Puru Puru Punk, Kosuke Hashijima's Longest Day in Jakarta
Paintings from the sci-fi universe of Puru Puru Punk are on view in a gallery space in the middle of an office district, close to an MRT station and TransJakarta stops. The solo exhibition, titled "Puru Puru Punk: Jakarta Arc," runs at LQID Creative Space, Sudirman 7.8, from 10 October to 6 November 2026. The works follow twins named Selatan and Utara, who race across Jakarta with local characters over a single day that feels very long. The exhibition is presented by Hangover Plate Inc. and also marks the first anniversary of LQID Indonesia, the company behind the STOKE PAINT brand.
Behind the show is Kosuke Hashijima, a Japanese creative director, writer, and artist. He studied design in the Netherlands and Singapore, worked at Adidas's headquarters in Germany, and then became a creative director at Ogilvy, Interbrand, and Monks. His branding work includes the logos of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Japan Football Association (JFA), the B.LEAGUE basketball league, and the National Museum of Singapore. After that, he chose to work independently.
The turning point came in 2020. During the pandemic, Hashijima wrote the science fiction novel Puru Puru Punk, and the project became the start of his career as an artist. He describes the link between his old work and this project plainly. "Branding is the practice of creating a world. For years, I used that skill for my clients. Then, in the middle of the pandemic, I started this project, which grew out of my own sci-fi novel, and poured all of that skill into myself."
He is open about where he stands on the project. "This is a project where I let my imagination run as fast as it could, didn't care if it looked uncool, and faced myself head-on," he says. The novel is set in Kamakura and Fukui in the summer of 2036 and runs to about 300,000 characters. It follows a boy and a girl who meet through a quantum encounter. The manuscript passed the first round of the 14th Hayakawa SF Contest, where only 46 of 1,012 submissions advanced. Its world later grew into paintings, publishing, and apparel.
Jakarta Arc takes that universe into an alternate timeline. In the world of Puru Puru Punk, a "Ring" circles the Earth, and the Ring seen from Japan looks very different from the one seen at the equator. At the core of the series is an idea from quantum mechanics, that something becomes real by being observed, reshaped into a form of self-acceptance. Hashijima wanted to see how that process plays out in a culture different from Japan's.
There is also a more personal reason. He first went abroad at 26, to Singapore, and has since spent more than five years in Southeast Asia. "Skill is not talent, but an accumulation of experience," he says. In his words, "Jakarta Arc is my way of letting go, without hesitation, of the memories from those years that have started to fade in me." The twins, who live in a world of observation, are placed in this city and observed by Jakartans. Through this, Hashijima gives form to the equatorial sun, the bustle of the food centres, and the city air he experienced during those years.
The story also comes as a bilingual Japanese and Indonesian book published by Binatang Press. Hashijima calls Jakarta Arc "a story about Jakarta being 'observed' through two languages, Japanese and Indonesian." He adds that it is also an experiment in connecting the two countries in both directions through his imagination.
Binatang Press took an analog approach for this edition. The book is printed with Riso so that it feels rawer and closer to Jakarta. The cover layers fluorescent pink and yellow inks to produce a vivid orange, a color seen as close to Jakarta, from its transport and public facilities to its football club. Seafoam green ink balances the palette and echoes the "viridian wall" that keeps appearing throughout the story.
During the exhibition, Hashijima will create a live collaborative piece on site with Rool Rama (@roolrama), a young Indonesian artist. Visitors can also pre-order the bilingual novel and the exhibition T-shirt, produced by 347 Homebreaks, at the venue, with a special bonus for those who order. LQID, as the organizer, believes art should be accessible to everyone. They see Jakarta as a city that needs a space where local and international artists can meet.
