WAITINGROOM (Tokyo) is pleased to present the Special Exhibition: Kenta Cobayashi “PARALLAX//TOKYO” from July 18 (Sat.) to August 9 (Sun.), 2026. The exhibition is co-curated by Daisuke Miyatsu, an art collector and professor at Yokohama University of Art and Design, and Jackson Fox Pickard, Young Ambassador of the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia). Working across a wide range of media—including photography, video, sculpture, and installation—Cobayashi has consistently explored the shifting terrain of urban imagery and the fl uidity of memory in digital environments. In his signature #smudge series, Cobayashi used Photoshop’s Smudge Tool to stretch photographic pixels, presenting “the act of editing itself” as a form of visual expression. More recently, in his 2025 solo exhibition “#copycat” at WAITINGROOM, Cobayashi trained AI on his own earlier photographs of urban landscapes and produced lenticular works, a video work, and photographic prints from images generated through prompts referencing specific past works. Through these experiments, he has continued to develop his practice around the fundamental question: “What does it mean to capture truth?” For this exhibition, two collectors who have acquired Cobayashi’s works take on the role of curators. By bringing together works from different periods of his career, “PARALLAX//TOKYO” revisits the artist’s evolving practice and examines how he has continuously expanded the possibilities of photographic expression across diverse media.
“PARALLAX//TOKYO” Visual Images
Kenta Cobayashi (b.1992) graduated from Tokyo Zokei University with a BFA in Painting in 2015. He currently lives and works in Tokyo. Cobayashi made his debut in 2013 by participating in three group exhibitions, including “MEGA MAX GIGA GREAT ZERO ZILLION NEBULA NOVA” (TANA Gallerybookshelf, Tokyo). In 2016, he held his first solo exhibition, “#photo” (G/P gallery, Tokyo). Since then, his work has been featured in numerous notable exhibitions, including “GIVE ME YESTERDAY” (2016, Fondazione Prada Milan Osservatorio, Milan, Italy), “Hello World – For the Post-Human Age” (2018, ART TOWER MITO, Ibaraki, Japan), and “COMING OF AGE” (2022, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France). He also participated in the “Asama International Photo Festival” (Miyota Museum of Photography and other venues, Nagano, Japan) in 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2025. Alongside his exhibition practice, Cobayashi collaborated with Dunhill on its Spring/Summer 2020 collection under the creative direction of Mark Weston and created campaign imagery for Louis Vuitton’s Fall/Winter 2019 Men’s Collection, directed by the late Virgil Abloh. In his 2025 solo exhibition “#copycat” (WAITINGROOM, Tokyo), Cobayashi opened a new chapter in his practice with a series that combined AI-generated interpretations of his past works with cat imagery, drawing a parallel between AI and cats as entities that evade human control.
Reflecting on photography, Kenta Cobayashi has remarked:
“What interests me is the very word shashin (photography) itself. The names of other art forms refer to actions: painting means ‘to paint,’ sculpture means ‘to sculpt.’ Photography, however, is written with characters that literally mean ‘to capture truth.’ That inevitably raises the questions: What is truth? And what does it mean to capture it? In that sense, I approach photography as a kind of Zen riddle.”¹
For Cobayashi, the gestural traces generated through GUIs (graphical user interfaces—operational systems that employ computer graphics and pointing devices) reveal a vivid, living sense of reality concealed beneath the surface of the original image.
Underlying this approach is the spirit of “play” that has informed his practice since childhood. Encountering computers at an early age, Cobayashi was less interested in drawing pictures than in the sounds produced by drawing lines and the unpredictable effects of digital stamps.³ This attitude of playfully embracing slippage and delay between action and result later expanded into performative works such as Sound & Vision and VISUALINERTIA. In these performances, Photoshop editing processes are projected in real time, the movement of the cursor is translated into sound, and the gestures of the hand are extended into full-body actions. Through an ongoing dialogue with ever-evolving digital technologies, playfulness and corporeality have remained central to the development of his artistic language.⁴
This exhibition brings together both recent and earlier works by Cobayashi. The two-part commissioned work wormhole 1 #smudge & wormhole 2 #smudge (2022) and Random Access Memories (2026), a lenticular work employing SunM Color‘s specialized printing and optical technologies that was previously exhibited in “Digital Aura” (Hotel Anteroom Kyoto, February 20–April 5, 2026), will be shown in Tokyo for the first time. The exhibition also includes works centered on Shibuya—Cobayashi’s point of origin as an artist, where he spent part of his twenties as a member of SHIBUHOUSE, an artist collective and shared house.
The exhibition is jointly curated by Jackson Fox Pickard—Young Ambassador of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV, Melbourne, Australia), art collector, and creative producer working across music, fashion, and art—and Daisuke Miyatsu, art collector and Professor at Yokohama University of Art and Design, whose research focuses on the relationship between art, society, and the economy through the practice of collecting contemporary art. The two first met during an NGV research visit to Japan and have since developed a friendship that transcends generations. United by their shared admiration for Cobayashi’s work and their commitment as collectors of his practice, they have organized this exhibition in collaboration with WAITINGROOM.
At a moment when photography’s social function is shifting from recording “what once happened here” to sharing “what is happening here now,” Cobayashi’s work engages a series of increasingly fluid binaries: memory and record, generative AI and human knowledge, fragment and totality, reality and fiction. Against this backdrop, and through the lens of parallax, the exhibition invites viewers to reconsider the fundamental question that has long animated Cobayashi’s practice: “What does it mean to capture truth?”
1. ”Interview with Kenta Cobayashi ‘From the Home to the City, from the Display to Physical Space: Expanding Consciousness,'”, IMA ONLINE, April 30, 2019, https://imaonline.jp/articles/interview/20200430kenta-cobayashi/#page-3 (accessed June 15, 2026).
2. Atsushi Takayama, “Kenta Cobayashi: Expanding the Possibilities of Photographic Expression — Reflections on His Creative Practice,” TOKION, April 13, 2021,
https://tokion.jp/2021/04/13/kenta-cobayashi-genre-defying-photography/ (accessed June 15, 2026).
3. “Does Photography Capture ‘Truth’? Photographer Kenta Cobayashi and the Possibilities of Photographic Expression in the Digital Age,” TV Asahi POST, October 16, 2020,
https://post.tv-asahi.co.jp/post-132445/ (accessed June 25, 2026).
In the article, Cobayashi remarks: “When I was a child, I used to play with Kid Pix, which came installed on Macintosh computers,” and “One of the things I value most in making art is play.”
4. Statement for Kenta Cobayashi “#photo” (2016, G/P gallery, Tokyo) reads: “We continue to arrive somewhere, meaninglessly and desperately, as if in play.”
Left: Random Access Memories, 2026, UV print on acrylic, lenticular lens, 500 × 500 mm each, set of 9
Right: Untitled (I was here) #smudge #video, 2016, single channel video (5min. 29sec., loop)
1992 Born in Kanagawa, Japan
2015 Tokyo Zokei University, Bachelor’s degree, Painting
Currently lives and works in Tokyo.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
#copycat, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
2022
EDGE, agnès b. galerie boutique, Tokyo, Japan
THE PAST EXISTS, Mitsukoshi Contemporary Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Débris, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
Space-Time Continuum, Seibu Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
2021
#smudge, ANB Tokyo 6F Studio1, Tokyo, Japan
2020
CALENDAR, People, Tokyo, Japan
Live in Fluctuations, Little Big Man Gallery, Los Angeles, America
2019
The Magician’s Nephew, rin art association, Gunma
Kenta Cobayashi. Portraits, curated by Marcella Manni, Nonostante Marras, Vogue Photo Festival, Milan, Italy
Photographic Universe, curated by Francesco Zanot, Fotografia Europea 2019, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Rapid Eye Movement, IMA gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2017
Insectautomobilogy / What is an aesthetic?, G/P gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016
#photo, G/P gallery, Tokyo, Japan
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
The AI Art Magazine “SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE” screening program, Load Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
Digital Aura, Anteroom Hotel Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
2025
Kyomei — Resonance, curated by Daisuke Miyatsu, Mikke Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Soft Archaeologies of the Future, CADAN Otemachi, Tokyo, Japan
Asama International Photo Festival 2025 – Photo MIYOTA, MMoP, Nagano, Japan
Hirao Masashi, Kenta Cobayashi, Singular Visions, WALLl_alternative, Tokyo, Japan
AI / POST PHOTO, curated by Shigeo Goto, as part of Art Golden Gai, NOX Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2024
Art Squiggle Yokohama 2024, Yamashita Futo, Yokohama, Japan
2023
HYPER_IMAGE_SCAPE, Boogie Woogie Art Museum (Ulsan Art Museum), Ulsan, Korea
RE: FACTORY – Meet Your Art Festival 2023, w/ WAITINGROOM, Warehouse Terrada G1/G3 Building, Tokyo, Japan
EAST EAST_, w/ TAV Gallery, Science Museum, Tokyo, Japan
elective affinities Part1, agnès b. galerie boutique, Tokyo, Japan
2022
Teppei Kaneuji, Kenta Cobayashi, Human Behaviour, RICOH ART GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
Asama International Photo Festival 2022 – Photo MIYOTA, MMoP, Nagano, Japan
COMING OF AGE, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
Opening Reception, TAV GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
Structure of a Flow, Metronome, Modena, Italy
ART FAIR TOKYO 2022, w/ WAITINGROOM, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan
SHIBUYA FASHION WEEK 2022 SPRING, Shibuya Scramble Square, Tokyo, Japan
SPRING SHOW, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
2021
I am here by WAITINGROOM, CADAN YURAKUCHO, Tokyo, Japan
constellation#02, rin art association, Gunma, Japan
Shape of Gaze.02, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
New Existentialism, Unexistence Gallery, ONLINE / HULIC &New UDAGAWA, Tokyo, Japan
Photo 2021: The Truth, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia
2020
SOURCE/ADIT: Studio TOKYO PHOTOGRAPHIC RESEARCH, ENCOUNTERS, ANB Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Nature is Not your Household, ONLINE
constellation #01, rin art association, Gunma, Japan
2019
The Shape of Things to Come: Technology – AI and the Human, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan
Asama International Photo Festival 2019 – Photo MIYOTA, MMoP, Nagano, Japan
n e w f l e s h, curated by Efrem Zelony-Mindell, The Light Factory, North Carolina, America
TENNOZ ART FESTIVAL 2019, Tennoz isle, Tokyo, Japan
#005 PHOTO Playground, Ginza Sony Park, Tokyo, Japan
Arte Fiera 2019, Bologna Exhibition Center, Bologna, Italy
2018
BRAVE NEW WORLD – 2018 SEOUL PHOTO FESTIVAL, SeMA + Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Unseen Amsterdam 2018, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Breda Photo Festival, Breda, Netherlands
Asama International Photo Festival 2018 – Photo MIYOTA, Former Mercian Karuizawa Museum and surrounding area, Nagano, Japan
From My Point of View, Metronom, Modena, Italy
Hello World – For the Post-Human Age, ART TOWER MITO, Ibaraki, Japan
Tokyo Before/After, The Japan Foundation, Toronto, Canada
2017
Forever Fornever, Bannister Gallery, Providence, America
Unseen Amsterdam 2017, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Guangzhou Image Triennial 2017, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
FORMAT International Photography Festival, Derby, UK
2016
GIVE ME YESTERDAY, Fondazione Prada Milan Osservatorio, Milan, Italy
asdfghjkl;’ x くぁwせdrftgyふじこlp, 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
New Rube Goldberg Machine, KAYOKOYUKI + Komagome SOKO, Tokyo, Japan
New Material, Casemore Kirkeby, San Fransisco, America
Close to the Edge: New Photography from Japan, MIYAKO YOSHINAGA, New York, America
NEW VISIONS #2, G/P gallery shinonome, Tokyo, Japan
2015
Trans-Tokyo / Trans-Photo, Jimei×Arles East West Encounters International Photo Festival, Xiamen, China
Gestaltkreis, HAGISO, Tokyo, Japan
The Devil May Care, Noorderlicht Photogallery, Groningen, Netherlands
hyper-materiality on photo (Photo London), Somerset House, London, UK
hyper-materiality on photo, G/P gallery SHINONOME, Tokyo, Japan
New Japanese Photography, DOOMED GALLERY, London, UK
NORIKO NAKAZATO, Psychic VR Lab, Kenta Cobayashi, ISLAND IS ISLANDS, G/P gallery shinonome, Tokyo, Japan
TOKYO FRONTLINE PHOTO AWARD NEW VISIONS #1, G/P gallery SHINONOME, Tokyo, Japan
2014
Multi(Multi)(ple(s)), The Container, Tokyo, Japan
The Exposed #7, G/P gallery SHINONOME, Tokyo, Japan
PICTURE-PARTY 2, TAV Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
PICTURE-PARTY 1, SHIBUHOUSE, Tokyo, Japan
2013
MEGA MAX GIGA GREAT ZERO ZILLION NEBULA NOVA, TANA Gallerybookshelf, Tokyo, Japan
THE NEW BLACK, UltraSuperNew Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
GIGMENTA 2013: IKERU-KIGASURU, curated by SHIBUHOUSE, HIGURE 17-15 cas, Tokyo, Japan
SELECTED COLLABORATIONS / CAMPAIGNS
2022
Adidas ‘Kenta Cobayashi x adidas SPORTSWEAR’, Tokyo, Japan
Louis Vuitton ‘LV DREAM’, wallpaper, Paris, France
Summer Sonic 2022, main gate, Tokyo, Japan
GINZA SIX, window display & campaign images, Tokyo, Japan
Seibu Shibuya, window display & campaign images, Tokyo, Japan
2021
TOYOTA Corolla Cross, TV commercial & campaign images, Tokyo, Japan
2020
Dunhill ‘Blue Capsule Collection’ by Mark Weston, collaboration, London, UK
2019
Dunhill ‘Men’s Spring/Summer 2020’ by Mark Weston (collaboration), London, UK
Louis Vuitton ‘Men’s Fall/Winter 2019’ by Virgil Abloh (campaign images), Paris, France
2018
Unseen Amsterdam 2018 (campaign images), Amsterdam, Netherlands
AWARD
2015 TOKYO FRONTLINE PHOTO AWARD 2015, Grand prize
PUBLIC COLLECTION
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
Tokyo Before/After, The Japan Foundation
Amana Collection
Takahashi Collection
Left: Solo Exhibition “#copycat” (2025, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo) Installation View, Photo by Shintaro Yamanaka (Qsyum!)
Right: Solo Exhibition “EDGE” (2022, agnès b. galerie boutique, Tokyo) Installation View, Photo by Fuyumi Murata
