The Forms of Humanity: Keisuke Matsuoka at the Rome Slaughterhouse

From 12 November 2025 to 11 January 2026 , the Mattatoio di Roma opens its doors to an unprecedented artistic and spiritual journey: The Forms of Humanity , the major exhibition by Japanese sculptor Keisuke Matsuoka , curated by Tomoko Asada and promoted by Roma Capitale – Department of Culture and Azienda Speciale Palaexpo , in collaboration with Latitudo .

An artist in search of universal being

Matsuoka , born in Miyagi in 1980 and educated at the Tohoku University of Art and Design , brings to Rome an intense and polysemic reflection on the image of the "universal human being." His research, nourished by Eastern roots and an anthropological and spiritual approach, translates into works that interrogate the fragilities, metamorphoses, and rebirths of identity.

A journey through fragments and rebirths

The exhibition opens with two powerful ebony sculptures:

• Gravity refugee , face shattered into fragments that explode on the walls.

• For the destruction that will one day come , a face cut in two halves, a symbol of precariousness and transformation.

A Tree Man dominates , an imposing magnetic figure: a wooden core wrapped in metal mesh and coated in iron and titanium powder, held in place by thousands of micromagnets. A work that seems to breathe, suspended between matter and spirit.

two-tone glass sculptures depict faces and heads in transition between solid and liquid, while sketches, diaries, and matrices open the artist's secret studio to the public, revealing the creative process in all its nakedness.

Matter as an ancestral language

Glass, wax, black and white earth, metallic powders: Keisuke Matsuoka shapes materials that dissolve and re-emerge, in an eternal cycle of destruction and reconstruction. His art becomes a metaphor for life itself, where every balance is fragile and every identity is destined to transform.

Refugees series : universal fragilities

Born during the artist's Italian residency, the Refugees reflects on the symbol of the refugee as an archetype of humanity. Unstable, imperfect anthropomorphic figures embody the fragility each of us can encounter on our earthly and inner journey. "Everyone has the potential to become a refugee," says Matsuoka , recalling how life can suddenly shatter, leaving only the desire for protection and escape.

A question that shakes the heart

Keisuke Matsuoka 's works are not limited to being observed: they look at us, question us, ask us with disarming force: "What is the human being?" A question that resonates throughout the halls of the Slaughterhouse and accompanies the visitor along a path of introspection and wonder.

Keisuke Matsuoka 's works aren't just to be observed: they look at us, question us, ask us with disarming force what it means to be human. Fragments explode, faces dissolve, identities recompose. His sculpture becomes a metaphor for life itself, where every balance is fragile and every rebirth possible. Visiting the exhibition The Forms of Humanity at the Mattatoio in Rome means walking a path of introspection and wonder, allowing yourself to be touched by a question that vibrates within us and never ceases to resonate.