exhibition spaces into power stations using self-built large generators. Through these gestures, he exposes the politics, privilege, and violence concealed behind the convenience of technology.
Tokyo Contemporary Art Award : A Platform for Mid-Career Artists
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The TCAA continues to champion artists working at a pivotal stage of their careers. Previous recipients include Umeda Tetsuya and Oh Haji, whose TCAA-supported exhibition ran at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo until March 2026. Han Ishu and yang02 now join that lineage, with their solo exhibitions and international activities set to unfold over the next two years.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
