app renewal 1122 1 en

Tokyo Art Beat has been completely renewed! From Tokyo to all of Japan and even easier to use!

app release 1 en

The definitive art app! Tokyo Art Beat App Renewed and Now Available Nationwide

<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/1-Banksy.jpg" alt="Banksy, 'The Girl with a Pierced Eardrum' (2014, Bristol, UK)" title="Photo: ©Alma Reyes" width="257" height="343" class="imgcaption floatl" />Graffiti has existed for thousands of years as cave paintings. It has decorated the walls of ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman buildings as protest poems and illustrations. Since the 1960s, it has adorned tunnels, subways, and building facades, particularly in New York City and Europe. Labeling graffiti as art or vandalism has sparked intense controversies. However, as the years have passed, recognized artists have emerged, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, who began spraying art on the streets in the late 1970s, followed by Blek le Rat and Keith Haring in the 1980s. Banksy, the mysterious British artist who has consistently avoided public identification since his debut in the 1990s, has continued to set the world aflame with his bold expression of artistic freedom and deliberate messages of political and cultural satire.
<a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2021/EC73">Who is Banksy?</a>, now showing at Warehouse Terrada in Tennozu Isle until December 5th, has come to Tokyo less than a year after a different Banksy exhibition debuted in Yokohama. After Tokyo, the <a href="https://whoisbanksy.jp/en/">show</a> will continue on to Nagoya, Osaka, Koriyama and Takaoka. Its works are largely from the globe-touring exhibition “The Art of Banksy.” What makes Banksy resonate among multiple generations is perhaps his dark humor and occasional use of subversive symbols. As designer Paul Smith remarked, Banksy speaks of the “corrupted truth” in human society that many of us are too nervous to articulate. His exhibitions are flocked to in the thousands, and his works are auctioned at shocking prices. They evidently echo people’s doubts about our current political, social, and cultural states.
The Girl with a Pierced Eardrum (2014, Bristol, UK) appears on a replica of a wall in the Albion Dockyard of Bristol, England, where the original art can be found. A different take on Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” Banksy’s version has replaced the girl’s earring with an outdoor security alarm. In 2020, the same mural was given a face mask to reflect the global pandemic, but whether the addition was, indeed, executed by Banksy himself or another person has not been verified.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Banksy-6.jpeg" alt="'The Walled Off Hotel' (2017, Bethlehem, Palestine), Installation View" title="Photo: ©Alma Reyes" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
The current exhibition is particularly engaging thanks to its movie set-like installations, which escort the visitor through streets, alleys, and tunnels in the U.K. and U.S. decorated with Banksy’s art. Visitors can also walk through a recreated street scene from Gaza, Palestine showing the abysmal conditions around the separation barrier. Alongside this display is a stage set of the “Walled Off Hotel” in Bethlehem, Palestine, with interiors marked by Banksy. The presentation style offers a realistic experience of the artworks on a life-sized scale.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2-Banksy.jpg" alt="Banksy, 'Spy Booth' (2014, Cheltenham, UK), Installation View" title="Photo: ©Alma Reyes" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Another intriguing mural is Spy Booth (2014, Cheltenham, UK), which displays three 1950s-era spies listening in on a conversation at a phone booth—widely presumed to be Banksy’s critique on government surveillance. Two of the three spies were believed to be representations of whistleblower Edward Snowden and WikiLinks founder Julian Assange. The wall art appeared originally on the side of a building in Cheltenham, England, not far away from the British intelligence and security organization Government Communications Headquarters. The work created a stir when it mysteriously disappeared in 2016 after the state legislature decided to reconstruct the entire building to protect it from aging. This year, the heads of the spies were found and have been put on auction by entertainment label Cosmic Wire.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/3-Banksy.jpeg" alt="Banksy, 'Laugh Now' (2003), Private Collection" width="257" height="364" class="imgcaption floatl" />Among the artist’s private collections that should not be missed are humorous caricatures of monkeys and rats, Banksy’s most frequently used animal characters representing the human mind. Laugh Now (2003) is one of the artist’s most popular and early works. Originally, it was a six-meter spray-painted mural, with the monkey’s figure repeated ten times in a row as a backdrop to Ocean Rooms nightclub in Brighton. The chimp’s expression of slumped shoulders and sunken eyes is gloomy and forlorn, emoting oppression. Possibly, it may have been also a critical message of how animals are harshly treated by humans. The provocative words seem to imply an anticipated uprising. Similar thoughts are evoked in Monkey Parliament (2009), illustrating chimpanzees in place of parliament members at the House of Commons in London. Banksy released this work the same year of the parliamentary expenses scandal. 
Banksy’s rat subjects were believed to be his homage to the so-called father of stencil graffiti, Blek le Rat. In Gangsta Rat (2004), the rat wears a chain medallion necklace and a NY Yankees baseball cap. It sits next to a boombox. The character portrayal of underground New York lifestyle that was prevalent across the UK in the 1980s and 1990s is utterly unmistakable. 
 
For those who have followed the corporate legacy of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, The Son of a Migrant from Syria (2015, Calais, France) is a powerful message of irony surrounding the Syrian migrant crisis and accumulation of wealth. Banksy painted the mural in a migrant camp in Calais, France. He used the character of Steve Jobs, whose father was a Syrian migrant to the U.S., as a farcical statement to negate public opinion that migration is a drain on a country’s resources. Jobs is seen carrying a sack of his belongings and his first Apple Mac computer, which made him wealthy while his company has paid over $7 billion a year in taxes.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/4-Banksy.jpg" alt="Banksy, 'The Son of a Migrant from Syria' (2015, Calais, France), Installation View" title="Photo: ©Alma Reyes" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Finally, no one can dismiss Girl with a Balloon (2002, London, UK), considered to be Banksy’s most identifiable “trademark.” The figure of innocence in the little girl who releases a red, heart-shaped balloon in the air was first drawn on the staircase of Waterloo Bridge in London in 2002. Banksy had used this picture several times in social campaigns, such as those for saving Syrian children in 2014. In the exhibition, the words “There is always hope” are written on the wall next to the picture. The celebrated artwork ignited a global buzz during a Sotheby’s auction in 2018, when it was sold for a million pounds, but was shredded by a mechanical device Banksy had hidden inside the frame. Consequently, the piece was given a new name, “Love in the Bin,” and was auctioned once more in October 2021 for £16 million.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Banksy-5.jpeg" alt="Banksy, 'Girl with a Balloon' (2002, London, UK), Installation View" title="Photo: ©Alma Reyes" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Despite the enormous wealth and fame that Banksy has been bestowed within the last 30 years, he remains unmaterialistic, often appearing as an ordinary street artist in sneakers and a hooded sweatshirt. His creations speak to us about certain delusions in societal norms, shortcomings of political and social systems, and the perpetual human struggle to understand life’s existence.

article_22975

Banksy’s Street Art Paints the Town

The <a href="https://universes.art/en/venice-biennale/2021-architecture">17th Venice Architecture Biennale</a> is currently being held after postponement from last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With participants from 46 countries, this year’s event on through November 21 explores the theme “How Will We Live Together?” Architects from around the world have gathered in Italy to present projects on topics including the challenges that climate change brings to architecture, the role of public space in urban settings, reconstruction techniques, and new forms of collective building. The Japan Pavilion (Commissioner: The Japan Foundation) is curated this time by Kozo Kadowaki, an architect and professor. Other Japanese architects taking leading roles are Tomohisa Miyauchi, who represents the Singapore Pavilion, and Kenichi Teramoto, a co-curator of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Pavilion. Their works consider the reuse of old buildings, designs for communal spaces, and alternative construction materials with environmental benefits. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/001_D0A6534.jpg" alt="The Japan Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale" title="Photo: ⒸAlberto Strada, Courtesy of the Japan Foundation" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
Japan 
For the <a href="https://venezia-biennale-japan.jpf.go.jp/e/architecture/2021">Japan Pavilion</a> exhibition, titled “Co-ownership of Action: Trajectories of Elements,” Kadowaki directed a team of architects and preservation building specialists in dismantling a house and bringing its parts to Venice. Named the “Takamizawa House” after a former occupant, the dwelling was a 65-year-old structure typical of Japanese wood construction. It was located across the street from where Kadowaki lived in Tokyo. Having undergone repeated additions and renovations over three decades, the house physically embodied the changes Japanese society went through during the postwar years. It was one of many such aging residences in Japan, which faces a housing glut due to depopulation. After careful study and deconstruction, its materials were shipped to the Biennale, where they are exhibited along with photographs of the building and a timeline of its history. 
 <img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/014_D0A6854.jpg" alt="Parts from the house displayed inside the pavilion" title="Photo: ⒸAlberto Strada, Courtesy of the Japan Foundation" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
Although not all of the house could be salvaged, parts of it were reconstructed in Venice with new elements added by local artisans. Materials from the house’s roofs and walls have been reused to make benches, screens, and display panels for the pavilion. 
 <img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/024_D0A6974.jpg" alt="Benches made from the house's materials" title="Photo: ⒸAlberto Strada, Courtesy of the Japan Foundation" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
One goal of the project was to visualize how “transport and movement in general have become an increasingly frenetic aspect of contemporary society.” Another was to address issues of waste involved in construction. “Building results in a lot of scrap material, so we wanted to create an exhibition on an architectural scale that did not produce garbage,” explained Kadowaki.
Interconnection also figured prominently in the project. A guide to the exhibition elaborates, “Our actions never belong to ourselves alone. The creations of the architects will be a result of the history through which Takamizawa House lived…they will also be linked to the actions of the artisans and the experiences of visitors.” 
While no longer whole, the house has a future. After the Biennale, its parts will be used in a community facility for an apartment complex in the suburbs of Oslo. Takamizawa House’s journey continues.
Singapore 
The Singapore Pavilion presents “To Gather: The Architecture of Relationships,” an exhibition examining the ways in which inhabitants of Singapore share space — in the city, with one another, and with nature. Tomohisa Miyauchi, an architect an educator who has taught at the National University of Singapore, is one of five curators of the show. This is his third time curating the country’s pavilion. “This isn’t simply about architecture,” he explains. “It’s about people’s relationships, ideas, histories, cultures, and how they think about the future.”
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2.-HDB01_credit-Tomohisa-Miyauchi-1.jpg" alt="This block of apartments on Singapore's Pending Road features a neighborhood hawker center, a kind of 'community dining room.'" title="Photo: ©Tomohisa Miyauchi (2013)" width="518" height="324" class="imgcaption" />
Singapore has experienced rapid urbanization since its independence in 1965. The majority of its urban population lives in public housing, where spaces such as hawker centers – open-air food courts – contribute to community life. In 2020, hawker culture in Singapore was added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Culture and the Heritage of Humanity. In addition to hawker centers, the Singapore project highlights “void decks” as relationship-building spaces. Used for leisure, shelter, and civic functions, these open areas on the ground floors of apartments let different groups in the community convene. Elderly residents can play checkers, delivery bikers can take a break from the rain, and town officials can hold meetings or operate polling stations during elections. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/8.-Void-Deck-of-Housing-and-Development-Board-Flats-Photography-by-Open-Narrative.jpg" alt="Void deck of Housing and Development Board Flats" title="Photo: ©Open Narrative (2020)" width="518" height="346" class="imgcaption" />
Miyauchi designed Singapore’s exhibition, which features 16 tables with works demonstrating community-oriented spaces in the spirit of hawker centers and void decks. Arranged by the themes “Communing Relationships,” “Framing Relationships,” “Uncovering Relationships,” and “Imagining Relationships,” the displays include a <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/904646/kampung-admiralty-woha">senior housing complex</a> with on-site shopping, childcare, and medical facilities that supports intergenerational bonding and active aging-in-place. Another project aimed at humanizing the city uses <a href="https://www.bothsidesnow.sg/">creative engagement</a> in public spaces to stimulate conversation about end-of-life concerns. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/210518-Singapore-Biennale-Architettura-2021-Venezia-_gerdastudio-C5DS5020.png" alt="Inspired by local hawker centers, the Singapore Pavilion exhibits 16 works introducing Singaporean modes of gathering and coexistence." title="Photo: ©gerdastudio" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
United Arab Emirates 
Kenichi Teramoto and Wael Al Awar curated this year’s Gold Lion-winning UAE Pavilion (commissioned by the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation). They attempted to create a technological equivalent of Portland cement. “The UAE has an image as a desert country, but in fact it has mineral-rich wetlands such as the sabkha salt flats,” Teramoto stated. With the assistance of researchers at the University of Tokyo, New York University Abu Dhabi, and American University of Sharjah, Teramoto and Wael developed a large-scale prototype structure created from an environmentally friendly cement made of recycled industrial waste brine. The new substance could reduce the climate impact of the construction industry and alleviate the need for Portland cement. After water, cement is the world’s second-most demanded resource.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Image-courtesy-National-Pavilion-UAE-La-Biennale-di-Venezia.-Photography-by-Frederico-Torra-for-PLANE-SITE.-_DSF5049.jpeg" alt="The UAE Pavilion 'Wetland' considers alternatives to cement as a building material." width="518" height="389" title="Image courtesy National Pavilion UAE La Biennale Di Venezia" class="imgcaption" />
At the pavilion, Teramoto and Wael’s cement has been hand-cast into organic shapes recalling traditional coral-built houses. A structure built from 2,400 of these cement modules is exhibited in front of Farah Al Qasimi’s photographs of the Al Ruwais Sabkha salt flats, which are shown against a backdrop of voltage cables running to industrial facilities.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Image-courtesy-National-Pavilion-UAE-La-Biennale-di-Venezia.-Photography-by-Frederico-Torra-for-PLANE-SITE.-_DSF5060.jpeg" alt="The UAE Pavilion won the Gold Lion for Best National Participation." title="Image courtesy National Pavilion UAE La Biennale Di Venezia" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Kazuyo Sejima, president of this year’s Gold Lion jury, described Teramoto and Wael’s project as “a bold experiment that encourages us to think about the relationship between waste and production on a local and global scale, and opens us to new construction possibilities between craft and high-technology.”
A <a href="https://nationalpavilionuae.org/architecture/2020-2/">virtual tour</a> gives a fuller look at the UAE exhibition.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Image-courtesy-National-Pavilion-UAE-La-Biennale-di-Venezia.-Photography-by-Frederico-Torra-for-PLANE-SITE.-0201.jpeg" alt="" title="Image courtesy National Pavilion UAE La Biennale Di Venezia" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />

article_22822

Japan at Venice Architecture Biennale 2021

Lisa Pang: I first met <a href="http://yurishimmyo.com">Yuri Shimmyo</a> a few years ago, when a mutual artist friend invited me to an exhibition opening in Sydney’s St Leonards neighbourhood. In that busy, warm, overcrowded gallery, I was captivated by one of Yuri’s etchings – for the skill of the drawing, the rendition of light, and the simplicity of black ink on white paper, but mainly for the mystery it contained. I bought it. Called Monk fish, it shows a woman concentrating on sewing what appears to be a large flat fish on her lap. I find it delightful for its sense of humour and whimsy. I met Yuri in person later to collect the work.
Yuri works as a printmaker and a painter, finding time for her practice around her other roles as a mother, an office worker, and a guitar student. On the day in October I spoke with her in an online chat, she was in her home studio surrounded by her current paintings, many of them in shades of green. When I recall her face, I don’t remember what she was wearing, but I picture her as a calm space in a meadow of finely detailed plants. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/1-YS_Anonymous-のコピー.jpg" alt="Yuri Shimmyo, ‘Anonymous’ 2021, oil on canvas, 2021, 78 x 101 cm" title="All images courtesy the artist" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
LP: What was your journey to becoming an artist? 
YS: I learnt how to draw and paint at Julian Ashton Art School (1), attending classes at night after work. This gradually increased to one day a week and my final year, 2000, I did a full-time year. After that I went back to work and decided to paint on weekends. My son arrived shortly after and I am a single mum.
LP: And what was your journey from Japan to Australia? 
YS: I am originally from Hokkaido, so I grew up and went to primary school there. My parents and sister are in Tokyo now, so that is where I go when I visit Japan.
My father worked for a Japanese paper manufacturing company and the whole family came to Australia when I was a child. We lived in Eden NSW, and I finished high school there. I came to Sydney after that to study at university. When my parents returned to Japan I decided to stay and finish my university education and I’ve been here since.
LP: Could you tell me about your practice and how you work as an artist? 
YS: My practice is observational, and my subject is my life around me. I work at an accounting firm four days a week. Before Covid, I did one day of printmaking at Meadowbank TAFE (2) and one long day of painting at home. Because of Covid, I haven’t had access to a workshop or press, so I have been trying linocut printing at home using a hand baren and water-based inks, but it’s been a bit of a challenge.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2-Time-management-のコピー-2.jpg" alt="Yuri Shimmyo, 'Time Management’ 2021, oil on board, 30 x 30 cm" width="518" height="516" class="imgcaption" />
LP: I notice that themes of fantasy and humour often recur in your works, as do portraits of yourself and your son. Also, congratulations on being a finalist for this year’s Portia Geach Prize! (3) The selected painting, Time Management, is a self-portrait in which you are surrounded by clocks. It is to me an anxiety-provoking image. Could you talk about this painting?
YS: I’m busy and I work long hours and I like to do so much with my spare time if I do have any. I just feel that there’s never enough time to do anything, so I was feeling a little bit…almost static, frozen, unable to move, and that is what was depicted in that painting. These clocks are just ticking behind me and I’m frozen and I’m not productive enough. As an artist, you really want to be producing, but at the pace I am going, I am so slow and there is so little time to do everything. That just sums up my frustration. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/3-Fire-Stairs-のコピー.jpg" alt="Yuri Shimmyo, ‘Fire Stairs’ 2019, oil on canvas, 25 x 20 cm" width="257" height="386" class="imgcaption floatl" />LP: What are you working on at the moment?
YS: Apart from my figurative work, I like to paint weeds – I have always enjoyed the sight of them growing on the side of the road and among pavements. My life now is basically between work and painting, and because of Covid (4), I’ve been walking a lot in my neighbourhood, and I notice a lot of weeds around. Using my own photos, I work from many different shots to create a composition for my painting. I don’t do a preliminary drawing, I go straight on to the canvas over an acrylic underpainting. I paint using tiny 000 brushes and I prefer oils as they give me a longer working time. The scale of my work is also dictated by the size of my studio – there’s not that much room to step back.
LP: Why weeds?
YS: Weeds just came as something that was familiar – they’re all different, they’re cute and they remind me of carefree childhood days when you can lie on the ground on your back, among the grass and weeds and look at they sky. Weeds are really interesting, and I thought I would get over it, but I can’t believe I am still painting weeds. Green is also a colour that is extremely hard to paint with, and it’s a challenge to control, technically.
LP: How do you see the role of an artist in society? 
YS: I paint what I see and what is in my life. When my child was little, I used to spend a lot of time with him, and I did a lot of paintings of him running around. These days my focus has shifted to images that catch my eye, or that I imagine. For me it’s about my life, and so I just record what I see and that is my role as an artist. If people think that it is quite fun or funny and they like my painting, I think that’s great.
LP: Do you feel there are differences in the ways art and artists operate and are received within the cultures of Japan and Australia?
YS: Definitely, I think there is a Japanese way of looking at things. When I was growing up, I always liked painting and drawing, and I would look at images of Japanese art as well as Western art (in reproduction). Looking at Japanese woodblock prints was familiar to me, and I also liked looking at Impressionist paintings – it’s always been a cultural exchange and I’ve always been like that myself. I don’t feel like an insider of either culture, I feel like I am an observer. It’s interesting to be able to observe and artists naturally express what they observe.
LP: I recently saw the exhibition <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2021/7F86.en">Another Energy</a> (5) at Mori Art Museum featuring 16 women artists, aged between 71 and 105. Do you think you’ve had a different journey, being an artist who is a woman?
YS: Mori Art Museum is a terrific venue and I think it’s great that they always have something interesting, thought-provoking, and sometimes controversial. I’d like to keep painting and creating until the day I die. I really liked the work of the ceramic artist Kimiyo Mishima that I saw on YouTube – the piles of newspapers and trash. I’d love to see that.
LP: Given that travel has been so restricted in recent times, what do you miss the most about Japan – what would you do or taste if you were here now?
YS: Apart from seeing my family, I’d like to visit the museums to see current exhibitions. Definitely I miss Japanese fish; sushi and so many varieties of seafood that I like – and also, Japanese sweets.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/4-Grass-hopper-Zinc-etching-Image-size-10x15cm-のコピー.jpg" alt="Yuri Shimmyo, ‘Grasshopper’ 2018, zinc etching, 10 x 15 cm" width="518" height="382" class="imgcaption" />
As an artist, Yuri has that ability to expand upon small moments of daily life, lending them a poetic, occasionally bizarre quality. While she may say disarmingly, “It is just my life and I paint what I see,” it is those moments of intense observation in her works that open us up to playfulness and wonder. There is a joy in her introspective imagination that has perhaps been magnified by the recent time of social isolation.
Playfulness is also an approach she shares with Kimiyo Mishima, who, in the Mori Museum exhibition catalogue, says on the place of play in art-making:
<blockquote>“I feel like I take a whole life to play. 
It’s not an imposition for me because I always feel as if I am playing.” (6) </blockquote>
More of Yuri’s work can be viewed on her <a href="https://www.instagram.com/yurishimmyo/">Instagram</a> account.
Notes 
(1) Julian Ashton is a Sydney art school with a longstanding reputation for its focus on classical painting and drawing. 
(2) Meadowbank TAFE is an educational institution in Sydney with shared workshop and studio facilities. 
(3) The Portia Geach Memorial Award (est. 1961) is an annual portrait prize open to Australian female artists for portraits painted from life. 
(4) At the time of this interview (October 24, 2021), Sydney is just emerging from a Covid lockdown of 106 days. Most residents worked from home when they could and stayed within five kilometers of their houses. Exercising was one of the few permitted reasons to leave the home, and walking the neighbourhood was a daily pastime for most. 
(5) “Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging – 16 Women Artists from Around the World” at Mori Art Museum, curated by Mami Kataoka (Tokyo, 2021–2022) 
(6) “Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging – 16 Women Artists from Around the World” Exhibition Catalogue, Tetsuro Uehara p. 249.

article_22930

Yuri Shimmyo, Playful Observer

The essence of art and photography is explored in this year’s incarnation of the visual arts festival <a href="https://www.kyotographie.jp/?lang=en">Kyotographie</a>. Established in 2013 by Lucille Reyboz and Yusuke Nakanishi, Kyotographie can be viewed as a beautiful love affair with the ancient Japanese capital and an artistic commentary on the power and evocation of art. 
Unlike many other arts festivals, Kyotographie prides itself in staging exhibitions in unconventional locations. So, sterile art galleries and pretentious “spaces” are eschewed in favour of temples, boutiques and the streets and waterways that define the city itself. Kyotographie ingrains itself on the roads and physicality of Kyoto every year and the festival adds layers to its influence and reputation in every installment like a topographical palimpsest. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/KG2021_0_01_Information-Lounge-_Photo-Takeshi-Asano.jpg" alt="Kyotographie Information Lounge & Books at the Sanjo Ryogaemachi Building" title="Photo: Takeshi Asano" width="518" height="352" class="imgcaption" />
The theme of Kyotographie 2021 is “Echo” and it becomes apparent when looking at the program schedule that the tenth anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the current pandemic have had an immense influence on our lives and on art in general. 
Involving artists from a disparate array of locations such as Sierra Leone, England, France and China only reinforces the importance of this festival. It displays the commonality, the shared human experience no matter where we live. Subjects range from the horrors of sexual abuse shown in the work of Yingfei Liang, to gender and sexuality seen in the exhibition of Ngadi Smart, to the grandstanding beauty of Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, to the humanity involved in Richard Collasse’s exploration of the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. It’s an all-encompassing festival that concurrently highlights the destruction and evil of the human experience with the beauty and vulnerability of our lives. 
Reyboz and Nakanishi have strived to ensure that Kyotographie is free and open for everyone. Welcoming and intriguing, the pair have established themselves as major players in the Kyoto and Japanese arts scene. With an ethos of empathy and hope, their festival has become a mainstay and a vital link to the potency of visual art. And with the affiliated program KG + Select, a program showcasing emerging photographers, it helps and promotes the talent and ambition of youth involved in the arts, especially photography. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Kyotographie-2021-Ngadi-Smart-01-Photo-by-Cindy-Bissig-1-1.jpg" alt="Ngadi Smart, 'The Faces of Abissa' (2017) ©Ngadi Smart" title="Photo: Cindy Bissig" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Ngadi_Smart_TheQueensofBabi_IMG_7121-2.jpeg" alt="Ngadi Smart, 'The Queens of Babi' (2020) ©Ngadi Smart" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
Ngadi Smart’s photography, shown at the Flying Tiger Kyoto Kawaramachi store, radically and beautifully explores notions of “normal,” “beautiful” and “right.” Liang, a Guangzhou native, is a supremely powerful photojournalist who channels the impact of photography to comment on sexual abuse in a series of dramatic set pieces. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/1-Yingfei-Liang_DSC00927_S-1.jpg" alt="Yingfei Liang, 'Beneath the Scars, a Locked Room 6' (2020) ©Yingfei Liang" width="518" height="337" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Yingfei-Liang_DSC04034-2_S-1.jpg" alt="Yingfei Liang, 'Beneath the Scars, a Locked Room 8' (2020) ©Yingfei Liang" width="518" height="340" class="imgcaption" />
Richard Collasse, a novelist, chairman of the board of Chanel Japan and humble photographer, amazes with his tribute to the people of Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture who were victims and survivors of the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The exhibition, at Nijo Castle, documents the destruction and hopelessness of the people that survived that terrifying day through Collasse’s photography taken in the weeks after the event. Stark, emotional, furious and beautiful, Collasse’s show emerges as one of the hidden highlights of this year’s festival. A fascinating polymath who has led an equally fascinating life, Collasse’s work gives an amount of respect and dignity that the people of Tohoku deserve. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/20110429-BGK_0068_KG_edit.jpg" alt="Richard Collasse, ‘She was supposed to leave for her maiden fishing campaign. The wave thought otherwise.’ ©Richard Collasse" width="518" height="346" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/20110501-BGK_0308_KG_edit.jpg" alt="Richard Collasse, ‘The month of May approaching, somebody walked into this chaos and came to plant a carp in its ruins. She swells in the wind, lonely and courageous, and she launches a message to us: you have to live, live so the memory of the ones who have been swallowed up does not perish in turn.’ ©Richard Collasse" width="518" height="346" class="imgcaption" />
Renowned Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, however, will probably be considered the biggest draw of this year’s program. His exhibition “Annus Mirabilis” which consists of a series of staged visual set pieces or tableaux vivants are huge in scale and ambition. This is photography that mirrors our immediate world plagued by the coronavirus pandemic and the effect it has had on us, as human beings. Shown at The Museum of Kyoto Annex, a former bank, it is a huge achievement and is the perfect display of the power and necessity of photography. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Erwin-Olaf_April-Fool-2020_9.45am_2020.jpg" alt="Erwin Olaf, ‘April Fool 2020, 9.45am’ (2020) ©Erwin Olaf" width="518" height="346" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Erwin-Olaf_Im-Wald_Am-Wasserfall_2020.jpg" alt="Erwin Olaf, ‘Im Wald, Am Wasserfall’ (2020) ©Erwin Olaf" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
Kyotographie 2021, according to the organizers, has been extremely challenging to stage due to the state of emergency and government restrictions. A sense of joy and the realization that photography can inspire and change, however, make their work and determination even more important. Kyotographie has become, then, one of the most important and vital arts festivals in Japan and one which continues to progress, continues to explore and, most importantly, continues to provoke. 
This year’s Kyotographie festival is on through October 17, 2021.

article_22723

The Power of Photography

<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Photo09.jpg" alt="Hisui Sugiura, 'Shinjuku Mitsukoshi completed, opens October 10' (1930), The Museum of Art, Ehime " width="257" height="360" class="imgcaption floatl" />Art Nouveau and Art Deco are two exciting art movements that have not faded in time. We continue to witness clear manifestations of these styles in architecture, interior design, advertising, and decorative details.
Hisui Sugiura (1876-1965), one of Japan’s most gifted graphic designers, was heavily influenced by Art Nouveau and Art Deco. His wonderful works have left long-lasting marks on the evolution of modern design from the prewar era through today. Running through November 14th, <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2021/682E">Sugiura Hisui: Epoch-making Modern Design</a> is presented at the Tobacco & Salt Museum in Sumida Ward. The exhibition hall is small, but showcases approximately 300 works including posters, book and magazine covers, packages, postcards, sketches, and photographs. Many of the exhibits come from The Museum of Art, Ehime, a facility in Sugiura’s home prefecture that holds a collection of about 7,000 items by the designer.
Sugiura is best remembered as the artistic brain behind Mitsukoshi Department Store. He started work at the luxury goods purveyor in 1908. After two years, he became the first head of the design department. His career at Mitsukoshi had spanned 27 years. He was largely responsible for signboards, posters, and covers for PR publications. The poster Shinjuku Mitsukoshi completed, opens October 10 (1930) presents an image of the store superimposed on the bustling Tokyo metropolis. Dual tones of blue and orange on the building, cars, and people on the street make for a striking graphical composition. Many of Mitsukoshi’s publication materials reveal Sugiura’s particular use of color and stylish simplicity.
The artist’s previous study of Nihonga painting almost certainly influenced his portraits of women, flowers, birds, and animals. He firmly believed in designs originating from close observations of nature. He remarked, “Design must be based on the sense of individuality that emanates from natural instruction.” The exhibition displays exquisite woodblock prints of seasonal flowers from the collection Hisui’s Album of 100 Flowers. Poppies, roses, peonies, lilies, magnolias, and other beautiful flora are drawn in delicate lines and soft, subtle hues.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Photo05.jpg" alt="Hisui Sugiura, 'Mitsukoshi Gofukuten: Show of New Spring Patterns' (1914), The Museum of Art, Ehime" width="257" height="359" class="imgcaption floatl" /><img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Photo01.jpg" alt="Hisui Sugiura, 'Asia’s First Subway Begins Operation Between Ueno and Asakusa' (1927), The Museum of Art, Ehime" width="257" height="384" class="imgcaption floatl" /> 
Mitsukoshi Gofukuten: Show of New Spring (1914) is regarded as Sugiura’s masterpiece. An Asian woman with butterflies on her kimono sits beside a vase of flowers in a decorative interior that illustrates the modern lifestyle of those days. The scene incorporates both traditional and Western ambiences.
One of the eye-catching highlights in the show is the poster Asia’s First Subway Begins Operation Between Ueno and Asakusa (1927). One quickly notices the brilliant mix of colors in the winter clothing of the train passengers, despite the season usually calling for dark fashion (black, brown, or grey). This irony reflects the emergence of new color perspectives in society. Additionally, the people standing at the rear end of the line are mostly dressed in kimonos, while those conspicuously at the front wear a mix of traditional and Western fashion. This captivating scene emphasizes Japan’s gradual adoption of Western trends. It also indicates Sugiura’s designs progressively evolving from the graceful Japanese style to clearer, bolder, and sharper Western techniques, especially after a trip to Europe. The poster, recognized for its daring and linear composition, was said to represent modern Japanese graphic design with a tinge of Art Deco. It expresses Sugiura’s concept of “universal clarity” and conveys the momentousness of opening the first subway in Asia, a symbol of Tokyo’s recovery from the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Photo13.jpg" alt="Hisui Sugiura, 'Hibiki' (1932) Tobacco & Salt Museum" width="257" height="369" class="imgcaption floatl" /><img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Photo15.jpg" alt="Hisui Sugiura, 'Momoyama' (1934) Tobacco & Salt Museum" width="257" height="284" class="imgcaption floatl" /> 
In terms of packaging design, Sugiura was commissioned as a contract designer for the Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Finance in 1930. This enabled him to design fancy cigarette packages for the tobacco brand Hibiki (1932), followed by Paloma (1933), Momoyama (1934), Hikari (1936), Fuso (1938), and Nikko (1949). The poster New “Minori” Mouthpieced Cigarettes (1930), which announced the release of the Minori brand, chicly illustrates the actual cigarette package in an angular position with black silhouettes of a woman’s hand extending a lit match to a man’s cigarette, all against a deep red background. The striking colors and simple, straightforward harmony in this ad embody Sugiura’s creative ingenuity. For more retro cigarette package designs, visitors can also view the permanent display about the history of tobacco. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Photo16.jpg" alt="Hisui Sugiura, 'Hikari' (1936) Tobacco & Salt Museum" width="257" height="351" class="imgcaption floatl" /><img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Photo12.jpg" alt="Hisui Sugiura, 'New 'Minori' Mouthpieced Cigarettes' (1930) Tobacco & Salt Museum" width="257" height="349" class="imgcaption floatl" /> 
Discovering the richness of art in the graphics of the past shows us how designers such as Sugiura prioritized aesthetics and creative expression. This tendency contrasts with today’s direction in advertorial design, which is overwhelmingly shaped by economic constraints, standardization, convenience, and certainly, digital technology.

article_22793

Hisui Sugiura’s Japanese Modernism

With the conclusion of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Japan may be traversing down memory lane with similar sentiments as after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Not only did two of the country’s top architects, Kenzo Tange and Kengo Kuma, leave behind symbols of modern urban architecture with Yoyogi National Gymnasium and the New National Stadium, there remain historic links between their works. Kuma has always regarded Tange as his foremost mentor and a catalyst in his decision to become an architect. It was not coincidental, therefore, that the New National Stadium extended the design philosophies of the first gymnasium from 57 years ago.
Further, the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the coming Expo 2025 Osaka bring to mind the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the Osaka World Expo 1970, both of which involved the designs of Tange. These reminders of his architectural legacy have prompted the National Archives of Modern Architecture, Agency for Cultural Affairs to embark on an extensive investigation of architectural documents related to Tange’s significant works. The exhibition “Tange Kenzo 1938-1970: From the Pre-war Period to the Olympic Games and World Expo” runs until October 10th. It traces for the first time Tange’s footsteps from his student years at Tokyo University through the post-war reconstruction of Japan with photographs, plans, models, and video clips. It explores the roots of Tange’s skills in conceptualizing architecture, cities, and national infrastructure.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Tange-1.jpg" alt="Yoyogi National Gymnasium｜1964｜Photo by Ishimoto Yasuhiro, The Museum of Art, Kochi ⒸKochi Prefecture, Ishimoto
Yasuhiro Photo Center" width="518" height="365" class="imgcaption" />
This tribute to Tange is organized into five sections: War and Peace, Modernity and Tradition, Postwar Democracy and Government Building Architecture, Challenge to Massive Space, and Designs in Information Society and High Economic Growth. The integration of all these themes is reflected in Tange’s most momentous achievement in the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, which is presented both in the initial and final rooms of the exhibition. This monumental structure continues to this day to be an essential living testament to postwar Japan’s economic resurgence and embrace of urban modernism. It is thus considered as Tange’s magnum opus. 
The architectural plans, photographs, and scale models impress the visitor with the enormous scope of Yoyogi National Gymnasium’s design, engineering, and embedded spiritual philosophy. The stadium is flanked by Meiji Shrine and the former site of Washington Heights (the U.S. Armed Forces housing complex during the occupation), conveying the message of world peace after the war. Tange believed that pillars obstructed the link between the athletes and spectators, so he devised a lightweight, suspended roof system with a cable structure to achieve a large space. This system had never been attempted in such a large building before the gymnasium. Tange also added spiritual elements through the interior cross-section with the kanji character for 8 (hachi) emitting light through the cables, representing the connection of heaven and earth. He employed a similar technique in St. Mary’s Cathedral.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Tange-2.jpg" alt="Central Theme of Hiroshima City Planning | 'Peace City HIROSHIMA'" width="257" height="413" class="imgcaption floatl" /><img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Tange-4.jpg" alt="St. Mary’s Cathedral｜1964｜Photo by Ishimoto Yasuhiro, The Museum of Art, Kochi ⒸKochi Prefecture, Ishimoto Yasuhiro Photo Center" width="257" height="362" class="imgcaption floatl" /> 
One of the highlights in the exhibition is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, completed in 1949. The conceptualization of this symbolic monument was both a personal endeavor and a crucial challenge for Tange, who sought to build an eternal space that would connect the war survivors with the dead. Tange attended high school in Hiroshima, and it was here where he first discovered Le Corbusier in an art journal. He regarded Corbusier and Walter Gropius, a Bauhaus movement founder, as geniuses of architecture, and he was heavily influenced by their philosophies. It has been said that the Hiroshima memorial’s flat roof, pilotis-style of elliptic pillars, and louvres were signature Corbusian elements. A huge model in the exhibition heightens one’s perception of how Tange ingeniously laid an axis running vertically from the Atomic Bomb Dome across the river toward the south side of the site to the Peace Boulevard, so that the dome and the people could face each other.
We can also view the architect’s previous residence in Seijo, Setagaya, built in 1953. Once again, evidence of Corbusier’s influence is seen in the pilotis style and transparent glass walls of the second floor. Rare pieces of modernism by Isamu Noguchi and Taro Okamoto that decorated Tange’s home are also on display.
Tokyo residents may be familiar with St. Mary’s Cathedral in Mejiro, built in 1962. Tange continued to express a transcendental view by again fusing spirituality in space with a cross-shaped plan and vertical frames of hyperbolic paraboloid shells, which he claimed symbolized community in medieval temples.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Tange-5.jpg" alt="Tange gazing at the Kagawa Prefectural Government Office |Private Collection" width="518" height="368" class="imgcaption" />
Other works on display, such as the Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto, the Kagawa Prefectural Government Office, and the former Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Yurakucho, encapsulate the celebrated architect’s ideals of true modern architecture. Instead of being hampered by negative aspects of urban expansion due to economic growth, Tange sought to “eliminate evils” by perceiving cities dynamically through concentric development. He allowed structures to extend from the center of the city (self) to the periphery (suburbs), establishing linear growth. As one of the prominent leaders of the Metabolism movement in Japan, Tange remains as a vital force in the incorporation of tradition and modernity in design—a legacy that he has passed on to many outstanding Japanese architects today.

article_22707

Honoring the Legacy of Kenzo Tange

Tokyo was named “Best City in the World” in this year’s Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards, an honor reflecting the city’s celebrated culinary culture and its famed mix of tradition and the cutting-edge. These features just scratch the surface of what Tokyo has to offer, however. One of its most remarkable assets is its creative scene, which this autumn hosts a new showcase. <a href="https://www.artweektokyo.com/en/">Art Week Tokyo</a> (AWT), running November 4 though November 7, involves 50 leading museums and galleries. Organized with support from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, the program is centered on artist-curated bus trips around the city. It looks to position Tokyo as “the first destination for contemporary art in Asia and beyond.” 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/AWT-MI-1.jpg" alt="Installation view of Robin White's works in 'Another Energy: Power to Continue Challenging – 16 Women Artists from Around the World' at AWT participant Mori Art Museum" width="518" height="246" title="Photo: Jennifer Pastore" class="imgcaption" />
At the helm is Atsuko Ninagawa, director of the gallery <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/venue/FA8AE572.en">Take Ninagawa</a>. The AWT co-founder remarks, “Tokyo has a very high potential to become one of the world’s most exciting locations for contemporary art. AWT aims to create a platform that provides easy access and promotes new infrastructures for art in the city. We hope to show the synergy between different art venues and their local environments.”
Yung Ma, whose curatorial credits include the Centre Pompidou and the Venice Biennale Hong Kong Pavilion, has also been brought on board. His project <a href="https://www.artweektokyo.com/en/bus-en/">Moving Voices</a> will turn the Art Mobile bus into “a unique site for performative intervention.” He will have help from the music collective Group Ongaku, the installation artist Yuko Mohri, the Fluxus and Group Ongaku veteran Mieko Shiomi, and the experimental dramaturge Akira Takayama. These four pioneering artists will contribute new and historic works dealing with voice, sound, and movement. Each is in charge of a different bus route, which will connect between 11 and 15 venues apiece. 
Yuko Mohri’s project on wheels explores Tokyo’s social history through music in a radio-based tour. She states, “It’s not widely known, but Japanese domestic pop songs also have a history of referencing social issues. Through these songs, whether major or from the underground, I will conjure the spirits inhabiting Tokyo.” 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/AtsukoNinagawa.jpg" alt="Art Week Tokyo 2021 Director Atsuko Ninagawa" title="Photo: Katsuhiro Saiki" width="257" height="343" class="imgcaption floatl" /><img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Take-Ninagawa_E01.jpg" alt="Shinro Ohtake, 'Mnemoscape 1' (2019)
© Shinro Ohtake, courtesy of Take Ninagawa, Tokyo" title="Photo: Kei Okano" width="257" height="343" class="imgcaption floatl" /> 
Organized bus trips are a revelatory way to experience the Tokyo art scene, which unlike cities such as New York does not concentrate its museums and galleries in only a few districts. The creative world on display during AWT is the product of centuries of evolution – the Tokyo art scene predates even “Tokyo” itself, having flourished with the popularity of Ukiyo-e prints in the 17th century when the city was still known as Edo and not yet Japan’s capital. After WWII, artists sought to shake off traditional, institutionalized forms of art and find new modes of expression. Avant-garde and radical developments such as Gutai and the Hi-Red Center collective emerged in the 1950s and early 1960s, followed by Mono-ha, which still commands fascination today. International trends in experimental art also took hold during this postwar period, with Japanese artists involved in movements such as Fluxus and Neo-Dadaism. In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, there was a “return to painting” after decades of conceptualism. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the rise of Tokyo Simulationism, a “neo-pop” movement led by artists including Takashi Murakami, which gave way to Murakami’s Superflat phenomenon at the turn of the century. <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2021/A723">Kaikai Kiki Gallery</a>, Murakami’s showroom for the Japanese and international artists he manages, will be one of the stops for the Art Mobile bus.
In the 1990s and 2000s, money left over from Japan’s bubble years and a drive by artists to break away from entrenched gallery systems largely closed off to newcomers spurred new museum and gallery openings. Notably, <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2021/F9BF">SCAI The Bathhouse</a> appeared in 1993, followed a decade later by <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/venue/61183FDF">Mori Art Museum</a>. Both the public bath-turned-gallery and the 53rd-floor art institution in Roppongi Hills will participate in AWT. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/SCAI_E01.jpg" alt="Kohei Nawa, 'Tornscape' at SCAI The Bathhouse " width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
The past 15 years have seen a takeoff in privately owned and artist-run galleries opening doors for emerging artists. Hideki Aoyama’s <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/venue/51F0DCEE.en">Aoyama Meguro</a>, which opened in 2007, represents an international roster of artists with conceptual and action-based leanings. Tomoko Ashikawa’s Waitingroom has been discovering and championing young Japanese artists since it arrived on the scene in 2010. During AWT, <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2021/16FE">Waitingroom</a> will feature exonemo, an internet art collective who Ashikawa explains, “has been at the forefront of Japanese media art for 25 years. They’re known for works that combine real and internet-based spaces.” For this show, they’ve created a connect-the-dots book with pages on display at the gallery. Ownership rights to individual pages will be sold as NFTs to randomly selected buyers through a special <a href="https://connect-the-random-dots.ooo/#en">website</a>. 
Ashikawa also notes an increase in alternative venues in recent years. “These experimental spaces not beholden to preexisting gallery systems are invigorating the entire art scene,” she states. The artist-run gallery <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/venue/2CA7F8F1">XYZ Collective</a>, for example, will be showing work by its member Cobra, a video and installation artist.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/exonemo2.jpg" alt="Exonemo's 'Connect the Random Dots' at Waitingroom" width="518" height="334" class="imgcaption" />
There will be many other attention-worthy shows during AWT. <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2021/D637">Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery</a> is holding a retrospective for the postwar illustrator Makoto Wada. Watari-um, a private contemporary art museum with a three-decade record of progressive shows, presents <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/event/2021/0A04">Pollinator</a>, Yoichi Umetsu’s self-curated exhibition of imaginative ceramics and paintings. Watari-um CEO Koichi Watari emphasizes, “There are many talented Japanese artists who still have not been introduced to overseas art scenes and markets.” 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ワタリ_展覧会01.jpg" alt="Yoichi Umetsu's exhibition 'Pollinator' at Watari-um" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
This ever-expanding universe of Tokyo creativity offers views of Japanese art from diverse perspectives. While COVID-related travel restrictions mean this year’s AWT will not have a large international audience, the Tokyo art scene remains alive and eccentric, ready to reclaim the world stage next year.

article_22751

Art Week Tokyo 2021: Expressions and Origins

October 1 is known as Tokyo Citizens’ Day (都民の日, Tomin no Hi). Although it is a regular work day, many government-run cultural institutions in the metropolitan area will be open for free. Most Tokyo public schools will have the day off. 
Here are some places to visit. Please note that not all exhibitions and spaces at these venues will be open free-of-charge. Please check official websites before going, as hours, schedules, and other conditions may change. Some places require reservations.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/tomin-no-hi-1.jpeg" alt="Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
Museums
Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum 
Only the garden is open for free admission on October 1. 
Phone: 03-3443-0201 
<a href="https://www.teien-art-museum.ne.jp/en/">https://www.teien-art-museum.ne.jp/en/</a>
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum 
Exhibitions: Chikako Yamashiro: Reframing the land/mind/body-scape, Manabu Miyazaki: Wild Animals Now, Reversible Destiny: Australian and Japanese contemporary photography 
Phone: 03-3280-009 
<a href="https://topmuseum.jp/e/contents/index.html">https://topmuseum.jp/e/contents/index.html</a>
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo 
MOT Collection Exhibition 
Phone: 03-5245-4111 
<a href="https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en/">https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en/</a>
Edo-Tokyo Museum 
Permanent Exhibition 
Phone: 03-3626-9974 
<a href="https://www.edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/en/">https://www.edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/en/</a>
Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum 
Phone: 042-388-3300 
<a href="https://www.tatemonoen.jp/english/">https://www.tatemonoen.jp/english/</a>
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 
Exhibition: Walls & Bridges – Touching the World, Living the World 
Phone: 03-3823-6921 
<a href="https://www.tobikan.jp/en/index.html">https://www.tobikan.jp/en/index.html</a>
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/tomin-no-hi-2.jpg" alt="'Walls & Bridges – Touching the World, Living the World' at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Zoos/Botanical Gardens
Jindai Botanical Garden 
*Reservations required 
Phone: 042-483-2300 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/jindai/#googtrans(en)">https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/jindai/#googtrans(en)</a>
Tama Zoological Park 
*Reservations required 
Phone: 042-591-1611 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/tama/index.html">https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/tama/index.html</a>
Ueno Zoological Gardens 
*Reservations required 
Phone: 03-3828-5171 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/ueno/index.html">https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/ueno/index.html</a>
Tokyo Sea Life Park 
*Reservations required 
Phone: 03-3869-5152 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/kasai/index.html">https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/kasai/index.html</a>
Inokashira Park Zoo 
*Reservations required 
Phone: 0422-46-1100 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/ino/index.html">https://www.tokyo-zoo.net/english/ino/index.html</a>
Yumenoshima Tropical Greenhouse Dome 
Phone: 03-3522-0281 
<a href="https://www.yumenoshima.jp/english.html">https://www.yumenoshima.jp/english.html</a>
Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park 
Phone: 03-3799-5031 
<a href="http://www.wildbirdpark.jp/en/index.html">http://www.wildbirdpark.jp/en/index.html</a>
Gardens (All Require Reservations)
Hamarikyu Gardens 
Phone: 03-3541-0200 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index028.html">https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index028.html</a>
Former Shiba Rikyu Garden 
Phone: 03-3434-4029　 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index029.html">https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index029.html</a>
Koishikawa Korakuen 
Phone: 03-3811-3015 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index030.html">https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index030.html</a>
Rikugien 
Phone: 03-3941-2222 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index031.html">https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index031.html</a>
Former Iwasaki House Garden 
Phone: 03-3823-8340 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index035.html">https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index035.html</a>
Mukojima Hyakkaen 
Phone: 03-3611-8705 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index032.html">https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index032.html</a>
Kiyosumi Garden 
Phone: 03-3641-5892 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index033.html">https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index033.html</a>
Old Furukawa Garden 
Phone: 03-3910-0394 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index034.html">https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index034.html</a>
Tonogayato Garden 
Phone: 042-324-7991 
<a href="https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index036.html">https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/format/index036.html</a>

article_22691

October 1 is Tokyo Citizens’ Day

“What kind of art is close to you?” I want to ask.
‘Public art’ is art that exists in the public spaces where we live. Notions regarding public art have undergone various changes according to the times. In recent years, public art is thought to play many roles in urban development, such as enhancing creation of local communities and relationships in local life.
In urban areas, many people pass in front of public art. People busy walking through the concrete-covered skyscrapers of the big city are often unaware of the art in the space. When I stop in front of an art piece or point my camera at it to appreciate the art I see, people passing by stare at me with puzzled looks. A lot of art is scattered around the Roppongi Hills area of Tokyo. How does the art that exists in the big city look to my eyes? In this text, I would like to introduce three artworks in Roppongi that were particularly impressive to me, as well as what I experienced and felt. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Public-Art-1.jpg" alt="Louise Bourgeois, 'Maman' 2002 (1999)/Bronze, stainless steel, marble. 9.27 x 8.91 x 10.23 (h) m" title="Photo: Aya Haraikawa" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Maman
A huge spider statue by French artist Louise Bourgeois installed at the main entrance of Roppongi Hills stands out to visitors. The work’s title is “Maman”. Inside the body of the bronze spider, 20 shining marble eggs are held. It represents longing for a mother. It seems to show how people from all over the world gather in this place, meet, and create new values and wisdom that carefully hatches and spreads like the eggs held by Maman.
I was wondering about the title “Maman” attached to this work. At first, I felt the thin legs that seemed about to collapse and the heavy eggs held in the center looked strange. However, when I saw people passing under this work, people eating rice on the bench next to me, and when I myself went underneath this work, I felt a little reassured and warm. Louise Bourgeois said she saw spiders as strong creatures. I felt that this work represented Louise’s own mother. The slender and long legs of the spider express the mother’s slender feminine arms and firmly grasp the foundation of the ground. I felt that the appearance was expressing strength as a symbol of Roppongi. I felt an overwhelming presence and kindness, and I thought it was a strong and gentle work that envelops the people who come to this place. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Public-Art-2.jpg" alt="Jean-Michel Othoniel, 'Kin no Kokoro' 2013/Bronze, gold leaf, stainless steel, 330 x 360 x 169 (h) cm" title="Photo: Aya Haraikawa" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Kin no Kokoro
This is the work of Jean-Michel Othoniel, a contemporary French artist, set in a pond in Mohri Garden in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Roppongi Hills and Mori Art Museum. The title of the work is “Kin no Kokoro” (Gold Heart). When walking around the pond, the work appears to transform from an iconic Mobius ring shape to a large heart. When the sculpture is reflected on the surface of the water, it has a golden glow and an aura encouraging the viewer to engage with the work. I remember feeling calm standing near this heart statue that blends in with the green scenery of the garden surrounded by buildings in the big city. On the day I visited, there were autumn leaves. The statue matched the autumn scenery, and its reflection in the pond made me forget the city. One of the ways to enjoy this work is by walking around the pond. 
The scenery of the greenery around the pond changes with the seasons. At first glance, the bronze statue is covered in gold, which seems cold, but I was overwhelmed by how well it fits into the historical landscape of Japan’s nature and Mohri Garden, which has been there since the Edo period. This space made me forget the big city in an instant. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Public-Art-3.jpg" alt="Tokujin Yoshioka, 'Chair that disappears in the rain' 2003/Main part: glass, Chair legs: mirror-finished stainless steel, Floor: burner-finished granite, Chair: 0.75 x 0.98 x 0.99 (h) x 0.41 (sh), lump: 0.5 x 0. 98 x 0.55 (h) m, Floor: 1.68 x 5.95 m" title="Photo: Aya Haraikawa" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Chair that disappears in the rain
This artwork is located on the sidewalks of Keyakizaka-dori and Sakurazaka-dori, which are the main streets of Roppongi Hills. Here you can see the realization of a ‘Streetscape’ project created by the collaboration of 13 designers. “Chair that disappears in the rain” by Japanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka is one of the works on the street. When you put a piece of glass in water, the outline of the glass gradually disappears, and it appears as if this chair disappears on a rainy day. The chair is made from a raw material for making lenses for large astronomical telescopes and was processed with special techniques. 
The first time I saw this work was as a photograph. I wanted to actually see this creation, which has a title of great impact. It wasn’t a rainy day when I saw it this time, but I couldn’t hide my surprise at how it blended into the city. It is impressive that the surface looks like ripples of raindrops. I was also struck by how the transparent glass melted into the landscape. I felt that it was a work that could be enjoyed in various ways, despite being intended for sitting. There may be a view that you can see by sitting down after looking at a lot of art. Rainy days are when many people feel depressed, however, this is a work that I want to see on such a rainy day. When I first encountered it I was able to think about the wide range of expressions in art. By all means, I would like to visit again on a rainy day.
What I noticed this time when I visited the art spots in Roppongi, is that how in the past I hadn’t looked at the art around me. The three works I introduced this time were pieces that I had seen several times and had passed before. However, looking back, I didn’t remember seeing the works. When I was pointing my camera to shoot the work, many people turned to me with the expression, “What are you shooting?” This is evidence that Roppongi’s public art blends into the city. On the other hand, it is proof that no one pays attention to the art around them. I wanted to know more about the city filled with the expressions of various artists. I also realized that I needed to let people know that there is art around us that we don’t notice. I will make an effort to look around me more.
Finally, I would like to ask you again. “What kind of art is close to you?” 
Text and photos by Aya Haraikawa

article_22677

What Kind of Art is Close to You?

Perhaps no other artist in Japanese history has been more celebrated both in Japan and abroad than Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). The so-called “Hokusai Wave” continues to sweep across countries through countless exhibitions and merchandise, and is even slated to appear on a new 1000-yen bill. Among his outstanding prints, this work, Under the Wave off Kanagawa, is likely the most universally recognized. 
Hokusai was not only a master of Ukiyo-e prints and painting, he also produced volumes of awe-inspiring sketches compiled in Hokusai Manga, or “Hokusai’s Sketches.” For the first time, with the cooperation of leading Hokusai collector Mitsuru Uragami, the 15 volumes of Hokusai Manga comprising 883 pages and 3,600 illustrations are presented to the public together with Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji in the exhibition “The Complete Hokusai” at the Tokyo Midtown Hall until September 17. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/09_葛飾北斎　「冨嶽三十六景　神奈川沖浪裏」.jpg" alt="Katsushika Hokusai / Under the Wave off Kanagawa (‘The Great Wave’), from Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei) / HAGI URAGAMI MUSEUM (Uragami collection)" width="518" height="350" class="imgcaption" />
Entering the Hokusai Manga-themed first exhibition hall, the atmosphere is jaw dropping. The room is entirely filled with drawings from Hokusai’s historic book, from walls to the floor to display stands. Streamers of the artist’s sketches also hang from the ceiling. Hokusai started the tome in 1811, when he was 51 years old. The first volume was published in 1814, and 12 more volumes by 1820. The last three volumes were published after his death. Block-printed in three colors (black, gray, and cream), the amazing sketches reveal realistic portrayals of people of all ages and statuses and their activities during the Edo period—courtesans, musicians, monks, vendors, farmers, and others. Some volumes focused on landscapes, depicting rice paddies, streets scenes, flora, animals, insects, birds, and fish, as well as mermaids, ghosts, and other supernatural beings.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/01_建築家・田根剛氏による『北斎漫画』展示プラン.jpg" alt="Hokusai Manga exhibit plan © Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects" width="518" height="291" class="imgcaption" />
Volume 3 illustrates the sparrow dance, a traditional performance imitating sparrows’ movements. Hokusai’s lively brush strokes vividly capture the dancers in jackets and hats as though they were actually moving. In Volume 6, we witness various athletic pursuits—men shooting arrows, riding horses, and throwing spears and sticks. Volume 8 offers a bit of humor with the artist’s sketches of acrobatic poses, body sizes and angles, and numerous facial expressions and gestures. Volume 12 presents pages of youkai (folklore spirits) such as tengu (large, red-nosed demons) and rokurokubi (floating head and long-necked creatures), which invite both laughter and fear. Hokusai Manga is the artist’s dedication to life and the natural and supernatural world. Tremendously successful, it travelled to the West, where it became particularly popular after some of its lithographed sketches appeared in a German publication in 1831.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/02_葛飾北斎　『北斎漫画』三編.jpg" alt="Katsushika Hokusai / Hokusai's Sketches (Hokusai manga), Vol.3 / Uragami Mitsuru collection" width="518" height="397" class="imgcaption" />
Hokusai began painting at the early age of six. At age 12, he was sent by his father to work at a bookshop, where the young boy surrounded himself with books made from woodcut blocks. This eventually led him to work as a woodcarver apprentice when he was 14 years old. Four years later, he joined the studio of the painter and Ukiyo-e artist Shunsho Katsukawa, where he learned to sketch courtesans and Kabuki actors. He perfected his mastery of woodblock printing and pursued further studies of the Kano School. Gradually, he acquired European styles of art and changed his subjects to landscapes and people’s daily lives. Hokusai’s further association with the Tawaraya School and private commissions increasingly nurtured his popularity in the Western hemisphere.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/04_葛飾北斎　『北斎漫画』十二編.jpg" alt="Katsushika Hokusai / Hokusai's Sketches (Hokusai manga), Vol.12 / Uragami Mitsuru collection" width="518" height="400" class="imgcaption" />
In the second hall of the exhibition, we see Hokusai’s complete Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which have become beloved all over the world. Produced from around 1830-1832, when Hokusai was in his seventies, the wonderfully colored prints portray the different faces of Mt. Fuji against multiple backdrops in a single day of every season. Another hall is dedicated to the One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, which the artist produced around 1834-1835. The extremely fine cuts and gradations have made the series a masterpiece in monochrome prints.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/07_葛飾北斎　「冨嶽三十六景　常州牛堀」.jpg" alt="Katsushika Hokusai / Ushibori, Hitachi Province, from Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei) / Hagi Uragami Museum" width="518" height="336" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/14_葛飾北斎　『富嶽百景』二編.jpg" alt="Katsushika Hokusai / One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji (Fugaku hyakkei), Vol.2 / Uragami Mitsuru collection" width="518" height="407" class="imgcaption" />
A digital version of the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is showcased in Digital Hokusai, a super-immersive theater developed by Toppan Digital using high-definition archive data. Hokusai’s characters dance vibrantly and seem to jump out of the large wall screen made of Japanese paper.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/20_DIGITAL-HOKUSAI.jpg" alt="Digital Hokusai © Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects" width="518" height="366" class="imgcaption" />
The climax of the exhibition presents Hokusai’s debut into the world of yomihon, a type of narrative book from the Edo period that emphasized storylines more than pictures and often featured imaginary creatures with supernatural powers. The yomihon replaced adult comic books and humorous novels about the shogunate’s policies towards the end of the feudal era. Unlike nishiki-e color prints, yomihon were drawn in black sumi ink. The room is filled with stark black and white graphical clouds, dragons, and rolling waves.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/HokusaiYomihon.jpeg" alt="The Complete Hokusai, Yomihon Hall" title="Photo: © Alma Reyes" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
“The Complete Hokusai” is truly overwhelming its impact, not only attesting to Hokusai’s powerful skills in drawing and imagination, but also demonstrating the immense care and importance given to the preservation of historical art. It is a delightful homage for the 260th anniversary of Hokusai’s birth.
This exhibition requires <a href="https://www.e-tix.jp/hokusai2021/">reservations</a>.

article_22641

The Complete Hokusai

We live in a world manipulated by digital technology, where life without Wi-Fi and a smartphone would be unimaginable for many. 3D films and CG-simulated photographs are no longer novel ideas. It appears only natural, then, that even traditional art by great masters can be viewed in a digital mode.
The innovative exhibition “A massive screen projection reveals the world of five great painters—Hokusai, Hiroshige, Sotatsu, Korin, and Jakuchu” is showing at Otemachi Mitsui Hall until September 9th this year. It encompasses some 42 works by these five great artists from the 17th to 19th centuries, including National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties, among them outstanding paintings, Ukiyo-e woodblock prints, gold-gilt byobu folding screens, and fusuma sliding doors. These works are projected on giant screens using advanced digital techniques for remastering them as 3D data, a process developed by DTIP (Dynamic Texture Image Processing) of Ars Techne Corp. This exhibition is the first project of “ART-JAPANESQUE DIGITAL WORLD,” which aims to encourage new ways of appreciating traditional Japanese art using digital craftsmanship and video production. The magnificent masterpieces “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” by Katsushika Hokusai and “The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido” by Utagawa Hiroshige can finally be viewed in meticulous detail on seven-meter-high and 45-meter-wide triple panel wide screens.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Otemachi_Hokusai.jpeg" alt="Katsushika Hokusai, 'Shower Below the Summit'" title="Photo: ©Alma Reyes" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Otemachi_Hokusai3.jpeg" alt="Utagawa Hiroshige, 'Shono: Driving Rain'" title="Photo: ©Alma Reyes" width="518" height="380" class="imgcaption" />
The first part of the exhibition is the Commentary Theater, which introduces selected works by the five masters. They are accompanied by precise explanations of the workmanship. The English subtitles are helpful for foreign visitors. The audience can enjoy enormous projections of “Wind God and Thunder God” by Ogata Korin, which apparently the artist patterned after Tawaraya Sotatsu’s “Wind God and Thunder God.” Korin laid tracing paper over the original work to outline the illustration, then retouched the expressions. We can see the equal sizes and positions of the statues of the two gods, but in close view, Korin’s screen is one size larger than Sotatsu’s. The change of perspective creates an impression that the gods have descended from the heavens in Sotatsu’s work and highlights Korin’s excellent sense of balance and design. Further, the eyeballs of Sotatsu’s wind god Fujin were drawn in the center, but Korin’s interpretation shows the eyes crossing each other. Also, Korin’s color expression of the mouth, body, and sash in lustrous green and red is more vivid than Sotatsu’s.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/DSC_3316.jpg" alt="Ogata Korin, 'Wind God and Thunder God' © FUJIART" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/DSC_3315.jpg" alt="Tawaraya Sotatsu, 'Wind God and Thunder God' © FUJIART" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
The comprehensive explanation also tells us of other features indiscernible without a giant screen. “In the Mountains of Totomi Province” (Fugaku sanjurokkei Totomi sanchu), one of the panels of Hokusai’s “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji,” shows a woodcutter in the center sawing a block placed diagonally above workers below. Hokusai’s ingenious artistic technique is reflected in the diagonal position of the wood and Mt. Fuji’s strategic placement in the background between two poles resembling a temple gate. The woodworker below the diagonal block of wood is sawing on his knees while holding the saw upwards. Such a working position would be unthinkable and illustrates Hokusai’s deliberate sense of humor.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Otemachi_Hokusai2.jpeg" alt="Katsushika Hokusai, 'In the Mountains of Totomi Province'" title="Photo: ©Alma Reyes" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
In the Three-sided Theater, all the works are displayed in a movie-like presentation accompanied by music on three-sided wide screens using 4K projectors. The strong impact of the paintings’ overall composition and details elevates the beauty of the art. We can visualize the uneven surfaces and delicate fiber strands in the traditional washi paper. In the folding screens of “The Tale of Genji” (Genji Monogatari) and “The Tale of Heike” (Heike Monogatari), the fine patterns of the costumes and motifs on objects, intricate paintings within the painting, and the battle scene are highlighted with utmost precision. In Ito Jakuchu’s charming “Flowering Plants” and “Cactus and Domestic Fowls,” the graceful lines of the flowers and chicken feathers are exquisite. 
Finally, in the Digital Hokusai x Hiroshige Corner, around 58 of the best scenes from Hokusai’s “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” and Hiroshige’s “Fifty-three Stations of Tokaido” are shown in ultra-high-definition digital images on twelve large monitors.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/DSC_5140.jpg" alt="Kuninobu Kano, 'The Tale of Genji' © FUJIART" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/DSC_5146.jpg" alt="'The Tale of Heike' © FUJIART" width="518" height="291" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/DSC_5175.jpg" alt="Ito Jakuchu, 'Cactus and Domestic Fowls' © FUJIART" width="518" height="291" class="imgcaption" />
This unique exhibition delivers an alternative approach to appreciating art. Owing to cutting-edge technology, it leaves a lasting and valuable impression of the Japanese masters’ superior artistry. The screenings are changed daily with double programs, so it is best to check the website for the schedule and reservations.

article_22614

Digital Remastering of Traditional Art

<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/01_1900年パリ万国博覧会フィンランド館.jpg" alt="Exterior view of Finnish Pavilion at Paris World Fair 1900 © Lahti City Museum" width="257" height="370" class="imgcaption floatl" />Scandinavian architecture and design has always upheld its superior level of craftsmanship and natural aesthetics. Yet, until the late 19th century, its castles and cathedrals were constructed basically in historical styles borrowed from other countries. Traditional buildings were generally made up of vernacular wood, stone or brick structures. From the 20th century, Scandinavian architects began to adopt international styles, especially when several of them pursued advanced studies in the West. Nonetheless, the uniqueness they instilled in their designs always reflects a tinge of tradition and modernity while nurturing the importance of the natural environment.
Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art pays tribute to one of the grandmasters of Scandinavian architecture, Eliel Saarinen in “Eliel Saarinen and His Beautiful Architecture in Finland” until September 20th. Saarinen was largely recognized for his Art Nouveau buildings and his major achievement with the Finnish Pavilion at the Paris 1900 World Fair. The pavilion paved the international road for Saarinen. Although his team composed of Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren garnered the competition award, most of the credit was rendered to Saarinen, who spent the winter of 1899-1900 in Paris with his wife to supervise the construction and attend the fair’s opening ceremony. The building was praised for the use of Finnish motifs, such as bears, frogs, squirrels, and other Finnish wildlife, mixed with National Romanticism and Art Nouveau styles. It also displayed ceiling frescoes themed after the Finnish myth Kalevala, furnishings and ceramics by Alfred William Finch from the local Iris pottery factory, and textiles woven by The Friends of Finnish Handicraft founded in 1879. Many of these can be viewed in the exhibition, including architectural drawings, photographs, a scale model, and an Iris chair. It was also said that the phenomenal success of the pavilion ignited a political statement for Finland independency during an era when the country was still a part of Russia.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/02_ポホヨラ保険会社ビルディングの中央らせん階段.jpg" alt="Main spiral staircase of Pohjola Insurance Company Building © Museum of Finnish Architecture/Karina Kurz, 2008" width="518" height="405" class="imgcaption" />
Saarinen studied at the Helsinki University of Technology. In 1896, he formed the Gesellius-Lindgren-Saarinen partnership, which propelled a series of successful projects. Apart from the Finnish Pavilion and National Museum of Finland, the team also designed the Pohjola Insurance Company Building in 1901. The building is a beautiful masterpiece of decorative work inspired by the Kalevala myth. The exhibition presents photographic and drawing details of gargoyles, monsters, squirrels, tree reliefs and grotesque figures adorning the edifice. They capture the ideal essence of Finland’s natural characteristics, therefore, attributing to the National Romantic style. The most captivating feature in the building is the famous spiral staircase with semi-circular landings and cast iron railings decorated with pine tree, fern leaf and troll motifs.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/03_ゲセリウス・リンドグレン・サーリネン建築設計事務所.jpg" alt="Hvitträsk, north elevation of Lindgren’s home (left), south elevation of Lindgren’s home (right), cross section of the studio © Gesellius-Lindgren-Saarinen Architect Office, digital reproduction (original watercolor and ink on thick paper), The Museum of Finnish Architecture, 1902" width="518" height="297" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/04_ヴィトレスクのサーリネン邸のダイニングルーム.jpg" alt="Hvitträsk, dining room © Ilari Järvinen/Finnish Heritage Agency, 2012" width="518" height="346" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/09_《シカゴ・トリビューン本社ビル国際設計競技応募案　透視図》.jpg" alt="Eliel Saarinen, Chicago Tribune Tower design proposal, perspective sketch, digital reproduction (original pencil and ink on paper), © The Museum of Finnish Architecture, 1922" width="257" height="492" class="imgcaption floatl" />Finland is famed for its enchanting forests and lakes. Saarinen and his architectural partners fell in love with the scenery around Lake Vitträsk, around 20 kilometers from central Helsinki, so they decided to purchase a parcel of the lake property in 1901. They converted it into their studio residence in the National Romantic style. The Hvitträsk (White Lake), hence, was divided into the southern wing occupied by Saarinen’s family, the northern wing that housed Lindgren’s family, and a separate building “Lilla Villan” (Little Villa) built for Gesellius and his sister, textile artist Loja, who later married Saarinen after his divorce. The entire complex is a work of art in itself. Photographs, plans, and architectural drawings reveal every detail from the windows, doors, floors, lights, furniture, and accessories all designed by the trio. You can take a glimpse of a photograph of the sophisticated dining room with its Gothic arched windows and stained glass. The interiors evoke the spirit of English Arts and Crafts movement, late 19th century cism, and a touch of Jugendstil, all blended with Finnish materials, motifs and methods. Hvitträsk is central to Saarinen’s personal life and career, as many of his projects were conceptualized here, including the Helsinki Central Station. It became the childhood home of his son Eero, who became one of the modernist era’s prominent architects and industrial and furniture designers. He designed the plan for the north wing around 1929-1936. Today, the villa is a museum that can be visited by the public.
In 1922, Saarinen won second place for his design of the Chicago Tribune Tower. It became an iconic modernist skyscraper with neo-Gothic influence. The achievement prompted him to move to the U.S., which further accelerated his success. He became the first president of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, which he also designed. In the following years, Eero succeeded his father’s position as an architecture educator. Some of Eero’s furniture designs are displayed in the exhibition.
While the exhibition consists of only one hall, the curation is wonderfully presented with arches and door openings echoing Saarinen’s revolutionary design and Finland’s peaceful natural surroundings. Visitors may be tempted to visit Finland after seeing this exhibition.
*<a href="https://www.e-tix.jp/shiodome_museum/en/">Reservations</a> are required for this exhibition. Users of the <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/apps/">TAB</a> and <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/apps/mupon">MuPon</a> apps are eligible for admission discounts.

article_22579

The National Romantic Style of Eliel Saarinen

<a href="https://tb2020.jp/en/home-en/">Tokyo Biennale 2020/2021</a> has opened after being rescheduled last year due to the coronavirus. Bringing together art, community, and industry, this community-centered festival encompasses more than 60 exhibits across central Tokyo with the theme “Unseen Everyday Scene.” There is also an artificial reality component you can experience on your smartphone. 
The festival runs through September 9, but please note that starting and closing dates vary by exhibition. Be sure to check official schedules before going. <a href="https://artsticker.app/tickets/538?utm_source=arts_festival&utm_medium=tb&utm_campaign=web">Tickets</a> can be purchased for single exhibits at ¥500, or a ¥2500 passport is also available. There are information centers at the Hasegawa Building and Yubido in Chiyoda Ward, Yurakucho micro Food & Idea market, and at 5-9-21 Yanaka in Taito Ward. 
Let’s take a look at a few notable exhibits.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1-Miyanaga.jpg" alt="Aiko Miyanaga's 'Messages from the Light' at Yushima Seido Temple" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Yushima-2.jpg" alt="" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
At the Confucian temple Yushima Seido, sculptor Aiko Miyanaga places transparent spheres of glass from Toyama Prefecture that capture and reflect the light. Another display features ancient sanukite rock. The installations encourage visitors to attune their senses to the interplay of natural and urban environments. (Ends July 29).
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/3-Momma.jpg" alt="Miki Momma's 'Consecration of 1000 Years Votive Picture of Horse' at Kanda Myojin Shrine" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Momma-2.jpg" alt="" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
The Fukushima-born artist Miki Momma presents fluttering banners painted with galloping horses at Kanda Myojin Shrine. The work is related to Taira no Masakado, a hero enshrined at Kanda Myojin. Momma’s native city of Soma holds a traditional festival continuing the equestrian culture of Taira no Masakado, who is celebrated for taming horses and helping the poor. (Ends Aug. 1).
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Ebihara-1.jpg" alt="Ebihara Shoten building" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Ebihara-3.jpg" alt="'Kigaeru House' at Ebihara Shoten" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Ebihara Shoten, a historical used-clothing shop and residence in the neighborhood of Kanda, is converted into “Kigaeru (Clothes Changing) House.” This project is the brainchild of Yoshinari Nishio, an artist focused on the relationship between fashion and communication. Nishio, who acts as a temporary shop master, considers the future of the area with an exhibition of family photos and clothing, plus events such as children’s tailoring workshops. One display shows how citizens have made a patchwork house together from old clothes. Another documents migrants in Tokyo exchanging clothes with Japanese strangers on the street. (Open 11:00–18:00).
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/9-Yubido.jpg" alt="Yubido Restoration Project at the Yubido building" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Yubido-2.jpg" alt="" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
As signage in front of Yubido explains: After the war, the picture frame shop Yubido opened in the burnt-out ruins of Kanda with a sign depicting Mt. Fuji. Today, Kanda is undergoing a great wave of redevelopment. Individually owned stores are no longer viable in an area that has transformed into a town for corporations and economic growth. Artist Masato Nakamura will work with the public to renovate the closed and abandoned “Yubido,” developing and managing a project that will involve the planning and production of exhibitions. For the Tokyo Biennale, the “Yubido” building itself will be turned into a work of art and exhibited in its current state. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/11-Masato-Nakamura.jpg" alt="Masato Nakamura at Tokyo Z Studies Research Lab" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Nakamura-2a.jpg" alt="" width="257" height="343" class="imgcaption floatl" /><img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Nakamura-2b.jpg" alt="" width="257" height="343" class="imgcaption floatl" /> 
Masato Nakamura is also behind the next-door exhibition “Tokyo Z” at “Tokyo Z Studies Research Lab,” a former apartment on the 9th floor of the Rainbow Building. Nakamura, who lived in the space for a while, is a Tokyo University of the Arts professor whose work has been turning heads since the 1990s. With “Tokyo Z” presenting objects past their prime from the streets of Tokyo, Nakamura continues in the vein of his 2015 exhibition <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/2015/11/from-light-to-craft.html">Luminous Despair</a> and reflects on the cyclical nature of things. “Z” stands for “zetsubo” (despair), as these items and certain areas of the city itself appear beyond hope. But Nakamura believes that after “Z” we return to “A,” starting afresh with promise. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/AR-1.jpg" alt="Yoshikazu Yamagata's 'Small Mountain in Tokyo' at the center of Mansei Bridge" width="257" height="414" class="imgcaption floatl" /><img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/AR-2.jpg" alt="" width="257" height="413" class="imgcaption floatl" /> 
One of the artificial reality displays appears on Mansei Bridge in Kanda. With digital technology developed by the group AR Kyodai, artist Yoshikazu Yamagata lets you identify the area’s buildings and the location of a mountain that once loomed on the horizon, offering a glimpse into the past. Check <a href="https://ex.tb2020.jp/">here</a> for info on how to use the AR. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/13-Hogalee.jpg" alt="Hogalee's 'In the CDB' on the Otemachi 1st Square building" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Hogalee’s murals featuring feminine icons can be spotted on two downtown buildings – Otemachi 1st Square in Otemachi and the Takara Building in Kanda. “I always felt that with Tokyo’s constant redeveloping, there should be far more two-dimensional public art beyond advertisements and signs,” Hogalee states. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/14-Shadow-Theater.jpg" alt="Koheisai Kawamura + Takenori Miyamoto's 'Tokyo Shadow Theater Club' at Kokusai Building B1" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Koheisai Kawamura learned about Indonesian shadow puppetry for this project with curator Takenori Miyamoto, which dramatizes the oral histories of 60 people living in Tokyo with backgrounds from 19 different nations.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Shujiro-Murayama.jpg" alt="Shujiro Murayama's 'Moving Earth Moving Plants – Roots Project' at Hibiya Okuroji G14" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Shujiro Murayama studies local vegetation and holds public events like workshops across Japan. At the Hibiya Okuroji shopping center underneath the railroad tracks between the Shimbashi and Yurakucho stations, he presents “plant paintings” made using soil and plants collected in Tokyo. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/16-Masamichi-Toyama.jpg" alt="Masamichi Toyama's 'Spinout Hours' at Sanai Dream Center Building 9F" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Entrepreneur and artist Masamichi Toyama experiments with time and nostalgia in an exhibition in Ginza. He has created a simplified clock and “time machines” you can step onto to envision the past. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/15-Bright-Future.jpg" alt="Masaharu Futoyu's 'Monument for the Bright Future Tokyo/2021' at Sukiyabashi Park" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Installed in front of a statue by the famed artist Taro Okamoto, Masaharu Futoyu’s “Monument for the Bright Future Tokyo/2021” recreates a sign from the nuclear accident-stricken town of Futaba, Fukushima declaring “Nuclear Energy – Energy for a Bright Future.” Futoyu’s work contrasts the negative nuance of the sign while attempting to recapture the original meaning of the words “Bright Future.” It draws from Okamoto’s idea of polarism, an artistic view that advocates a “cacophony” of oppositional and contradictory concepts. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/17a-Rei-Naito-.jpg" alt="Mother and Child Jizo at Chohouin Temple Cemetery" width="257" height="343" class="imgcaption floatl" /><img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/17b-Rei-Naito.jpg" alt="Rei Naito's 'human' inside Kurenboh Chohouin Buddist Temple Gallery" width="257" height="343" class="imgcaption floatl" /> 
Rei Naito’s exhibition “Praying for Tokyo” is a requiem for those who perished in the Tokyo air raids of March 10, 1945. She has placed her smallest sculpture, “human,” a tiny wooden figurine, in Kurenboh Gallery at Chohouin Buddist Temple. At the temple’s graveyard she offers a cup of water to a Mother and Child statue honoring the memory of the dead. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Bliumis.jpg" alt="Alina Bliumus + Jeff Bliumis's 'A Painting for a Family Dinner' at 3331 Arts Chiyoda" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/18-Kae-Fujiwara.jpg" alt="Kae Fujiwara's 'Go Extremely Hard Dungeon Tokyo: While Eldest Son in Stroller and Holding Baby Son at 3331 Arts Chiyoda" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
3331 Arts Chiyoda, a former school turned into an arts center, presents multiple Tokyo Biennale exhibitions. Alina and Jeff Bliumis’s “A Painting for a Family Dinner” displays photographs from a multinational project in which the couple offered a painting in exchange for an invitation to a family dinner. Kae Fujiwara’s video installation reimagining Tokyo as a roleplaying game is a tongue-in-cheek take on the travails of navigating the city with small children.

article_22481

Tokyo Biennale 2020/2021

<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1-Ryan-Gander.png" alt="Ryan Gander speaks with TAB from his studio in London" width="518" height="290" class="imgcaption" />
TAB: Congratulations on your exhibitions. I just saw them and they are both wonderful. It is a shame that you could not come to Japan because of the pandemic.
Ryan Gander (RG): That’s okay. I am used to it right now. 
TAB: What have been your thoughts through this long pandemic?
RG: Everyone asks me about this a lot. Everyone asks me because everyone tries to understand, because it is confusing. And what I realized is that I think it is exactly the same as normality. Sometimes desperation, sometimes relief, sometimes frustration. Just like a normal life. But it just feels like it’s been concentrated. Like everything…you know all emotions just come amplified. You see what I mean? I think that it made me certainly appreciate that we are actually living and all the amazing things in the world you just completely ignore, because you are distracted by the internet, Instagram, friends, religion, alcohol, music, entertainment – all the stuff designed to distract us. It’s almost like a second Renaissance or Awakening, not religious but it is spiritual. Just like a strange awakening. 
TAB: Have you notice if those thoughts have influenced your working style?
RG: Yeah. I mean in a few ways of thinking…You know the way artists traditionally, they do one thing and they keep doing and doing it until they are really, really good. I thought that would happen and I tried that, but it doesn’t fit me at all. The way I make art is I have thousands and thousands of ideas and then wait for the right moment, well opportunity. And if it’s terrible, usually I do two things in case one is terrible…If it’s bad you just throw it in the trash. If it’s great, it’s great. I mean that’s the way I work. 
I was talking to one of my kids this morning about… she says, “Oh you look stressed” and I said I have a big presentation tonight and I had to prepare. I said I am stressed out because of work and she said, “I don’t get stressed, I just get excited.”
TAB: That must be nice.
RG: Hahaha, that’s so funny…Because I think what happens is when we grow, excitement turns into stress. It is same emotion, just with more worry. 
TAB: Maybe it comes from the same place.
RG: I feel like I am in the counseling session (laughs). 
Shinobu Nomura (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery curator): I tried to be a silent listener this time, but just wanted to say something, because for me stress is a kind of petrol of myself.
RG: My dad said about worry, usually the bad things that happen are not the things you worry about. So…there is no point of worrying…It is a waste of energy worrying. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2-Ryan-Gander.jpg" alt="'Colours of the imagination' section" title="Photo: Shu Nakagawa" width="518" height="269" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/3-Ryan-Gander.jpg" alt="'All our stories are incomplete...' section" title="Photo: Shu Nakagawa" width="518" height="346" class="imgcaption" />
TAB: I wanted to ask about your exhibitions at Tokyo Opera City specifically. Was there anything in particular you paid attention to when choosing artworks for the exhibitions?
RG: When Shinobu and I were talking about how to do it, the thing we talked most about was… [how] art you like and good art are not the same thing. That sounds strange. But it’s…I mean, what you like is based on taste…It’s the same as curating. When I curated exhibitions of all other people’s work, I mean I know what it feels like to be an artist used to being curated. And sometimes it feels like curatorial oversight is too oppressive, too demanding. And sometimes it feels like works are misunderstood. And sometimes it feels like it’s like perfect. But saying that, I never minded it. 
TAB: How about the titles of the exhibition? We have “Colours of the imagination” and “All our stories are incomplete…” 
RG: The thing is I am color blind, which is crazy for an artist. So I need a lot of color translating, which is why lots of my work is primary colors or black and white. So both of those titles relate to the notion of absence. When we think about absence we think of missing somebody. But I think absence is very positive, especially in art. Because I mean good art for me is a balance between which information you give. If you give too much information, the artwork is didactic. And if you don’t give enough, it becomes elitist and there is no way into the work. That kind of balance is very important. I think in my work I create that balance by taking things away. And it is not something you do consciously, you do it very, very subconsciously. You don’t even realize you’ve done it until it’s pointed out to you. So this idea about missing colors or about incomplete stories or the imagination, they all suggest that with very high-quality art, the spectator or visitor brings something to the equation. They can complete it themselves. 
TAB: The exhibition kind of has a chose-your-own- adventure quality, I think. 
Nomura: I was thinking one day, those titles “Colors of the imagination” and “All our stories are incomplete…,” they both suit those two exhibitions. I thought “Colors of the imagination,” this title could be “All our stories are incomplete…”
TAB: Right, you could switch them.
Nomura: It is very universal.
RG: Right. Maybe because both exhibitions are actually very similar but they look different. Different devices to do the same thing.
Nomura: Everything connects with imagination.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/4-Ryan-Gander.jpg" alt="'Colours of the imagination' section" title="Photo: Shu Nakagawa" width="518" height="324" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5-Ryan-Gander.jpg" alt="'Colours of the imagination' section" title="Photo: Shu Nakagawa" width="518" height="346" class="imgcaption" />
RG: There is a hierarchy in creative world, which is crazy. But from my perspective, I think that designers are architects. Probably more creative than artists. Because most artists do just the same thing. They find something they enjoy repeating….All those restrictions and compromises mean your creative way has to be incredible. [When] you can just do anything, it is quite easy. So it is just strange that artists visit and talk about a hierarchy of creativity, because actually that is one of the easier jobs in all of the creative fields. 
TAB: Do you ever give yourself parameters or restrictions?
RG: Yeah, all the time…During lockdown, I challenged myself to a work every month for three months. 
One of the biggest things that we ignore when we look at art is we just ask about the art, when subconsciously we might be asking, “Why is this person an artist? Why did they make that?” And a lot of time, big famous commercial artists, if you are honest, you end up thinking they made it to make more money (laughs). They made it to become more famous. Other people think they made it because of some life-long quest. Because they want to learn something. When I say to my students, “Why do you wanna be an artist?” They might say, “Because I think I might end up in a prison otherwise.” That is very dramatic. So it is about intent and honesty asking artists why they want to be an artist. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/6-Ryan-Gander.jpg" alt="'All our stories are incomplete...' section" title="Photo: Shu Nakagawa" width="518" height="346" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/7-Ryan-Gander.jpg" alt="All our stories are incomplete...' section" title="Photo: Shu Nakagawa" width="518" height="324" class="imgcaption" />
TAB: What was your experience of working with such a large foreign collection? Was there anything you particularly took away from that? Is there anything about Japanese art that you noticed?
RG: It may be I was Japanese in a previous life. Yes, sometimes I feel more comfortable in Japan.
Nomura: After the exhibition opened in April, I counted out the list of works and the works exhibited for the first time. There are more than twenty out of nearly two hundred, which means ten percent [were exhibited for the first time]. 
RG: Really! 
Nomura: You picked up so many new works for us. We have been working on collection exhibitions so many times, but we are not looking so much.
RG: Interesting.
TAB: Any other comments you want to add about your collaboration?
RG: I just wanted to say thank you to Shinobu, but also to the museum. The museum has to meet the expectations of visitors, and an artist wants to defy expectations – that is really a different thing. The job of museums is to not be conformist. I think Tokyo Opera City is showing exactly the way museums should be. They should be bold. So thank you.
*Note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.

article_22354

Ryan Gander Interview

Planned by The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art (Watari-um) as part of the Tokyo Tokyo Festival, <a href="https://ttf-koubo.jp/en/project/pavilion-tokyo-2020/">Pavilion Tokyo 2021</a> presents nine displays designed by leading architects and artists. These “pavilions” range from large sculptures to structures you can enter and are installed in central Tokyo neighborhoods near the Japan National Stadium. Participating creators are Daito Manabe + Rhizomatiks, the architects Terunobu Fujimori, Sou Fujimoto, Teppei Fujiwara, Akihisa Hirata, Junya Ishigami, and Kazuyo Sejima, and the visual artists Yayoi Kusama and Makoto Aida. 
Watari-um is holding an exhibition (also called “Pavilion Tokyo 2021”) that details the creators’ processes of creating the pavilions through sketches, drawings, models, and videos. Admission to the exhibition is ¥1000. Except for Kazuyo Sejima’s “Suimei,” where a ¥300 admission fee to Hama-rikyu Gardens is charged, the pavilions are free to tour. Reservations are required for entry to Hama-rikyu, Yayoi Kusama’s “The Obliteration Room” at Shibuya City Office Daini Mitake, and Terunobu Fujimori’s “Tea House ‘Goan'” in front of the Victor Studio building. Reservations for “Tea House ‘Goan'” must be made at Watari-um on the same day as your visit. Pavilion Tokyo 2021 (the exhibition and the event) ends September 5. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1-Rhizomatiks.jpg" alt="Daito Manabe + Rhizomatiks '2020–2021'" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Across the street from Watari-um, Daito Manabe + Rhizomatiks’ “2020–2021” is installed in a vacant lot with the 2012 wall painting “Ikinokoru” (Survive) by Chim↑Pom. An obscured display screen flashes a running string of text and pictures, which were produced by internet searches using the word “Tokyo” from last spring’s State of Emergency until now. The AI-generated data relates to cancelled events and comments on news over the past year. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Fujimori-1.jpg" alt="Terunobu Fujimori, 'Tea House 'Goan''" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
 <img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/3Terunobu-Fujimori-2.jpg" alt="Terunobu Fujimori inside 'Tea House 'Goan'' with Japan National Stadium on the right" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
A short walk away stands Terunobu Fujimori’s “Tea House ‘Goan'” in front of the Victor Studio building and across the street from Japan National Stadium. Fujimoto chose this location for the contrast between the enormous sports arena and his modest tea house, a two-storied structure covered in grass on the outside. Enter through a hole in the front and ascend the stairs, and you’ll be rewarded with a pleasant view of the stadium from a cozy space equipped with the accoutrements for a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Visits are limited to five people at a time for up to 30 minutes. Make same-day reservations at Watari-um. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/4-Sou-Fujimoto.jpg" alt="Sou Fujimoto, 'Cloud Pavilion'" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Sou Fujimoto’s “Cloud Pavilion” at Yoyogi Park behind Harajuku Station is one of two Pavilion Tokyo installations by the architect. (The other is at the Kuma Kengo-designed Takenawa Gateway Station on the Yamanote Line). The bulging white balloons are propped up in a grassy field against the backdrop of an expansive sky. Fujimoto was inspired by clouds because he sees them as “the ultimate architecture that envelopes all kinds of things…a big roof of the world.” With this in mind, he designed the pavilion as a place for everyone symbolizing diversity and tolerance. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5-Yayoi-Kusama.jpg" alt="Yayoi Kusama, 'The Obliteration Room'" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Kusama-2.jpg" alt="Yayoi Kusama, 'The Obliteration Room'" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Yayoi Kusama’s latest installment in her series “The Obliteration Room” can be found in a nondescript Shibuya city office building. Like with the others, which start out as all-white spaces, visitors are given colorful stickers to decorate the premises. This Obliteration Room is unique in that it is actually a multiple-room unit, and it is the first to have a washitsu (Japanese-style room). Stop by to see how far everyone has gotten in “obliterating” the space with the stickers and leave your own mark on the dotted chamber. <a href="https://artsticker.app/share/events/detail/595?utm_source=single_event&utm_medium=pavilion_tokyo&utm_campaign=web&utm_content=link_event">Reservations</a> required. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/7-Teppei-Fujiwara.jpg" alt="Teppei Fujiwara, 'Teppei Fujiwara, 'Street Garden Theater'" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/8-Teppei-Fujiwara.jpg" alt="'Teppei Fujiwara, 'Street Garden Theater'" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Teppei Fujiwara is an architect with an interest in the performing arts. It is fitting, then, that for his pavilion, he built a “Street Garden Theater” at the Former National Children’s Castle (Kodomo no Shiro) in Shibuya. This towering, sprawling wooden structure behind the Taro Okamoto sculpture “Kodomo no Ki” (Tree of Children) is an open grid of boards with planters containing aloe, morning glories, hibiscus, and other vegetation found along Tokyo roads. Ramps and platforms allow visitors to walk up inside this “stage” for greenery. To Fujiwara, the pavilion is “a continuous legacy of our relationship with the natural world.”
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/9-Akihisa-Hirata.jpg" alt="Akihisa Hirata, 'Global Bowl'" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/10Akihisa-Hirata.jpg" alt="Akihisa Hirata, 'Global Bowl' in front of United Nations University" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Akihisa Hirata also constructed a wooden pavilion. His “Global Bowl” on the plaza at United Nations University, just up the street from Kodomo no Shiro, is assembled from around 100 pieces of larch wood. You are invited to climb into, sit on, and even and slide down the smooth sides of this giant bowl with open spaces. The geometry of the structure “loosens and strengthens the boundaries between the inner and outer space at the same time,” forming a harmonious connection with the larger world. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/11-Makoto-Aida.jpg" alt="Makoto Aida, 'Tokyo Castle'" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/12b-Makoto-Aida.jpg" alt="Makoto Aida, 'Tokyo Castle'" width="257" height="343" class="imgcaption floatl" /><img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/12a-Makoto-Aida.jpg" alt="Makoto Aida, 'Tokyo Castle'" width="257" height="343" class="imgcaption floatl" /> 
The ever-provocative artist Makoto has built two castles – one out of cardboard and one out of blue tarp – on the ginkgo-lined Meiji Jingu Gaien avenue. The materials he chose are commonly used for shelters by the homeless and after natural disasters. These structures installed on bases made from stone from the outer moat of Edo Castle are symbols of solidarity with people impacted by both. “What I want to emphasize is the opposite of permanence,” Aida explains. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/16-Junya-Ishigami-Watarium.jpg" alt="Junya Ishigami, 'Kokage-gumo'" title="Photo: Watari-um website" width="518" height="377" class="imgcaption" />
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/15-Junya-Ishigami.jpg" alt="Pieces of charred cedar to be installed at Kudan House" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Kudan House in Chiyoda Ward is a former residence built in 1927 that has been converted into a space for creatives. For his pavilion “Kokage-gumo,” meaning “Tree Shadow Cloud,” architect Junya Ishigami has built a garden canopy from 80 large pieces of yagisugi charred cedar. Stroll through the tree-filled yard and enjoy the light streaming in through the holes in the wood. Open 10:00–18:00. Please check the schedule before going. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Kazuyo-Sejima-17.jpg" alt="Kazuyo Sejima, 'Suimei'" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Kazuyo Sejima is an architectural superstar whose projects include the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. At the tranquil Hama-rikyu Gardens surrounded by Tokyo’s skyscraper-studded business district, she has designed an elevated stream called “Suimei” (Clear Water) in homage to a similar ancient Japanese landscaping practice. The stream is dotted with artificial flowers and grasses and winds around the garden’s trees. The flowing water alludes to the continuity of life in the past, present, and future.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Kazuyo-Sejima-18.jpg" alt="Kazuyo Sejima, 'Suimei'" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
All of the Pavilion Tokyo 2021 structures will be ultimately be deconstructed or moved, so be sure to check them out before the festival ends on September 5th. Organizer Etsuko Watari explained during the press tour that while the pavilions “serve no practical purpose,” they are meant to give people something to remember this summer. 
Please see the Tokyo Art Beat links for location specifics.

article_22374

Pavilion Tokyo 2021

Tokyo Art Beat (TAB) is a Japanese/English bilingual art news site started in 2004. It recently <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/2021/02/tokyo-art-beat-joins-forces-with-startbahn.html">announced</a> it has joined the art and blockchain technology firm <a href="https://startbahn.jp/en/">Startbahn</a> and re-launched as a new company. Looking ahead, how will TAB change? Startbahn CEO Taihei Shii discusses the future with Kosuke Fujitaka and Xin Tahara from TAB.
<a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/2021/02/tab-farewell-whats-next.html">Statement</a> by Paul Baron (TAB co-founder and Gadago NPO Chairman)
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/TAB-Interview-MI.jpeg" alt="TAB 10th Anniversary Party in 2014" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
How Will TAB Change?
First of all, why has TAB joined Startbahn? How will TAB change going forward? 
Taihei Shii: You might be worried that the TAB website will suddenly be flooded with ads and promotions (laughs). What I want to tell you first is that won’t happen. We’ll update TAB’s usability and design, but TAB fans can expect these changes to be things that they’ll appreciate.
I’m first of all a TAB user and a fan myself. When thinking about TAB’s future, I wondered if by joining Startbahn, it might benefit from tech stability and updates to things like its recommendation functions and usability. That’s how things got started.
I once had plans for a website that would introduce exhibitions using AI technology at Startbahn, but since TAB already existed, I decided there was no need for a new launch. Then in May 2018, I contacted Xin Tahara to ask if there was something we might be able to do together.
So by joining Startbahn, TAB is taking steps toward a major renewal of its usability and design. Xin, what was your reaction when Taihei first proposed joining Startbahn? 
Xin Tahara: Taihei reached out to me right at a time when I was worrying about the future of TAB. When I told him about the issues we were facing, he said, “Let’s resolve them together (with Startbahn).” After that, Startbahn’s financing became big news. It was a rare bright spot in the art business world, and I thought that was interesting. It seemed likely that the opinions of the TAB founding members would be divided, though…That was another thought I had.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2-Paul-Kosuke-Olivier.jpg" alt="TAB’s original co-founders. From left: Paul Baron, Kosuke Fujitaka, Olivier Thereaux" width="518" height="344" class="imgcaption" />
One of those co-founders is Kosuke Fujitaka. Kosuke, how did you feel when you heard TAB and Startbahn were joining forces? 
Kosuke Fujitaka: I thought that if TAB was going to join another company, it had two options. One, it could go with a well-known firm with stability, or two, it could choose somewhere with some unknowns but a sense of momentum, a place that it could evolve with. I think for the sake of its future growth, TAB chose the latter – Startbahn. I personally had an interest in blockchain technology, similar to what I felt with the rise of the internet.
Also, before I spoke with Taihei, I’d heard about the issues the TAB team was facing. It had operated as an NPO since 2004 – more than 15 years – and in many ways it looked like it would be difficult to continue doing so. I’d taken a step back from TAB operations when I moved to New York in 2008, but I understood that TAB was struggling.
Tahara: The art world has a reputation for being glamorous, but it’s really a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Even with work we asked for, much of it ended up being done on a volunteer basis, and I didn’t like that. There were also a lot of misunderstandings with the NPO status and because of that staff felt constrained, so I’d always wanted to make TAB a company somehow. Just when all the operational and management issues were coming to a head, Taihei reached out to me. 
Fujitaka: The incompatibility of the Japanese NPO structure and TAB’s business model ultimately was an issue. Philosophically speaking, TAB was a good fit as an NPO, but from a financial incentive perspective it just didn’t work out. TAB had operated for around 15 years as an NPO without tax advantages. 
To be honest, the TAB co-founders and directors would have preferred TAB remain an NPO since it was created as one, but it just couldn’t raise the funds for its future as an NPO. One of the things that make TAB special is its cross of art and technology, but with technology evolving by the day, the costs for catching up are higher than 15 years ago. It’s difficult for NPOs as organizations to invest significantly in technology. By joining Startbahn, I expect TAB to gain some new energy and resolve its tech issues.
Shii: I’d known about Kosuke though the internet since the early 2000s. I read his blog and respected him from afar. What always struck me about him is that he doesn’t exaggerate, he doesn’t make conjectures, he always says the right thing. During the negotiations between TAB and Startbahn, he was confident that if we hammered out a consensus, we’d find a good way forward, which helped us proceed. 
Fujitaka: As an NPO, the biggest engine of our operations was the passion of everyone, from the staff to the users. Switching to a company status is a big change, so consensus building definitely took a lot of time. In the end, though, we were able to get to a good place, and I’m really looking forward to what comes next.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/3-slack-imgs-1.jpg" alt="Members of TAB and the design firm AQ at TAB’s fifth anniversary party in 2009" width="518" height="389" class="imgcaption" />
Japan’s Only Bilingual Art Media Outlet
Shii: One of the things I think is great about TAB as a user is that it has always been accurate in its judgments. For example, it was quick to introduce social media and it released an app pretty early on. And it’s not just been a fast adapter – its usability is always spot on, too.
Fujitaka: Right. When the app was released around 2010, apps themselves were pretty rare in Japan, and it stayed at number one in the App Store Lifestyle section for a long time.
TAB has also been a leader as an art information website. In a previous <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/2015/03/tokyo-art-beat-founders-interview.html">interview</a> with the co-founders, I remember Kosuke saying: At the time we started TAB in 2004, many people had quite a negative image of the internet, and it was really difficult to convince the PR people of various galleries and art museums about the merits of TAB.
Fujitaka: That really seems like another lifetime looking back on it now. (Laughs). The art world is surprisingly conservative when it comes to things like technology and money. At the time, the internet in its post-bubble era had a sort of a shady image, and we were sometimes told places only communicated by FAX. Even in 2020, in the U.S. for example, finally half of advertising fees are going toward online formats and art fairs are also moving online. Parts of the lifestyle and art industries have been aggressively moving online. And here we have TAB, which creates data that can be used in the real world. Until now it has taken offline exhibition information and put it online, but in the future I think it could take a step further, working not just with offline data but creating services for online operations, as well.
What do you expect from TAB as an art media outlet? 
Tahara: One type of art news story that attracts attention in Japan is “This exhibition drew hundreds of thousands of visitors!” So far TAB has posted more than 100,000 exhibition and event listings* ranging from shows at small cafes, art spaces, and commercial galleries to blockbusters at major museums. The information on TAB has probably led to millions of people in total going to see art. It’s not just the exhibitions, artworks, and artists that underpin Japan’s art scene, but also these art fans visiting shows in hundreds of thousands or millions. Whether they’re famous or unknown, the existence and experiences of these people should be properly evaluated and not just forgotten en masse. TAB is really the only art media outlet that’s uncovering this phenomenon. With the power of Startbahn’s technology and further support, even without the thrill of the rise of the internet, I believe we can make innovations that are close to that experience a reality. 
(*Editor’s note: TAB listings surpassed 100,000 in December, 2020).
Shii: I think that as a bilingual website, TAB plays a very, very important role in the Japanese media from a global perspective. It’s difficult to get a view of what’s going on in the world when you’re in Japan, but art has a global premise, which means the Japanese media needs to challenge itself to broaden its horizons. 
Fujitaka: I agree. The original reason for making TAB bilinguals was to meet the needs of foreign art fans living in Tokyo. But it’s turned out that besides this, TAB also lets people overseas know about exhibitions happening in Japan, and it has built up a data base of exhibition info going back more than ten years. Also, to further increase awareness of Japanese art overseas, TAB will continue to focus on its bilingual aspect. 
That said, TAB’s core function is to support people who go to see exhibitions in Japan. In the future, we hope to not just list information on exhibitions, but also post detailed artist profiles so that we can increase data visibility and also provide information and support for buying and owning art. If we can do that, I think we can connect art and people in ways that go beyond listing information for going to see exhibitions. 
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/4-DSC6622.jpg" alt="TAB 10th Anniversary Party in 2014" width="518" height="345" class="imgcaption" />
The Changing Art Scene
Last year COVID-19 shut down exhibitions and major art fairs, making the art industry take another look at its practices. What are your thoughts on the art world in Japan and abroad now? 
Fujitaka: I felt that with COVID in 2020, the more down-to-earth art scene I liked had maybe finally returned. For the past ten years or so, perhaps due to a global glut of money, New York has been attracting rich people from around the world who buy art, and the art world’s values had steadily shifted toward being more and more money-driven. I had resigned myself to this and lost a bit of interest in art. Then COVID swept the world and for six months or so everyone’s interest seemed to become more personal again. I’m excited about that development for the art world. 
On the art scene overall, we’re seeing movements like MeToo and BLM make headway on lists like the Power 100. There’s also been a dramatic shift toward minority artists rising in the ranks as major players. In New York, there has been a real increase in exhibitions of Black artists. Also, as seen with Ruangrupa being chosen as director for documenta fifteen, artists from Southeast Asia and other countries that until now have been considered “emerging” are getting more attention on a global scale, while Japan, as one of the relatively older “developed” countries, might be considered established and “mature,” to put it nicely. I think the artists coming newly out of Japan need to change their strategy. 
Shii: The art market and art scene have been run by white men and centered around regional areas like New York and London. I’ve never been particularly enamored with that art world, but I hope that with the birth of BLM amid COVID and social anxiety, we’ll see an end to those aspects of the art scene that sang the praises of diversity while keeping things homogenous. Startbahn’s vision for the future is to provide value management and maintenance for not just the global 0.01% of artists but the remaining 99.99% as well, and by doing so involve as many people as possible in dynamism of art. The recent direction of the art world and Startbahn’s vision for the future are both rooted in in the fundamentals of human behavior and economics – they seek to avoid social anxieties caused by inequalities. I feel like society is shifting in this direction. 
Tahara: When we held the TAB 10th anniversary <a href="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.ja/2014/11/tokyo-art-beat-10th-anniversary-party.html">party</a>, there ended up being over 600 people who came, even though we didn’t really put the word out that much. TAB’s services have always run on the passion of our users and advertising. It’s a real shame we haven’t been able to update the website and the app as much as we would have liked, but I hope users will look forward to future improvements as much as I am. We want to continue providing a service that treats unique spaces and events in Tokyo and elsewhere equally, picking up as much information as we can without getting too swept up in larger narratives. That’s what I personally like about TAB and sense for its future potential.
<img src="https://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/5-DSC_4086.jpg" alt="Left: Taihei Shii, Right: Xin Tahara" width="518" height="346" class="imgcaption" />
Taihei Shii 
CEO of Startbahn. Born in 1977. Spent his childhood in the U.S. Graduated from The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies. Graduated from Tama Art University Oil Painting Department in 2001. Creates “art for the internet age,” participates in shows at galleries and museums. Came up with concept for Startbahn in 2006, received patents in Japan and U.S. Started company while in graduate school. Teaches at Tokyo University of the Arts, gives lectures and talks. Enjoys billiards. 
Kosuke Fujitaka 
Co-founder of Tokyo Art Beat. Born in Osaka in 1978. Graduated from Tokyo University Department of Economics. Moved to New York in 2008, launched NY Art Beat. Writer, coordinator, advisor on art-related matters. 
Xin Tahara 
Brand director of Tokyo Art Beat. Born in 1983. From Hakodate, Hokkaido. Interest in photography led him to gallery hopping while in university. Has worked as a bar tender and for 101 Tokyo Contemporary Art Fair. Tokyo Art Beat staff member from 2009.

News / Articles