AYAKA TERAJIMA - Packed Space under the Moon

RizzutoGallery is pleased to present Packed Space under the Moon, Japanese artist Ayaka Terajima’s first solo exhibition in Düsseldorf. Her practice, centred primarily on unglazed ceramic sculpture, brings together an archaic Japanese imaginary and the contemporary culture of consumption, exploring the relationship between tradition, matter and transformation. The exhibition will be hosted at the gallery’s venue at Ackerstraße 34. It will open on Saturday, 14 November 2026, from 6:00 p.m., and will remain on view until 9 January 2027. The exhibition can be visited every Friday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. and every Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., or by appointment at +49 157 73718369. Born in 1987 in Aichi, a region of central Japan renowned for its longstanding ceramic tradition, Ayaka Terajima trained between Tokyo and Munich, where she currently lives and works. In her works, discarded plastic objects and packaging become moulds and matrices for the creation of unglazed ceramic sculptures that appear as remnants of ancient civilisations, mysterious artefacts, anthropomorphic creatures from a future world or idols from unknown cultures. Her use of recycled clay and her decision to leave the porous surfaces uncovered, without the glossy coating of glaze, are among the most distinctive features of her sculptural practice. These choices give her works a tactile, uncanny and timeless appearance. Suspended between archaeology and science fiction, between the millennia-old tradition of working with clay and the contemporary culture of mass production, Ayaka Terajima removes disposable forms from their ephemeral fate, transforming them into permanent, durable and almost sacred presences. The title of the exhibition, Packed Space under the Moon, encapsulates this encounter between apparently distant periods and imaginaries. The forms of industrial packaging intertwine with the archaic symbolism of the moon, echoing the culture of prehistoric Japan’s Jōmon period and its imagery of natural cycles, transformation and rebirth. Rope patterns and forms inspired by Doki figures also evoke the image of the snake, part of a symbolic universe in which matter seems to preserve the mystery of life and its continual renewal. Through this juxtaposition of past and present, archaeology and mass-produced objects, what we consider precious and what we are accustomed to discarding, Ayaka Terajima reflects on the value we assign to things, the power of transformation and the possibility of material and spiritual regeneration. The exhibition will feature unglazed fired ceramic sculptures in various dimensions, alongside works on paper from the artist’s most recent research. Made with oil pastels and fragments of supermarket flyers and advertising materials, these works further explore commercial communication and consumer culture. With a particular sensitivity to matter and process, Ayaka Terajima reveals the ability of art to overturn the destiny of forms, evoking - between memory and imagination - a beauty and a mystery capable of traversing the ages. Ayaka Terajima’s works are held in the permanent collections of the Pinakothek der Moderne – Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, with Doki on the Three Days (2023), and the GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Leipzig, with Little Nailed Arm Doki (2024). Among the awards and recognitions she has received, in 2026 she was awarded one of the Honorary Prizes (Ehrenpreise) of the prestigious Danner-Preis in Germany. In 2025, she received the Bayerischer Atelierpreis and was nominated for the SIMACEK Award in Austria. In 2024, she received the Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis für Bildende Kunst, an award granted by the Free State of Bavaria in support of the visual arts, as well as the Bayerischer Staatspreis, the Bavarian State Prize. In 2022, she received second prize in the Ceramics category of the Danner Foundation’s student competition at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. In the same year, she received the Frechen Ceramic Award, supported by RheinEnergie, and the BKV Prize, including an honourable mention awarded by the Bavarian Arts and Crafts Association. Also in 2022, she took part in the Young Art and New Paths scholarship programme promoted by the Free State of Bavaria. In 2020, she was a finalist for Talente. In 2018, she received an overseas research grant from the Pola Art Foundation, and in 2017, a grant for art and culture from the Nomura Foundation in Japan.