1.

The first and oldest of these is an ukiyo-e (image of the floating world, in Japanese) woodblock print created by the artist Hiroshige Utagawa in 1857, as part of a series of 119 prints portraying scenes of the capital, Edo—present-day Tokyo.

This style became renowned for depicting everyday life, landscapes, and Kabuki theater actors through images produced from intricately carved wooden blocks. The woodblock print on display belongs to the collection of the Moreira Salles Institute (IMS) and depicts Lake Kawaguchi, near the Zenkoji Temple—a site once widely used for boat crossings.

2.

The contemporary artist Tomoko Sauvage presents ‘Buloklok’, an installation that revisits the concept of the clepsydra—a water clock regarded as the world’s oldest timekeeping device—whose sound patterns evoke the rhythmic breathing of living beings. Shell- and cowrie-shaped sculptures are placed underwater in a large aquarium. A motor generates bubbles, whose movement is recorded by a hydrophone and amplified through speakers.

The work contemplates the fluid nature of time, both empirical and intimate, drawing a parallel to the unique respiratory rates, rhythms, and patterns found in all living beings. Initially created by Sauvage in 2022, the 2025 installation was designed especially for the exhibition at JHSP.

3.

The third featured work is the installation ‘Sans room’, by the artist Shiori Watanabe, who developed an artificial ecosystem of microbial circulation through water. The project presents a hydroponic rice greenhouse linked by tubes to water tanks in a room illuminated by ultraviolet light, evoking a meditation on isolated spaces that may seem empty, yet harbor abundant life within.