A Tradition in Motion
Presented at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris by Galerie Mingei →, the third edition of the Mingei Bamboo Prize brings several generations of bamboo artists into the same exhibition, from established figures such as Yonezawa Jiro (1956), and Honma Hideaki (1959), to Yoshida Takumi (1996), and Shimizu Yūki, (1994).
In Japan, bamboo work developed through refined forms of basketry closely associated with flower arranging, domestic display and cultivated elite circles. The techniques remain exacting, based on splitting, bending, weaving and assembling bamboo with remarkable control, but the forms produced today increasingly belong to a different visual territory.
Click below to discover the finalists :
FROM craftsmanship
TO contemporary art
The fourteen finalists make that transition particularly visible. Baskets and vessels remain part of the vocabulary, but they now sit alongside abstract volumes, suspended structures and works conceived primarily for their presence in space. Bamboo becomes a material for sculpture, explored through tension, repetition, transparency, weight and scale.
The finalists are selected and judged on their ability to combine technical mastery with a clear degree of innovation, both in the processes they employ and in the forms they develop. At the Musée du quai Branly, the strength of the exhibition comes from seeing these positions together and understanding contemporary bamboo art as a field that now extends well beyond the functional object.
See the finalists in Paris
The fourteen finalist works will be on view at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris → from September 1 to 13, 2026 and until October 31 at the exhibition space of Galerie Mingei, 5 rue Visconti in Paris.
Visitors are invited to take part in the selection by voting for a separate Public Prize until September 11. Presented with free admission, the exhibitions offers a rare opportunity to see fourteen distinct approaches to contemporary Japanese bamboo art together in one place.
On September 11, a jury chaired by the museum’s president Emmanuel Kasarhérou, and bringing together figures from museums, galleries, diplomacy and the arts, including the Japanese Ambassador in France and artists Sheila Hicks and Jyunpei Hayashi, winner of the prize’s second edition, will select this year’s laureate.