The laboratory is set up separately in an immersive space that almost mirrors a classroom atmosphere where visitors engage in the applications of cognitive science, computer science, abstraction and mechanism, calculation in motion, mathematics, and algorithmic expressions through installations and videos. Some clips show Sato himself lecturing. For instance, a computer-generated rotoscope animation technique traces the silhouettes of human figures and actions as exhibited in “ballet rotoscope” (2011). In the short film, a ballerina dances while her body joints are outlined on the screen.

Masahiko Sato + EUPHRATES, ballet rotoscope, 2011

A wall of Sato’s celebrated books stages his wide scope of accomplishments in research and education. At the foyer, a parade of advertisement posters of popular products, such as Kodak, Glico, and Nabisco, reveals the designer’s imaginative restructuring of the product’s image through visual congruity and humor at the same time. For example, boxes of Milk Soap (Cow Brand Soap) scatter on a green pasture.

Gallery view, Masahiko Sato + Norio Nakamura, Herd of Milk Soaps, Radical Advertisement, 2003-2005, Sato Masahiko Exhibition new × (way of making + way of understanding), Yokohama Museum of Art, Photo: Alma Reyes

Finally, on your way out, make a stop at the grand gallery to explore the Arithmetik Garden. Conceived by Sato and Takashi Kiriyama, Professor, Graduate School of Film and New Media/Department of New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts, the synergetic art installation invites visitors to walk through eight numbered gates while performing calculations. A monitored computer detects different physical and emotional behaviors manifested by the experience.

Masahiko Sato + Takashi Kiriyama, Arithmetik Garden, Installation view of the exhibition “Roppongi Crossing 2007” at Mori Art Museum, 2007

The mind-stimulating exhibition truly embodies Sato’s famous quote, “If the way you make something is new, the result will naturally be new,” as an indispensable guide to constructive communication design.

Yokohama Museum of Art Reopening Inaugural Exhibition
Sato Masahiko Exhibition new × (way of making + way of understanding)
Date: June 28th – November 3rd, 2025
Opening Hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (Saturdays till 20:00)
Closed on Thursdays
Place: Yokohama Museum of Art
Address: 3-4-1 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa
Tel: +81 (0)45 221 0300
https://yokohama.art.museum