4th BUG Art Award Finalists Exhibition to be Held from September 9, 2026

BUG, operated by Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd., will host the 4th BUG Art Award Finalists Exhibition from September 9, 2026, to October 4, 2026. A public final judging session to select one grand prize winner will be held on September 15. The grand prize winner will be granted the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at BUG about a year later, along with a production grant of up to 3 million JPY (including installation and removal costs) and an artist fee.

The BUG Art Award is dedicated to artists with 10 years or less of career experience. The award supports artists throughout the judging process by providing feedback from jurors and holding consultation sessions for exhibition planning and installation. The goal is to support artists who wish to explore new expressions and build their careers.

For this exhibition, the six finalists decided the layout through discussion and determined the final plan while simulating display and installation within the BUG space. Please look forward to the exhibition by these six finalists.

Finalist Profiles and Work Introductions

### Tamaki OTSUKA Sculptor and performer, born in 2001, based in Tokyo. Focusing on sculpture and dance, OTSUKA creates sculptural, installation, and performance works under the theme of "boundaries." Familiar with classical ballet and ethnic dance since childhood, she views dancing as an act of expanding bodily boundaries. Meanwhile, she views sculpture as a medium to engage with non-human things through tactile sense, and aims to perceive the world through these two perspectives.

Exhibition History: - 2026: "Musashino Art University Graduation/Completion Exhibition", Tokyo - 2024: "ATAMI ART GRANT 2024", Shizuoka

Awards: - 2026: Excellent Award, Sculpture Course, Graduate School of Art and Design, Musashino Art University - 2024: Shimizu Takashi Prize

Title: "Connected Bodies" Medium: Sculpture / Video / Performance This work is a performance where two humans wear shell-motif objects and "become sculptures." The objects function as organs connecting their bodies. Each performer holds multiple poses while tied by the restriction of being inseparable from the other. The quoted poses are based on works by sculptor Camille Claudel. In this work, I want to blur the boundary of the fixed relationship between the "subject of making" and "object made" by directly connecting two bodies, creating a "self" that encompasses another.

### Miho SAITO Born in Kanagawa in 2001, based in Tokyo. Completed master's degree in sculpture at Musashino Art University in 2026. SAITO develops three-dimensional objects that seem to be part of daily life but cannot quite be remembered, with a touch of humor. By selecting motifs from things that pass by the edge of her vision, she attempts to reconsider the "true nature of things we see every day."

Exhibition History: - 2026: "Oouchi Hospital Artists’ Guild [O-HAG]", Tokyo - 2025: "Katsurao AIR Youth Program 2025", Fukushima - 2024: "Great FRP Exhibition", gallery madogiwa, Tokyo

Awards: - 2025: Selected for the 9th Kuma Foundation Creator Scholarship - 2024: 2023 Musashino Art University Graduation Project Excellent Award - 2024: Selected for Artist in FAS 2024

Title: "From the Vent" Medium: Sculpture Although it is "something that doesn't amount to much," it is placed in the BUG space just like some kind of ruin, and perhaps one can think about the signs of a distant and vast life that might exist behind it.