From September 19 to October 23, Sato Gallery presents its third off-site exhibition at La Samaritaine, Paris, spotlighting Japanese artist collective EXCALIBUR.

The La Samaritaine building and Japan share a subtle yet deep connection through Art Nouveau. This artistic movement, influenced by Japonism and its woodblock prints, arrived in Europe at the end of the 19th century and quickly captured the collective imagination. La Samaritaine, which embraced this trend, has featured a flamboyant Art Nouveau facade and walls since 1904.

For this exhibition, EXCALIBUR pays tribute to the Art Nouveau frescoes on the building’s top floor. Titled “Fūkō Hibi Arata,” which translates roughly as “the light and the wind are new every day,” the exhibition reflects a Zen philosophy through pixelated, digital works in motion.

EXCALIBUR’s creations, like La Samaritaine’s walls, feature the peacock — an Asian bird that did not originally exist in Europe.

The animation shown on the large screen draws on “makimono” — Japanese horizontal scrolls — traditionally read from right to left. EXCALIBUR chose to adapt them to read left to right, while keeping their nod to video games. This approach turns the animation into parallax scrolling, a graphic technique where background images move more slowly than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth.

At the bottom of the animation, iconic Parisian landmarks scroll by.

Alongside this animation, a triptych of physical works in the Art Nouveau style depicts peacocks. These works come with augmented reality (AR) content accessible via a mobile phone. Using the app, visitors can discover animated elements such as butterflies and flowers that come to life on screen.