Emi Kusano

Emi Kusano is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice integrates emerging technologies, including AI, to explore nostalgia, pop culture, and collective memory. By visualizing the dialogue between past and present through a retro-futuristic aesthetic, she invites viewers to reconsider contemporary society.

Her work has been internationally exhibited in over 20 countries at major institutions including M+ (Hong Kong), Saatchi Gallery (London), Grand Palais Immersif (Paris), and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, as well as at major international art fairs such as Frieze and Paris Photo. Her artistic roots lie in street photography, and her early archival work on Harajuku fashion was featured at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London).

Kusano has realized a commissioned project associated with the seminal cyberpunk work Ghost in the Shell, and participated in collaborative auctions with Christie's for Gucci and UNHCR. She was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2025 and a Cultural Leader in 2026.

Having served as a lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts, she currently serves on Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs' Copyright Subcommittee, addressing issues of authorship and rights in the algorithmic age. Her background also includes leading the synth-wave unit Satellite Young.