Numero 51 - Concept Gallery Founded in Milan by Julia Rönnqvist Buzzetti, art historian, together with Andrea Deotto, former lawyer and now photographer, with the aim to promote contemporary artists from the East Asian scene, mainly from Japan, China and South Korea. The goal is to always create site-specific projects in collaboration with the selected artists.
2025
Wu Yue, the third-generation heir to the Wuzixiong Glass Art Museum in Taizhou (Zhejiang, China), has been showcasing his glass-engraving skill across various cultural and artistic centers from an early age in China and internationally. Growing up in different cities and countries, he absorbed the essence of these places, weaving both joyful and challenging moments into his artistic journey.
Wu Yue was first introduced to the art of glass engraving by his grandfather in Taizhou, where he learned and refined his skills. Later, traveling alongside his father, he contributed to preserving and promoting this tradition before moving to Paris to deepen his artistic studies. In the French capital, he encountered contemporary art, leading him to establish his own studio in 2017. Expanding beyond traditional craftsmanship, he began exploring personal memories, blending various techniques and media to capture the fragmented nature of human experience.
In 2024, Yue exhibited his work "The Nine Dragons Plate" at the group show held at Palazzo Loredan during the Venice Glass Week HUB under 35. On this occasion, he was awarded the Autonoma Residency Prize, granting him the opportunity to undertake an artistic residency at the Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle (USA) in 2025. On behalf of Laguna~B, promoter of the Prize, Marcantonio Brandolini D’Adda commented that “Often, the nine Dragons were embroidered in emperors’ robes, engraved in weapons and architecture. Yue Wu has succeeded in recreating this ancient and powerful scene on a crystal disc, The Nine Dragons Plate. The extraordinary translucent carving technique blurs the notion of time and takes us back through the centuries, and the beauty of this work leaves the viewer speechless.”
This experience further propelled Yue to integrate traditional glass engraving with his contemporary artistic research, expanding his work beyond glass, integrating elements such as anthropomorphic kites crafted from diverse materials, symbols of human life's maneuverability and instability, into his work. His research also extends to monumental sculptures that encapsulate personal and collective memory, weaving together photographs from his travels, portraits, and images from his family archive into a cohesive narrative.
The figure of the giant frequently recurs in Yue’s exploration, an immense, solitary entity often perceived as an outcast or an obstacle in the structured human-social order. In his vision, this figure, while fundamentally human, sometimes dissolves into architectural elements such as walls, as seen in MUR, becoming a barrier that both isolates and protects its inner world. In other instances, it serves as a vessel for memories, as in EVER, an anthropomorphic giant imbued with reinterpreted recollections.
With this exhibition, Wu Yue embarks on a new chapter, bridging his past with the present. Step into his Illusion City, wander through this glass-formed world and discover connections between memory and imagination.
In collaboration with Pineider
When Yansu Wang moved to Italy in 2015 to study, a friend gifted her a notebook with a map of Milan inside. From that moment, Yansu began creating a personal Junk Journal (a notebook filled with collages using recycled materials) narrating her daily life through collage. The paper materials she uses come from the most varied sources: receipts, movie tickets, brochures, fines, instruction manuals, hotel Wi-Fi passwords written on scraps of paper, candy wrappers, and much more. In the exhibition, you will see a selection of her pop-up books, as well as new ones created in collaboration with Pineider, that lent its precious papers and notebooks for Yansu Wang’s new pieces.
In Europe, and more broadly in the Western world, we are accustomed to thinking of collage in the art field as a technique explored at the beginning of the 20th century by Cubism and Futurism, later by Dadaism, Surrealism, and then Pop Art. In reality, collage has a long tradition in China as well, where paper was invented in 200 BCE and subsequently developed as an artistic medium in both China and Japan from the 10th century onward.
In China, a distinctive artistic reinterpretation emerged through the Bapo compositions, or “Eight Brokens.” This technique, which emerged around the mid-19th century and continued to develop until 1949, is considered distinct from traditional painting and calligraphy, using various elements to deconstruct cultural concepts and create images with ever-new juxtapositions on paper. These compositions included a variety of elements, from calligraphic texts to inscriptions on seals, but also torn, burned, or decomposing letters. The creator who layered these elements showcases their skill and intellect by incorporating numerous hidden comments, aphorisms, or wordplays to provoke thought.
In 2017, an important exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston presented the first formal study of this art thanks to Nancy Berliner (Wu Tung Senior Curator of Chinese Art at MFA in Boston), who came across this unusual painting during a visit to a flea market in Taiwan in the summer of 1978. Her tireless effort brought to life a rare opportunity to discover, in the curator’s words, “a historic and radically modern-looking art form that had never been recorded, and that was all but forgotten.” Now, Yansu Wang is thinking of experimenting in this direction, drawing from her visual archive and playing with words, symbols, and meanings.
The idea of ‘In Praise of Shadows’ began with a fascination for the subtle yet powerful presence of shadows in art and life. Inspired by Junichiro Tanizaki’s essay, which explores the aesthetics of shadows in Japanese culture, we found ourselves drawn to the idea of celebrating what is often overlooked—the shadow. In a world obsessed with clarity and brightness, shadows offer a counterbalance, reminding us that what is hidden can be just as significant as what is revealed. We noticed how artists use light to bring attention to their subjects, but it is the shadows that add depth and emotion, often telling a story of their own.
With this theme, we aim to challenge artists to explore the interplay of light and shadow in their work, to see beyond the obvious and to find beauty in the contrasts. We envision an exhibition that not only showcases the technical brilliance of manipulating light and shadow but also evokes a deeper contemplation of the dualities in our existence—clarity and obscurity, presence and absence, joy and melancholy.
2024
The “Trilogy” exhibition at Numero 51 Concept Gallery, a collaborative effort with Eunoia Gallery from Osaka, aims to explore the contemporary female artistic dynamism. Jazz Szu-Ying Chen, Yuka Mori, and Yuka Nishihisamatsu’s works, while deeply rooted in their respective countries’ traditions, transcend geographical boundaries to delve into universal themes such as superstition, identity, religion, and the life cycle. Jazz Chen weaves images from anatomical studies, Nordic and Taiwanese folklore, taking us on a journey through the grotesque and sublime, where mythological monsters and anatomical dissections blend harmoniously against backgrounds inspired by 15th-century altar pieces. Yuka Mori reinterprets traditional Japanese concepts through her painting, creating a fluid world where subject and background blur in a constant interplay between perception and reality. Lastly, Yuka Nishihisamatsu invites us to contemplate the significance of ordinary everyday objects paired with traditional Japanese items, assembling them into delicate, profound sculptures that explore and forge new connections between life, death, and rebirth, often incorporating the lotus, a symbol of purity and regeneration. “Trilogy” aims to celebrate the diversity and connection between cultures, as well as their history and reinterpretation.
At N51 you will be transported into Gou’s world on the back of a Dragon.
Delving into the heart of Gou’s exploration, we encounter The ‘Fragile Kendama Angels’ project. Started in 2022, Gou takes the traditional folk Kendama toys from Japan, reimagining them as delicate ceramic sculptures. Gou creates a striking contrast between the toy’s inherent durability and the fragility of ceramic. Similarly, the ‘Tears Project’ captures the fleeting essence of tears, transforming these evanescent symbols of raw emotion into lasting ceramic forms, from liquid to solid. In China traditionally speaking, to show emotions is a reflection of an unneeded humanity and could be seen as a weakness to be avoided. Through these projects, Gou not only challenges traditional perceptions of strength and fragility but also invites a reevaluation of the cultural norms surrounding the expression of emotion, underlining the power of art to evoke a profound reconsideration of vulnerability and resilience. The significance of emotions in Chinese social life is quite different than in the western part of the world and Chinese culture does not recognise itself as utilising the emotional life of individuals in the service of the social order. As a result, the meaning of the person and the relationship between the person and society take on a particular Chinese form, quite unlike our own. In order to understand these Chinese forms without ethnocentrism, we can say that emotions are not thought of as significant in social relationships. An emotion is never the legitimising rationale for any socially significant action, and there is no cultural theory that social structure rests on emotional ties. The Chinese emphasize the superior importance of what is outside the individual and beyond the individual’s scope, of what was present before the individual and of what will continue when the individual has come and gone. Emotion is characteristic of the individual, but it is not a significant aspect of the person. This is complemented by her involvement with Naja Naja, a music duo formed in 2020, which showcases her creative versatility and adds an auditory layer to her body of work, enriching the visual experience and deepening the emotional resonance.
2023
2023 continues with the exhibition by artist duo K-NARF & SHOKO. In 2016, Tokyo, K-NARF & SHOKO created the HATARAKIMONO PROJECT consisting of hundreds of portraits of Japanese workers: the “HATARAKIMONO”, to create an extra-ordinary visual archive for the future. This unprecedented photo project took about two years to complete, as each portrait had to be taken directly on the street with a portable photo backdrop and then processed manually as an original Tape-o-graphie. The HATARAKIMONO project made in Japan has been completed and is currently archived until 2042 waiting to be exhibited in a selection of 5 international museums already chosen by the artists. Part 2: HATARAKIMONO PROJECT SATELLITE Starting in 2023, K-NARF & SHOKO are extending their HATARAKIMONO PROJECT to the world by planning to visit more than 20 countries in three years in search of local workers (hatarakimono). The first destination for this ongoing project is Milan, hosted by Numero 51. The set-up was entirely created together with the artists who lived for 3 weeks inside the gallery. It was therefore possible to see all the stages of the project's development, from the scouting of the workers, to the shooting, to the creation of the artworks and the installation.
The year 2023 opens with the solo exhibition of Chinese digital artist RINIIFISH (class of 1993, from Hangzhou, China). Title: "我們想將身體化為⼤腦 - 'We want to turn the body to the brain'. January 31-March 10, 2023
The "Bugs" from the digital planet M7 landed on Earth and settled at N51: bringing with them their plants and a rich musical selection ranging from Techno to Acid Jazz, the bugs began to acclimatize and observe humankind.
We study each other.
The idea of the exhibition is for it to be a constantly evolving display: from the opening, where sweet and savory creations designed especially for RINIIFISH by BibiLab, a pastry workshop was served; to the celebration of the Chinese Lantern Festival, to the workshop to paint your own "Bunny Bug," immersed in RINIIFISH's psychedelic videos. The Bugs born in digital form, become physical in limited editions on Fedrigoni's magnificent Premium White paper, embellished with sectoral ennoblements in thick glossy varnish, but also as gadgets, toys and embossed stickers.
We decided to conclude the year by having a group exhibition based on an Open Call. The selected artists are: Eri Maeda, Guojun Tian, Marquis De Sid, Pu Tian, Sean Chow, Shengyi Chao, Sue Kim, Tadao Amano, Xinhan Yu, Yuchi Hao, Yue Wu.
‘Double & Duality’ elucidates the coexistence of diverse elements in our world, offering a meticulous exploration of the delicate interplay between the abstract and the realistic, the conventional and the innovative, the raw and the refined. It is a curatorial endeavour that seeks to encapsulate the pervasive dualities inherent to our existential fabric, portraying the symphony of opposing forces in a manner that is both intellectually compelling and visually integrative. In choosing the eleven artists for this exhibition, the focus was on diverse artistic expressions and interpretations of the theme. Each artist was selected for their unique ability to articulate the essence of duality through their artistic languages, contributing to a rich and varied dialogue on the subject. Their works collectively serve to evoke reflection on the complex nature of our reality, encouraging a deeper and more comprehensive insight into the interconnectedness and variances inherent in our world.
2022
In 2022, the first concept was "OSMOFOLOGY", an exhibition conceived in collaboration with the Milanese creative studio S.C. Artroom. The exhibition was born from N51 and the studio's shared love for Wagashi, typical Japanese sweets that pairs the tea, usually brought as a gift for friends, relatives or colleagues. Each sweet encapsulates a distinct history, aesthetic and flavor, becoming a container and reflection of the many facets of the Japanese culture. These sweets, one might call them edible design objects. Inside the two spaces of N51, the traditional elements of the tea ceremony have been recreated, but twisted and taken to an extreme level. The small, delicate, fluffy cakes become huge in size and made from hostile yet colorful materials thanks to paper cutouts provided by Paper&People, a Milan-based atelier of fine papers from all around the world. For the exhibition, it was possible to see and taste the magnificent sweets of Toraya, a historic Japanese confectionery established in Kyoto in the 16th century, also a supplier to the Japanese imperial court. During 2022, the work and research of Japanese artists such as Chiga Kenji and Ohira Ryuichi are also digitally narrated.
COLLABORATIONS AND PROJECTS: We always try to establish collaborations with different realities that can start within the walls of the gallery or expand in other selected locations. Our aim is to connect to a wider audience and define enriching moments in every field of creativity. Collaborators until now: Kanpai Milano, Mandalaki, Antonini Milano, Ideo Club, The Eyes Magazine, Succede, The Maptique, Mulieris, Magical Mistery Garden and Lieve Beauty.
