When Mariko Mori, born in Tokyo in 1967, emerged on the art scene in the mid-1990s, she often appeared in her own photographs dressed as a futuristic cyborg—part Japanese manga heroine, part science-fiction fantasy. Since then, the artist has turned her attention to Buddhism, ancient civilizations, and the mysteries of the universe. Her work can be as technologically ambitious as it is otherworldly. In Wave UFO (1999–2002), visitors enter a pod where their brainwaves are translated into moving images, while the work Tom Na H-iu (2006) uses flashes of light to evoke particles released by exploding stars. The Mori Art Museum now presents Mori’s first major retrospective in Japan in more than 20 years, bringing together 40 works spanning three decades. —Elena Clavarino