A beautiful mind

Get a glimpse at how an autistic youngster views the world at Life is a Playground. In his first creative art installation outside of Japan, up-and-coming artist Gaku has teamed up with IFC mall to transform the Oval Atrium into a playground.

The atrium area will be divided into three zones: The Colourful Carousel art installation, Create Your Own Playground digital experience and The Dream World of Gaku art gallery from August 1 to 28 .

There, visitors can dive into the mind of the 21-year-old, who was diagnosed with severe autism at the age of three, with an IQ of only 25. He made up for his lack of verbal skills by expressing himself through his artwork.

At 16, he toured the art museum with his teacher and was inspired by Japanese artist Taro Okamoto's Impressionistic, geometric works. The prolific Gaku produces more than 200 pieces of work a year and hosted his first solo exhibition in 2019 at Setagaya Art Museum. e