AZASKI: Dream Unit's bringing Shibuya down to Amsterdam this weekend

Looking for weekend plans? Love Japanese food and magazines, or have you inadvertently contributed to the boom of Japanese hair styles in Amsterdam? Don’t lie…We’re writing this through our shaggy bangs too…We’re also gonna be at Amsterdam’s own Dream Unit’s AZASKI あざすき, a two-day exhibition and cultural gathering taking place on May 17th–18th, 2025 at Piet Heinkade 199, Amsterdam. AZASKI あざすき is a celebration of photographer Daniel Verolme (Niu Niu) and hair stylist and visual artist Shu Kazami, a liminal space of diachronic space-travel to the streets of Shibuya.
In the Shibuya district of Tokyo, Harajuku culture is a zeitgeist of colour, youth, and subversive aesthetics. Rather than a mere unit in the contemporary shock economy, the history of the technicolour archetypical aesthetic speaks to several generations of teenagers and young adults in Japan.

The exhibition will include the release of Niu Niu’s newest editorial project created from a local perspective and shaped by a year-long field study: “AZASKI あざすき” comprised two distinct magazines with 96 pages each featuring photographs that are the opposite of sanitary and taxonomic. Niu Niu ensures that they’re subjects are 3D – they exist and demand a gaze just as well-versed in high saturation emotions as them.
The Dream Unit’s space this weekend will be designed around Niu Niu’s prints, as well as hair stylist and visual artist Shu Kazami’s hair sculptures – a beacon of détournement, intention courses through the seams of “AZASKI あざすき,” waiting to infuse swarming bodies and scattering eyes. If you want to experience a weekend of high-resolution colour, emotion, photography, and believe-it-or-not hair you cannot miss “AZASKI あざすき” . A fun extra reason to go is that they’ll be serving onigiri during the exhibition opening. Bring your best Harajuku look and leave with some Japanese culture under your belt <3