Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art - Past Events
Below is a list of all past events for Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art. Current and upcoming events, as well as other details, are available on the venue's page.
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Ryoko Aoki x Zon Ito “Free Molecules Metamorphoses Workshop”
- Media: Sculpture - Installation - Product - Fashion - Crafts - Ceramics - Workshops
- 2020-03-29 - 2020-08-30
This exhibition showcases the collaborative work of artists Ryoko Aoki and Zon Ito in the form of a workshop.More »
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Philippe Parreno Exhibition
A key artist of his generation, Philippe Parreno has radically redefined the exhibition experience by taking it as a medium, placing its construction at the heart of his process. Working in a diverse range...More »
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Lois Weinberger “Visible Nature / Invisible Nature”
- Media: Painting - Drawing - Photography - Prints - Sculpture - Installation
- 2019-07-13 - 2019-10-20
Presenting more than 100 works including drawings, sculptures, objects d’art using plants, and textual films from the 40-year career of this Vienna-based artist.More »
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John Lurie “Walk This Way”
John Lurie (b. 1952) became known as an actor and musician for his work in films such as Stranger Than Paradise. Since the late 1990s he has suffered from Lyme Disease, and the illness caused him to turn...More »
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Tadanobu Asano 3634
This is an exhibition of 700 sheets of drawings by actor Tadanobu Asano. His drawings range from a kind of hard-rock-inspired illustration to rough sketches, American-style comics, and abstraction. Asano...More »
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Kazuki Umezawa + Taku Obata “Hyper Landscape”
An exhibition by Kazuki Umezawa and Taku Obata, two artists of the same generation active on the art scene since 2000. Obata portrays the lively movements of breakdancers in distortedly shaped wood carvings....More »
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Rebel Without a Cause
- Media: Graphics - Illustration - Painting - Drawing - Photography - Prints - Sculpture - Installation - Workshops - Talks
- 2018-04-07 - 2018-08-26
“The history of art is the history of the fight for freedom.” Rebel Without a Cause, the second exhibition of 2018 at Watari-um, features Andy Warhol’s iconic work as its main visual and displays of around...More »
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Mike Kelley “Day Is Done”
A solo exhibition for the American artist Mike Kelley. Born in 1954 to a working-class family in the Detroit suburbs, from his student days Kelley used a variety of materials in works that earned him a...More »
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Reborn-Art festival Tokyo exhibition: What went on?
- Media: Drawing - Sculpture - Installation - Fashion - Video and Film - Sound
- 2017-10-20 - 2017-12-30
This exhibition revisits Reborn-Art Festival, a brand new art, music, and food focused event that was held this summer at locations throughout Ishinomaki city center and Oshika Peninsula in Tohoku. Scheduled...More »
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Reborn-Art Festival 2017 “Off-Site Talk Battle”
Reborn-Art Festival 2017, Tohoku’s first major art festival, launched in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture on July 22. Eight of its artists will discuss their works and thoughts on the event.More »
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Barry McGee + Clare Rojas “Big Sky Little Moon”
A growing sense of tension can currently be sensed in cities around the world, with great shifts in American society having occurred since the start of the 21st century. Born in San Francisco, California...More »
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Love, Young Maiden! The Vision of Parplume University and Yoichi Umetsu
- Media: Painting - Drawing - Photography - Sculpture - Installation - Workshops - Talks
- 2017-06-01 - 2017-06-18
Parplume is an artist group that established its activities with “Parplume Yobiko (cram school),” recruiting young people from throughout Japan to come together through SNS and form an art community that...More »
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Ryuichi Sakamoto “async”
Ryuichi Sakamoto is a multifaceted artist active as a musician, composer, and pianist, among other roles. He will release a new album, his first in eight years, on March 29. In line with Sakamoto’s view...More »
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Contact Gonzo “Physicatopia”
- Media: Architecture - Sculpture - Installation - Video and Film - Sound - Performance Art
- 2017-02-05 - 2017-03-26
Formed by Yu Kakio and Yuya Tsukahara in 2006, Contact Gonzo is a team of four artists known for its improvised martial arts and sports-like performances, photography/video shoots, and magazine editorial...More »
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Nam June Paik “Who Will be Laughing in 2020 ?+?=??”
- Media: Painting - Photography - Sculpture - Installation - Video and Film - Media Arts - Performance Art
- 2016-07-17 - 2017-01-29
“Nam June Paik is considered the Father of video art. Marking a decade since his death, this exhibition sheds light on the title of his boldly predicative 1993 work “Who Will Be Laughing in 2020.” Around...More »
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Sion Sono “The Whispering Star”
The scenery of a decaying city we faced as a result of 3.11, our tiny hope crushed by someone. “The Whispering Star” is a film where you can only talk in whispers, though it somewhat coincides with the...More »
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Lina Bo Bardi – Brazil’s Most Beloved Architect
- Media: Drawing - Photography - Architecture - Video and Film - Talks
- 2015-12-04 - 2016-03-27
The first major exhibition in Japan for Lina Bo Bardi, who was not only an elite architect, but also led a remarkable life. She started her career as an architect in Brazil during an era when her native...More »
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JR ”24fps”
The street artist JR has said that the goal of his participatory photo installations is to “connect people through art,” and in recent years he has continued to convey this message through film. Watari-um,...More »
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Don’t Follow the Wind ― Non-Visitor Center
- Media: Illustration - Photography - Installation - Video and Film - Media Arts - Performance Art
- 2015-09-19 - 2015-11-03
“Don’t Follow the Wind”, is an international exhibition of 12 artists first opened on March 11, 2015. Yet as the work is based in the evacuation zone around Fukushima, there is little chance of visitors...More »
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I Love Art 13 - 100 Artists from the Watari-um Collection
- Media: Graphics - Painting - Photography - Prints - Sculpture - Product - Talks - Performance Art
- 2015-05-30 - 2015-09-13
Two hundred and fifty art works from over 100 artists of the Watari-um collection include installation, sculpture, painting, photography, print works and video covering the 20th and 21st century.More »
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Naoki Ishikawa + Yoshitomo Nara “To the North, From Here”
Last summer the world-traveling photographer Naoki Ishikawa went on a trip with Yoshitomo Nara, an artist known for his pictures of children with defiant gazes. Heading north to Aomori, Hokkaido, and Sakhalin,...More »
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Arata Isozaki “12×5=60”
This exhibition focuses on Arata Isozaki’ s concept of “Thoughts Beyond Architecture. The term “Thoughts Beyond Architecture” used here has two aspects: firstly, the exteriority of architecture that has...More »
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Rudolf Steiner “Land of Angels”
Reviewing the life and work of Rudolf Steiner through 3 distinct paths this exhibition examines the efforts of his later life through 24 of over 1000 blackboard drawings produced between 1919-1925 in the...More »
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“Treasures / Harumichi Saito: photography”
Watari-um presents the first major exhibition of the 30 year old artist Harumichi Saito, who began working in photography in 2008, going on to win a New Cosmos of Photography award in 2010 and furthering...More »
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Shuuji Terayama “Knock”
The title of this exhibition “Knock” takes its name from the street performance presented by Shuuji Terayama and Tenjo Sajiki over a 30 hour period between 3pm on 19th April 1975 and 9 pm the following...More »
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JR_Could art change the world?
- Media: Photography - Installation - Video and Film - Talks - Performance Art
- 2013-02-10 - 2013-06-30
French artist JR is known for his audacious projects, such as exhibiting giant photographs on the wall that divides the Israeli and Palestinian communities, and his large portraits in honor of women who...More »
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Kyohei Sakaguchi "New Government"
Kyohei Sakaguchi is known for his research on "zero yen" houses built by people who live on the streets, mobile houses, and an architecture based on "not-building". After the disasters of March 11, 2011,...More »
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"Cafe Bauhaus" Exhibition
Includes vintage Braun products.More »
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Rei Sato Exhibition
On display are wall paintings that mark the launch of artist Rei Sato's new book inspired by her visit to Taiwan. Venue: On Sundays B1 (Museum shop)More »
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"Exhibition Terada Mokei @ On Sundays"
On display is a 1:100 scale model of Killer Dori in Aoyama and the surrounding area.More »
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"I Love Art 12: The Angel of History" Exhibition
Photography is a tool for recovering the overlooked gaps that the historians have neglected, instants that are further subdivided into smaller instants, and fictions that are transformed into emptier fictions....More »
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John Lurie "John Lurie: Blockheads Kissing”
Takes place in the on Sundays bookstore in the basement. John Lurie made a great impression on the Eighties as a musician and actor, before illness forced him to stop working in the Nineties. Currently...More »
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"Turning around" Exhibition
This exhibition features revolutionary artists from France, Japan, Russia and Canada. Participants include ChimPom, a unit known for its work themed around landmines and nuclear power, as well as Adbusters,...More »
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"The Garden of Mirei Shigemori" Exhibition
Mirei Shigemori is a well-known modern Japanese garden artist who surveyed over 400 classical Japanese gardens starting in 1936. The landscape designer learnt his craft through self-study, eventually designing...More »
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"Makoto Nomura: Summer Holiday Children's Workshop"
Music workshops for children aged 3 to 10. Please see the Watari-um website for how to make reservations.More »
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"Kusama's Body Festival in 60s" Exhibition
This exhibition looks at Yayoi Kusama's art in the 1960s. Kusama left Japan in 1957 and starting working in New York after passing through Seattle. Over the next 16 years until her return in 1973 she was...More »
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"One Day Art Kindergarten" Kids Workshops
Program of art, dance and poetry workshops for kids, held as part of the "Bambini di Reggio Emilia" exhibition. See website for more details.More »
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Akihisa Hirata "Living in Creatures"
Scale architecture models of "house S" and "tree-ness house" will be on display in the basement bookshop, with books specially selected by the architect to awaken your curiosity and imagination. Simultaneously...More »
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"Bambini di Reggio Emilia" Exhibition
During WWII, a local community of farmers and laborers founded a special school in Reggio Emilia, a small town in northern Italy. The school kept faithful records of the wonder and surprise that its students...More »
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"Last Multiple: Blackboard Drawings" Exhibition
Joseph Beuys' blackboard drawing "Continuity" is his last limited edition work (edition of 40), first conceptualized during a visit to Japan in 1984 and finally completed in 2011 after 27 years. The work...More »
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"Heartbeat" Exhibition
11th installment in the I Love Art series featuring works by 14 artists from the museum's collection of contemporary art, set against a musical backdrop by Ryuichi Sakamoto. A total of 96 works will be...More »
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"Nigo's Art Bookstore"
(held at On Sundays, in the basement of Watari-um) Nigo, the famed producer of A Bathing Ape who is also an avid collector of art and vintage products, will open a limited period secondhand bookstore...More »
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"Paper-Wood Products on Sale!" Exhibition
On display are prototypes and newly-launched furniture pieces, accessories and toys made out of "paper-wood" - a thinly layered plywood-like material. *At the museum shop On Sundays.More »
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Sou Fujimoto "Forest, Cloud, Mountain”
Contemporary architecture today is attempting to break into the next stage of its development. Previously, the discipline was obsessed with how to prioritize functionality and practicality in residential,...More »
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Ryoko Aoki "Wildflower Seeds"
(Held at the gallery in On Sundays, the art bookshop in the basement of the museum) On display are new works by Ryoko Aoki, a Kyoto-based contemporary artist who depicts little omens of gentle change...More »
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Tam Ochiai "Spies are only revealed when they get caught"
This solo show by Tam Ochiai features works that depict the mundane trivialities of life, including a suite of mysterious videos that emerged by accident from a broken video camera, a staircase that leads...More »
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John Lurie "You Are Here"
When he developed an intractable neurological illness in the late 90's, John Lurie, no longer able to perform or act, turned to painting as a means of self-expression. In today's irrational world, his...More »
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Aoyama Gokaicho 2009
Aoyama has been an area where the most progressive creators gathered to create new forms of expression. Even a casual visitor should be able to feel its creative energy. Aoyama Gokaicho 2009 is the final...More »
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"A Visit to Luis Barragan's House" Exhibition
Luis Barragan (1902-1988) is one of the most representative Mexican architects of the 20th century and his works are internationally renowned as icons of modern architecture. This exhibition focuses...More »
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"The Collectors in Our Time Part 1: Towa Tei" Exhibition
DJ Towa Tei has used artworks by Barry McGee and KAWS for his CD jacket design, and his live performance and music videos are always artistically stimulating. For his unique sensibility, Towa Tei has become...More »
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Aloïse Corbaz Exhibition
Aloïse Corbaz was born in Switzerland in 1886, and worked as a nanny at Wilhelm II's Sanssouci palace in Potsdam. Plagued by schizophrenia at the age of 31, she spent 46 years (from the age of 32-78) in...More »
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Masaya Nakahara "Painting Pending"
From March 27th, paintings by musician Masaya Nakahara are on display at the bookstore on the basement level of Watari-um. He is most known for his hardcore noise music, but is also active as a writer....More »
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"The Fallen Angels" Exhibition
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Shimabuku "New Works"
Currently based in Berlin, Shimabuku has concentrated on site-specific projects and performances since the early 1990s, exhibiting at various locations all around the world. He visits places, uncovers...More »
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Tsuyoshi Ozawa's "Xijing Olympics"
In August, when the Beijing Olympics were being held, "Xijing Men," a new art unit consisting of Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Chen Shaoxiong and Gimhongsok organized a parallel imaginary "Xijing Olympics" in Beijing,...More »
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"I Love Art" Exhibition
This is an exhibition of 108 works focusing mostly on previously unexhibited pieces, such as a 1988 work by Julian Schnabel (America, 1951-), who has in recent years won much attention for his work as...More »
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Fabrice Hyber "Seed and Grow"
1. Opening Talk April 26th (Sat) 17:00-18:00 Speaker: Fabrice Hyber Hyber will speak about the exhibition theme of "growing seeds," his recent activities, as well as the farms he has helped to build...More »
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Katsumi Watanabe Exhibition
Photographer Katsumi Watanabe passed away on January 29th, 2006, leaving thousands of photographs that he had taken, mostly in the shadows of Shinjuku. This artist left his hometown in Iwate prefecture...More »
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"Kumagusu's Forests: The Universe According to Minakata Kumagusu" Exhibition
A suspicious man wearing only a koshimaki (waistcloth). This is how this artist was photographed at the age of 43 standing in the forest close to Tanabe City, Wakayama Prefecture in 1910. Why has this...More »
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Barry McGee Exhibition
Barry McGee's name became known throughout the art world after his exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1998 and the 2001 Venice Biennale. Rumors of a graffiti artist named TWIST who...More »
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Bruno Taut "From Alps Architecture to Katsura Detached Palace"
The ideas and principals of German architect Bruno Taut (1880-1938), who is known for having 'rediscovered' the Katsura Detached Palace, have recently been regaining attention. Not long ago, Berlin...More »
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Boroboro Dorodoro Exhibition - The Return of Japanese Subculture
The art scene in the United States has recently begun to regain its momentum with the emergence of street subculture. Led by Barry McGee, the artists are from a generation that grew up on Japanese manga...More »
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Bye, Bye Nam June Paik
In Soho during the 1960s, a small young man of Asian descent walked down Mercer Street with a video recorder in his hands. He spoke fluently in many language and conversed in depth of music and philosophy...More »
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I Love Art 8 "Beautiful Cities in Dreams"
"I Love Art 8" will feature over 100 works by 13 photographers from the collection of the Museum. Also on display will be an array of installation and video works that set the stage for "cities which we...More »
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Federico Herrero "Live Surfaces"
Federico Herrero (born in 1978 in Costa Rica) emerged on the international art scene at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001. His gigantic painting of animals won him recognition and a special prize for young...More »
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Temporary Immigration - Everyday Transcience
Airplanes have made high-speed travel possible, and various forms of technology have hypered up daily life to an unprecedented extent. Cell phones, for instance, have changed what kids do after school,...More »
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Tensin Okakura The Awakening of Japan
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Larry Clark - Punk Picasso
This exhibit of Larry Clark, nicknamed "Punk Picasso," displays: photographs from his childhood and teenage years, his favorite record collections, props from movies, and pictures from 9/11.More »