This weekend HOTA, Home of the Arts will open an interactive installation connecting visitors through the simple joy of giving and receiving hand drawn birthday cards.
Born from a treasured family tradition, Happy Birthday 2U2 by Japanese artist Hikoko Ito invites visitors to rediscover the tactile, human warmth of personal connection by exchanging hand-drawn birthday cards with other guests who share the same birth date.
“There’s a quiet thrill in connecting with a birthday twin who could be nine or ninety, who could live around the corner or across the country. You never really meet the birthday twin who drew your card or the one whose day your own card will brighten – and that mystery is part of the joy of Happy Birthday 2U2” said Hikoko Ito.
At the heart of the installation will be 366 Birthday Mailboxes, one for each day of the year, arranged in deliberate disarray.
Each mailbox will display a unique Happy Motif, a reimagining of the Chinese character 樂(meaning happiness) co-created by Hikoko and her late father, Sun Chan, as a tribute to the many expressions of joy and shared humanity.
“We are excited to welcome Hikoko Ito’s Happy Birthday 2U2 to HOTA. The installation exemplifies the power of contemporary art to spark meaningful engagement, inviting visitors to express their creativity and share a personal message with their ‘birthday twin.’ It’s an experience that resonates deeply across cultures and generations,” said HOTA Gallery General Manager, David Don.
Over 350 Gold Coast students from Silkwood School, St Andrews Lutheran College and Benowa State High School, created the birthday cards forming the foundation of the ever-growing archive of goodwill.
Visitors to HOTA are also invited to craft a card for another birthday twin, continuing a living cycle of creativity and generosity. Each blank card features an artwork from HOTA’s collection as inspiration.
Through this evolving exchange, Happy Birthday 2U2 celebrates connection across cultures, ages, and backgrounds. Each motif matched, each card exchanged, becomes a gentle affirmation: we are here — together.
Hikoko Ito – Happy Birthday 2U2
29 Nov 2025 - 15 Mar 2026
HOTA Gallery, Ground Floor, 135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise
Free daily, 10am – 4pm
For more information, visit: https://hota.com.au/whats-on/live/exhibitions/happy-birthday-2u2
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Hikoko Ito is an artist and architect who focuses on contemporary representations of Han characters (known as Hanzi in Chinese, Kanji in Japanese), a script shared across East Asia. Working across prints, furniture, installations, and public art, Ito creates decorative, encrypted patterns in which image and script converge, forming visual puzzles that invite deciphering. Her installations, centred on family and joy, often involve community participation in their creation and invite playful interaction that fosters discovery and connection. Recent exhibitions of her work include HOTA Gallery (Nov 2025–Mar 2026; Gold Coast, Australia), the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Mar–Aug 2025; Sydney, Australia), and the Hong Kong Museum of Art (Jul 2023–Jun 2024; Hong Kong).
Images available HERE.
CONTACT
Danielle Ford | 0487 002 022 | danielle.ford@experiencegoldcoast.com
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