Posted:Jul 5, 2014

10 Things in Tokyo: June Round-up

A short list of events and exhibitions happening across Tokyo in June.

Steve McQueen 'Ashes' (2014)
Steve McQueen 'Ashes' (2014)
© Louis Vuitton / Jérémie Souteyrat. Courtesy Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo

Louis Vuitton’s Espace is everything you’d expect a gallery inside a high-end fashion store to be; it’s a beautiful and spacious cube at an impressive scale. Steve McQueen is best-known for his award-winning films such as 12 Years a Slave but he is also a highly celebrated video artist. Although this exhibition started in April, if you haven’t already seen Steve McQueen’s videos, it’s definitely one of Espace’s best exhibitions so far in their program. It runs until August 17th. Fiona Tan, another leading video artist, has a collection of still images and photographs on display at Wako Works of Art until June 28th.

Another new media artist to seek out this month is Tsuyoshi Hisakado, who samples and manipulates sound, light and other phenomenon to create art. See his installation works at Ota Fine Arts (in the same building as Wako) until June 28th.

Yutaka Matsuzawa is regarded as the founder of conceptual art in Japan, beginning his non-object, word-based art practice in the mid-1960s. See his body of work, spanning over half a century, at Misa Shin Gallery until June 14th. At the same time, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery have on show a significant collection of international conceptual art from Yasuharu Ishikawa. Names such as Pierre Huyghe, Shimabuku and Koizumi Meiro are included. Until June 29.

A couple of Tokyo galleries are featuring painting exhibitions this month; Mari Ito is being shown at Zeit Foto Salon (until July 5), while Mana Konishi is at Arataniurano. Konishi uses a realist technique to paint landscapes that don’t actually exist, including many scenes with bodies of water and reflections. Until June 28.

Japan-born sculptor Leiko Ikemura has her work on display in Shizuoka’s Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography calls upon its impressive collection to highlight spirituality in Japanese photographs. Not surprisingly, many of the works include shrines, ceremonies and nature. Until July 13.

Finally, for any fashion fans this exhibitions of costumes from the Ballet Russes is sure to please. The company were highly influential in the early twentieth century, during the age of art deco, and worked with artists such as Picasso and Matisse to produce extraordinary set designs and costumes. The exhibition opens June 18th and runs until September 1st.

Emily Wakeling

Emily Wakeling

Emily Wakeling is a writer and curator who used to be based in Tokyo. Hailing from Brisbane, Australia, Emily wrote a Masters thesis on images of girls in contemporary Japanese art. She also curated some local sound art events. Her research interests cover Asian and Australian contemporary art, young women artists, globalisation and art, and new media.