From fluffy kittens to pastel animations, cuteness is everywhere – but did you know it can also be a tool for protest, identity and emotional connection? From 5 July, step into a world where sweet meets subversive at the dazzling new exhibition CUTE in Kunsthal Rotterdam.
The exhibition invites visitors of all ages to explore how cuteness influences our digital and daily lives. Dance beneath glittering lights at the Hello Kitty disco, become an anime character through interactive installations like Glimmer, or style adorable digital monsters in a retro game arcade. Dutch fashion designer JimmyPaul even presents a special couture dress celebrating 70 years of beloved icon Miffy.
With over fifty artists and collectives from around the globe, CUTE goes beyond the surface to reveal cuteness as a cultural force. Works by major names such as Takashi Murakami, KAWS x Campana, Aya Takano and Mark Leckey showcase how this aesthetic relates to themes like gender, nostalgia, desire and the digital self. The Rotterdam-based duo Supertoys Supertoys contributes both artwork and the imaginative exhibition design, bringing their radical vision of cuteness to life.
Structured around five unique themes – Cry Baby, Play Together, Monstrous Other, Sugar-Coated Pill, and Hypersonic – the exhbition uncovers the many sides of cuteness, from comforting and innocent to ambiguous and unsettling. For instance, the AI-generated cat portraits by Graphic Thought Facility are charming yet strangely eerie, while Aya Takano’s floating girl figures blur the lines between childhood and sci-fi fantasy. Mark Ryden’s melancholic Yuki the Young Yak explores the loneliness hidden behind big, adorable eyes.
CUTE also takes visitors on a journey through time, tracing the evolution of kawaii from early 20th-century Japan to the rise of global cuteness culture through Hello Kitty, anime and manga. By the 1990s, kawaii had become a worldwide phenomenon, sometimes called pink globalization. Artists like Murakami and Mike Kelley began using the aesthetic to address serious subjects, launching a style now known as cutism. Today’s generation of digital native creators continues to redefine cute through TikTok, gaming and avatar culture, proving that cute is not just sweet – it’s smart, subversive and very now.
CUTE is presented in close collaboration with Somerset House in London.
5 July – 23 November 2025
Kunsthal Rotterdam
Museumpark
Westzeedijk 341
3015 AA Rotterdam
kunsthal.nl