Please note this is an online event and will require you to participate using the video conferencing system Zoom. You will be able to book each event on the separated event page which will be on live soon. The event will also be livestreamed on Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn where a recording will be available following the event.

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Take a closer look at Japan House London’s exhibition Tokolo Asao [CONNECT] Individual and Group with a live online tour led by the artist himself in conversation with Japan House Programming Director Simon Wright.

Designer of the emblems for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Tokolo Asao works in the interdisciplinary fields of art, architecture and design. The exhibition at Japan House presents a selection of Tokolo’s work with patterns and geometric shapes from the past 20 years, each with the characteristic of ‘connection’.

Many of the 2D and 3D works on display have been co-created with a diverse range of collaborators included skilled craftspeople specialising in urushi (lacquer), porcelain from Arita and Edo kiriko cut glass from Tokyo. During the tour, Tokolo discusses the process of co-creation, of how an ‘individual’ is connected to others to form a ‘group’. This principle of ‘Individual and Group’, by which simple forms are connected by certain rules to form a whole, lies at the heart of Tokolo’s practice and his exhibition at Japan House London.

During this live online event, there is an opportunity for registered guests to ask questions to Tokolo Asao.

The exhibition Tokolo Asao [CONNECT] Individual and Group is on display at Japan House until 16 November 2021.

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About the speaker:

Tokolo Asao (b.1969) studied architecture from a young age and now works in the interdisciplinary fields of art, architecture, and design. He has a connection with London already having studied under Egashira Shin at the Architectural Association. Since 11 September 2001, Tokolo has been producing patterns with the theme of ‘to connect’.  Many of his patterns are based on simple geometry and can be reproduced using a compass and a ruler. His work is both two-dimensional and three-dimensional, crossing disciplines such as fine art, design and architecture. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games brought him to the world’s attention, when his graphic art Harmonized Chequered Emblem was chosen as the Games’ Olympic and Paralympic emblems.