Emi Kusano
Artist
Born in Tokyo in 1990, Emi Kusano is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice integrates emerging technologies, including AI, to explore nostalgia, pop culture, and collective memory. Through a retro-futuristic aesthetic, she visualizes dialogues between past and present and invites viewers to reconsider the relationship between rapidly evolving technologies and contemporary society.
Her work has been presented in more than 20 countries at major institutions including M+ in Hong Kong, Saatchi Gallery in London, Grand Palais Immersif in Paris, and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, as well as at international art fairs including Frieze and Paris Photo. Her artistic roots lie in street photography documenting Harajuku fashion, and this early archive was later featured at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Kusano has undertaken an official art project associated with Ghost in the Shell and participated in collaborative auctions organized by Christie’s with Gucci and UNHCR. She was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2025 and a Cultural Leader in 2026. She has taught at Tokyo University of the Arts and currently serves on the Copyright Subcommittee of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, contributing to discussions about authorship and rights in the age of AI. Her wider practice also includes leading the synth-wave unit Satellite Young.
Photo by SHUHEI SHINE