From March 27 to July 27, 2025, Pirelli HangarBicocca presents "ICARUS," the first major retrospective in Europe dedicated to the artistic practice of Yukinori Yanagi: a wide selection of iconic works dating back to the nineties and two thousands along with more recent works. Visitors will be able to follow the unpredictable trajectories created by the Japanese artist's work.

Yanagi will recontextualize some of his most significant and monumental installations in the former industrial spaces of Pirelli HangarBicocca, triggering a reflection, more relevant than ever, on the themes of nationalism, governmental dynamics, and the paradoxical aspects of contemporary societies.

The exhibition opens with the work Project God-zilla 2025 - The Revenant from "El Mare Pacificum" (2025). At the center of an accumulation of debris and waste objects, pieces of steel, wood, machine components, and sandbags, the large eye of Godzilla is projected, a monster created and empowered by nuclear energy. Referencing the popular character from Japanese cinema, the work alludes to the environmental impact caused by the use of nuclear weapons, creating a post-apocalyptic scenario that evokes a sense of mass destruction and highlights the vulnerability of nature and humanity. The monumental work will be in dialogue with Article 9 (1994), composed of various neon structures scattered in the exhibition space that intermittently light up and turn off. Visitors are invited to put together words, phrases, and fragments in bright red Japanese characters that, when arranged in the correct order, recite the text of Article 9 of the Japanese constitution.