akihito okunaka's balloon-like sculpture conjures synesthesia at WHAT MUSEUM

Akihito Okunaka, Synesthesia –Crossing the senses with art–

Japanese artist Akihito Okunaka brings his large-scale works to the WHAT MUSEUM in Shinagawa city. Running until March 16th, 2025, the exhibition, Akihito Okunaka, Synesthesia –Crossing the senses with art–, features balloon-like soft sculpture themed around air, water, and light, generating experiences that stir the senses. Visitors will particularly get a glimpse of what synesthesia feels like: a perceptual condition where the experience of one sense involuntarily awakens a second sensory pathway, leading to a curious overlaps, like tasting words or relating colors to numbers.

WHAT MUSEUM exhibition view: Akihito Okunaka, Synesthesia –Crossing the senses with art– | image © Keizo Kioku

a multi-sensorial, balloon-like installation at WHAT MUSEUM

Upon entering the exhibition space at the WHAT MUSEUM, visitors will discover at its heart a balloon-like installation by Akihito Okunaka, spanning 12 meters in diameter. Created specifically for this show, the artwork expands to completely fill the space, changing colors in an iridescent fashion. Inside, the artist places a large water pillow, inviting the audience to sit, lie down, touch, explore, and take it all in. ‘This sensorial experience allows the viewers to feel a connection with others that transcends physical sensations. […] Air, water, light, and relationships with others have no solid form. Visitors can find these shapeless entities by experiencing the artwork and seeing its wavering form and surfaces in response to the movements of other visitors,’ explains the museum.

WHAT MUSEUM exhibition view: Akihito Okunaka, Synesthesia –Crossing the senses with art– | image © Keizo Kioku

Okunaka was also influenced by French philosopher Bruno Latour, a leading figure in the field of sociology and technology, best know to reevaluate the modern framework of dualism between nature and society. This exhibition presents some insights into this philosophical thought and the process of integrating it into his creations through books that inspired Okunaka, along with his sketches and scribbles, and an interview video filmed exclusively for Synesthesia –Crossing the senses with art–.