板室温泉 大黒屋

Miyu Hosoi Exhibition “Trusted Silence”
Dates: 5 September (Fri) – 29 September (Mon), 2025, 10:00–17:00
Venue: Itamuro Onsen Daikokuya
Supported by: Gallery 38

Itamuro Onsen Daikokuya is pleased to present Trusted Silence, a solo exhibition by sound artist Miyu Hosoi, running from 5 to 29 September 2025. Based in Tokyo, Hosoi has long explored sound’s potential to transform our perception of space and time. In addition to multi-track recordings, she has developed a wide range of works including multi-channel sound installations and stage productions that alter spatial awareness through sound. In recent years, she has expanded her practice to include three-dimensional works. Active both in Japan and abroad, Hosoi has exhibited internationally at venues such as London’s Barbican Centre and Paris’s IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique).

In 2022, Hosoi presented a one-day sound installation at Daikokuya as part of the monthly concert series Listening to Sound, held on the 26th of each month. This exhibition marks her first full-scale solo exhibition at Daikokuya since then.
The exhibition title Trusted Silence conveys an attitude of “listening into silence”. This means not merely waiting for sound, but trusting in and accepting the tension before a sound emerges, and recognising the presences that dwell in moments of silence. To sustain such awareness in daily life, Hosoi has been creating sound objects as “devices”. She uses familiar materials such as bells, clocks, and metal plates. Among these, bells hold special significance: even in silence, they evoke sound as a universal presence, while remaining anonymous and lending sound a tangible body and sense of place.
Hosoi has remarked, “I want to listen to the silence just before a sound arises. To accept that it will not sound now, to ask for nothing more, and to be satisfied with completing it in the mind. That is the kind of person I want to be.” Her exploration goes beyond conventional sound art, expressing the value of “absence” and “inaudibility” while also addressing questions surrounding the “illusion of time perception”. Her works encapsulate time within objects, encouraging audiences to encounter experiences distinct from real time.
This exhibition will feature around twenty works in total. New pieces include Trusted Silence, Time Liberation Movement, Falls, and Thirst. The show also presents works created following Hosoi’s research in the Philippines, such as Human Archive Center and A Big Mountain. In addition, formative pieces from the early days of her sound object practice—such as Fixation 5 and Momo—will be on display.
The exhibition is positioned as an extension of her 2024 solo exhibition Stain at Gallery 38 in Tokyo. While Stain centred on sound installations addressing urban environmental noise and social records and included a variety of sound objects, the current exhibition places greater emphasis on sound objects. Within the setting of a ryokan, where visitors’ footsteps and murmurs mingle with occasional stillness, the show explores the “diversity of silence” from multiple perspectives.
In addition, Wadachi (Ruts)—first presented in Okuma, Fukushima earlier this year—will be on display in Daikokuya’s North Wing. Unlike the works shown in the main salon, this piece resonates strongly with social and historical contexts and is therefore installed in a separate location. Visitors are invited to take a short walk from the main building to view this work.
We warmly invite you to experience Miyu Hosoi’s world of silence and time this early autumn at Itamuro Onsen Daikokuya.