New Gallery Building Opens in Ebisu

After NADiff bookstore closed its Omotesando premises last summer, and Magical Artroom left the Roppongi Gallery Complex in February, the two reopen their doors in a stylish building in Ebisu, known as NADiff a/p/a/r/t, together with G/P Gallery, Art Jam Contemporary and Magic Room.

"New Beginning - The Show Must Go On!" Exhibition

at Magical, Artroom
in the Nakameguro area
This event has ended

11 people bookmarked this.
2 people recommend this.

Chim Pom "Japanese Art is 10 Years Behind"

at Nadiff
in the Nakameguro area
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50 people bookmarked this.
9 people recommend this.
1 person reviewed this.

In Photo Reports by Ashley Rawlings 2008-07-09 print email

The new building is hidden down a side street, just off a back street running along the Shibuya River in Ebisu.

Already at 7pm there was a queue to get in.

The first sight to greet you on entering was... more people.

NADiff is Tokyo's premier art and design bookshop, with outlets in a number of major museums around the city.

On the second floor, G/P Gallery opened with an exhibition of photographs by Yoshihiko Ueda, titled ''Photographs: Bones and Stonewares''

Director of G/P Gallery, Shigeo Goto, takes a moment's pause in the less crowded Art Jam Contemporary next door.

Art Jam Contemporary opened with an exhibition by Maya Nukumizu and Yukarina, titled ''Girls' Zone 01''

The crowd of people queuing to get in wrapped around the building, seen here from the window of G/P Gallery. Twenty minutes later, seen here from the third floor balcony, the queue showed little sign of abating.

The third floor is occupied by Magical Artroom, which reopened with a group show of eleven gallery artists.

One the left, Haruka Ito, director of Magical Artroom; on the right, Masami Shiraishi, director of SCAI The Bathhouse, who is now acting as an a professional advisor to Magical Artroom.

Fumio Nanjo, director of the Mori Art Museum. Vivienne Sato, art-lover-fashionista-drag-queen frequently seen at openings.

In Tokyo, there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about a polar bear attending an exhibition opening.

Johnnie Walker in silhouette against the 'Hotel Magical' work by Hitoshi Kuriyama, previously shown at Art@Agnes in January.

Click here to see this work installed at Art@Agnes.

On the fourth floor, Magic Room, previously located in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa gallery building has reopened as a bar/café. Events and exhibitions are planned.

The free food proved too appealing to those who discovered it, and this part of the building was probably the most packed.

The DJ had perfected his affected look of disaffection.

The spiral staircase leading down from Art Jam Contemporary into NADiff. ''We're having a very crowded opening party tonight, where should we put the congratulatory flowers?'' ''Oh, just put them all the way up the very narrow staircase. The guests will like that.''

Artist collective Chin↑Pom was holding an event in the basement space. Not paying attention to the sign, which reads ''Chin↑Pom — you can enter the basement from the outside'', I thought that based on some of their past work there was nothing unusual about the idea that you might be expected to crawl under a tarpaulin in order to see their work...

... so I found myself not where they wanted me to be, but nevertheless in the best place to photograph this installation/performance. In the far corner, the audience observing from a platform. The room was pitch black, lit only by fireflies. Occasionally the light would come on, revealing this flooded, graffitied basement, with rubbish and a woman on a rubber dinghy floating around.

Outside, the ''Miraisha'' (Future van) was parked, where artist Ichiro Endo invited guests to write their wishes on it.

Ashley Rawlings. Born in 1981 in London. After a year of studying painting and mixed media at Chelsea College of Art & Design, he took on Japanese Studies at Cambridge. He moved to Tokyo in 2005, where he studies the history of Japanese post-war art at Sophia University and works as a freelance writer, translator and editor. As well as writing and editing for TABlog, he writes for the Japan Times and the ART iT website. He is also the editor of Art Space Tokyo, an intimate guide to the Tokyo art world. When not in galleries and museums or taking photographs, he enjoys losing himself in among Tokyo's skyscrapers, wandering silent streets, and riding out the occasional earthquakes. Will only consider returning to Britain once they've fixed the weather. » See other writings

Comments

aneta
2008-07-09

This looks like a huge space. And the bash seems like the event of the season. Love the staircase, it reminds me of the Louise Bourgois installation some years back at Tate, which I saw in a documentary about the artist now showing http://www.nyartbeat.com/event/2008/CC78 in NY.
Ashley Rawlings
2008-07-09

It was hard to judge exactly how big the space feels with so many people there, although overall it was bigger than I had expected. That said, though, I got the impression that NADiff has a lot less space here than it did in Omotesando. But the cafe on the top floor, the two balconies and the big windows throughout make it a really appealing place to take your time.
Donald
2008-07-10

Check out Edan Corkill’s background story, ”Cat paws and art charms,” here: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fa20080710a1.html

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