Best Exhibitions to See in Tokyo in Winter 2023-2024
From left: “The Work of Shiro Kuramata: A Microcosmos of Memory” (Setagaya Art Museum), “Shinji Ohmaki: Interface of Being” (The National Art Center, Tokyo), “Our Ecology: Toward a Planetary Living” (Mori Art Museum), “Olafur Eliasson: A Harmonious Cycle of Interconnected Nows” (Azabudai Hills Gallery)
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Tokyo Art Beat presents a selection of exhibitions in Tokyo and the Kanto region to see during the winter vacation in Japan. Don’t forget to bookmark the exhibitions on the Tokyo Art Beat app to never miss them.
*Opening hours and days may differ during the holidays. Please make sure to check the official websites before your visit.
- Our Ecology: Toward a Planetary Living (Mori Art Museum)
- Keith Haring “Art to the Streets” (Mori Arts Center Gallery)
- Olafur Eliasson “A Harmonious Cycle of Interconnected Nows” (Azabudai Hills Gallery)
- Mika Ninagawa “Eternity in a Moment” (Tokyo Node)
- Shinji Ohmaki: Interface of Being (The National Art Center, Tokyo)
- Modes and Characters: Poetics of Graphic Design (21_21 Design Sight)
- The Cubist Revolution: An Exhibition from the Collection of the Centre Pompidou, Paris (National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo)
- Monet: Scenes From a Series of Paintings (Ueno Royal Museum)
- Ueno Artist Project 2023: Picturing and Touching the Lives of Others — Fungi, Plants, Animals and Humans (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
- Yasuko Toyoshima Exhibition (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
- Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto: Music / Art / Media (NTT ICC Inter Communication Center)
- Mao Ishikawa “What Can I Do?” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery)
- Tetsuya Umeda “Wait This is My Favorite Part” (Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art)
- The Spirit of Avant-Garde Photography: Transforming “Nothing Much” - Shuzo Takaguchi, Nobuya Abe, Kiyoji Otsuji, Shigeo Gocho (The Shoto Museum of Art)
- Takashi Homma “Revolution 9” (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum)
- Leap Before You Look Contemporary Japanese Photography Vol.20 (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum)
- Marie Laurencin: An Eye for Her Time (Artizon Museum)
- The Beloved Gods and Buddhas of Northeastern Japan (Tokyo Station Gallery)
- The Work of Shiro Kuramata: A Microcosmos of Memory (Setagaya Art Museum)
- Makoto Kagoshima “Everyday” (Play!Museum)
Our Ecology: Toward a Planetary Living (Mori Art Museum)
This exhibition reexamines the anthropocentrism that has led to environmental crises and explores the possibilities for a new ecological system. In addition to introducing foreign artists such as Agnes Denes, the exhibition reexamines art produced and presented in Japan from the 1950s to 1970s, when pollution formed a dark downside to the country’s rapid economic growth, to reconsider today’s environmental problems from a Japanese standpoint. Furthermore, the Mori Art Museum is taking on a challenge to make this an ecological show in terms of production and theme, such as reducing transportation to a minimum and reusing and recycling resources.
Venue: Mori Art Museum
Schedule: October 18 - March 31, 2024
*Reservations prioritized
*Discount with MuPon
Keith Haring “Art to the Streets” (Mori Arts Center Gallery)
Keith Haring is loved around the world for his recognizable pop images. Based on his belief that “art is for everyone,” he sent a strong message to society by spreading art inside subway stations and on the streets of New York in the 1980s and entrusted the future of humanity and hope to children. This exhibition is a rare opportunity to experience Haring’s art through approximately 150 works, including large pieces up to 6 meters long.
Venue: Mori Arts Center Gallery
Schedule: December 9 - February 25, 2024
Olafur Eliasson “A Harmonious Cycle of Interconnected Nows” (Azabudai Hills Gallery)
The newly-opened complex Azabudai Hills is holding a solo exhibition of Icelandic–Danish contemporary artist Olafur Eliasson. The exhibition will feature new installations, watercolor paintings, drawings, and three-dimensional works created with recycled materials. In addition, a new public artwork, A harmonious cycle of interconnected nows (2023), can be found inside Mori JP Tower. Find more information in the photo report.
Venue: Azabudai Hills Gallery
Schedule: November 24 - March 31, 2024
Mika Ninagawa “Eternity in a Moment” (Tokyo Node)
Renowned Japanese photographer and film director Mika Ninagawa is taking on the challenge of holding her most extensive exhibition ever. This exhibition embodies Mika Ninagawa’s creative approach, which transforms the fleeting beauty of everyday life into an eternal existence through videos and photographs. On display are 14 installations created in collaboration with talents from various fields, including musicians.
Venue: Tokyo Node
Schedule: December 5 - February 25, 2024
Shinji Ohmaki: Interface of Being (The National Art Center, Tokyo)
Contemporary artist Shinji Ohmaki is internationally acclaimed for his large-scale installations. In his practice, Ohmaki examines the historical arc that has led contemporary society to its current state and the issues it faces today. His spaces, in which light and darkness play vital roles, are imbued with a sense of primeval life governed by celestial rhythms. This exhibition is dynamically staged in the most extensive gallery of the National Art Center, Tokyo, with a ceiling height of eight meters and a floor space of 2,000 square meters. The installations resonate with viewers on a deeply physical level, evoking a sense of organic integration that we have lost in our fragmented world.
Venue: The National Art Center, Tokyo
Schedule: November 1 - December 25
Modes and Characters: Poetics of Graphic Design (21_21 Design Sight)
Modes and Characters: Poetics of Graphic Design exhibition focuses on the relationship between text and design. In particular, it aims to understand design after the 1990s, when desktop publishing (DTP) became mainstream in the design world, allowing designers to carry out many processes in producing data for publications and printed matters on PCs. The main exhibition features the works of approximately 50 individuals and teams of graphic designers from Japan and abroad.
Venue: 21_21 Design Sight
Schedule: November 23 - March 10, 2024
The Cubist Revolution: An Exhibition from the Collection of the Centre Pompidou, Paris (National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo)
National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo, presents the first major exhibition of Cubism in Japan in approximately 50 years. Pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Cubism was a highly influential modern art movement that emerged in the early 20th century. This exhibition will feature approximately 140 works (50 of which will be exhibited in Japan for the first time), including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, videos, and documents from the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Venue: National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo
Schedule: October 3 - January 28, 2024
Monet: Scenes From a Series of Paintings (Ueno Royal Museum)
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, the Ueno Royal Museum brings together Monet’s representative works carefully selected from more than 30 collections worldwide. The exhibition focuses on Monet’s “series of paintings” and traces the life of a painter who was in constant dialogue with time and light.
Venue: Ueno Royal Museum
Schedule: October 20 - January 28, 2024
Ueno Artist Project 2023: Picturing and Touching the Lives of Others — Fungi, Plants, Animals and Humans (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
This exhibition introduces six artists committed to depicting creatures of nature. Featured artists are Michiko Kobayashi, Hisashi Tsuji, Haruo Uchiyama, Hisae Imai, Miho Tomita, and Chisato Abe. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore nature through the eyes of artists who have dedicated themselves to their craft.
Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Schedule: November 16 - January 8, 2024
*Discount with MuPon
Yasuko Toyoshima Exhibition (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
What determines “up or down” and “left or right”? How about inverting “front or back”? Yasuko Toyoshima has maintained the perspective of the “I” and, in her way, has continually confronted the various systems, values, and rules surrounding us. This is the first-ever museum exhibition to bring together nearly 400 works by Toyoshima, from the earliest to the latest pieces, and to examine her artistic activity in its entirety.
Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Schedule: December 9 - March 10, 2024
*Discount with MuPon
Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto: Music / Art / Media (NTT ICC Inter Communication Center)
NTT ICC Inter Communication Center presents an exhibition memorializing Ryuichi Sakamoto, who passed away in March 2023. Co-curated by Daito Manabe of Rhizomatiks, this exhibition comprises works based on Sakamoto’s performance data, works associated with Sakamoto, and records of previous exhibitions at ICC.
Venue: NTT ICC Inter Communication Center
Schedule: December 16 - March 10, 2024
Mao Ishikawa “What Can I Do?” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery)
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery presents a solo exhibition of Okinawa-based photographer Mao Ishikawa. This exhibition will provide an overview of Ishikawa’s career, from her early works to the most recent, and at the same time, feature the latest photographs taken on the geopolitical frontlines of contemporary Okinawa, which is still in a difficult situation despite the 70th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to mainland Japan last year.
Venue: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
Schedule: October 13 - December 24
*Discount with MuPon
Tetsuya Umeda “Wait This is My Favorite Part” (Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art)
For the first time in its history, Watari-um Museum is holding an exhibition resembling a performance. The works shed light on the architectural aspects of the museum and rooms that have never been used as exhibition spaces. The performers will guide the audience as they explore the exhibition spaces and backstage areas, encountering devices that transform everyday scenes.
Venue: Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art
Schedule: December 1 - January 28, 2024 (Period 1: until January 14; Period 2: from January 16)
The Spirit of Avant-Garde Photography: Transforming “Nothing Much” - Shuzo Takaguchi, Nobuya Abe, Kiyoji Otsuji, Shigeo Gocho (The Shoto Museum of Art)
The Shoto Museum of Art presents an exhibition exploring photography in Japan during the Showa period (1926-1989), focusing on four artists. Shuzo Takiguchi pioneered surrealism in photography; Nobuya Abe founded the Avant-garde Photographic Society with Takiguchi; Seiji Otsuji was fascinated by Takiguchi and created the Nandemo Nai Shashin series; and Shigeo Gocho was a favorite student of Otsuji.
Venue: The Shoto Museum of Art
Schedule: December 2 - February 4, 2024
Takashi Homma “Revolution 9” (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum)
Takashi Homma is known for photographs capturing the landscape and people of Tokyo’s suburbs. This is his first solo exhibition at a museum in Japan in approximately ten years, featuring a recent series of photographs taken with the pinhole camera.
Venue: Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Schedule: October 6 - January 21, 2024
Leap Before You Look Contemporary Japanese Photography Vol.20 (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum)
Contemporary Japanese Photography exhibition has been held since 2002 to foster a creative spirit for discovering the potential of photography and moving images, finding promising artists, and developing new creative activities. The 20th in this series introduces the experiments of five up-and-coming artists.
Venue: Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Schedule: October 27 - January 21, 2024
Marie Laurencin: An Eye for Her Time (Artizon Museum)
Marie Laurencin, who studied at the Académie Humbert and began her career as a cubist, was a female painter active in the first half of the 20th century. She lived almost entirely in Paris, even after the outbreak of World War II, and continued creating there until her death at the age of 73. This exhibition explores the fascinating nature of her paintings by exploring different themes and comparing her work with associated artists.
Venue: Artizon Museum
Schedule: December 9 - March 3, 2024
The Beloved Gods and Buddhas of Northeastern Japan (Tokyo Station Gallery)
Tokyo Station Gallery presents an exhibition featuring Buddhist statues focusing on “folk Buddhas.” The statues were made by carpenters and woodworkers, not Buddhist priests or craftsmen, and are, therefore, not heavily decorated. This exhibition introduces approximately 130 unique wooden statues created in the northern Tohoku region of Aomori, Iwate, and Akita and explores the form of Japanese religious belief.
Venue: Tokyo Station Gallery
Schedule: December 2 - February 12, 2024
The Work of Shiro Kuramata: A Microcosmos of Memory (Setagaya Art Museum)
Shiro Kuramata is one of the best-known and most influential designers today. His furniture and interior designs, frequently made of acrylic and glass as well as metal construction materials, possess the power to captivate the viewer. This exhibition, the first solo exhibition of Kuramata’s work in Tokyo in approximately 20 years, traces the designer’s career and presents his journals and sketches, providing context for his creations.
Venue: Setagaya Art Museum
Schedule: November 18 - January 28, 2024
Makoto Kagoshima “Everyday” (Play!Museum)
Play!Museum presents the first large-scale exhibition of Makoto Kagoshima, who has garnered attention for his diverse work, which includes ceramics, textiles, and prints. The exhibition features 200 new pieces and approximately 100 products created in collaboration with domestic and international brands. Various original goods, including apparel, stationery, and food, are also available for sale.
Venue: Play!Museum
Schedule: October 7 - January 8, 2024
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