EVENT - 2024.06.28
The 8 Best Artsy Places to Visit in Tokyo – Summer 2024 –
We would like to introduce the 8 best artsy places to visit in Tokyo today. This article includes eight hot spots of art exhibitions and events which will be held in and around Tokyo from June to August 2024.
Highlights of art exhibitions, which are currently underway, include “Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei”, an exhibition that fuses Japanese and Black culture, coining the term “Afro-Mingei” by Theaster Gates himself, “Calder: Un effet du Japonais” co-hosted by Pace Gallery (will be open in this September) and AZABUDAI HILLS GALLERY and “Opening Exhibition” at Ueshima Museum.
Following“Saeborg ‘I WAS MADE FOR LOVING YOU’ / TSUDA Michiko ‘Life is Delaying’ Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2022-2024 Exhibition” which is nearing to the end of its exhibition period, an international art fair “Tokyo Gendai” will be held in the first week of July at Pacifico Yokohama. 70 contemporary art galleries will gather from all over the world. Not only this art fair, but SBI Art Auction will also hold a modern and contemporary art auction and a special collaboration event among “Art x Sake” in the same week, which is called “Thursday Lates Powered by SAKEJUMP”.
There will be a number of art events even after the end of July, including “Place and Piece” at Artizon Museum, which focuses on the trajectory of space and artworks, and “A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection”, composed on the basis of the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, one of the leading collections of contemporary art in Japan.
How about spending your summer immersed in art? You might encounter your favorite artists and their pieces. Be sure not to miss this opportunity!
1. Art Exhibitions You Can Visit from Today! (June)
● Mori Museum “Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei” (2024/04/24-09/01)
Installation view: Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2024
Photo: Koroda Takeru
Photo courtesy: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Mori Art Museum in Roppongi is currently holding the exhibition "Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei" from April 24 (Tue) to September 1 (Sun), 2024. Theaster Gates is an internationally acclaimed artist based in Chicago, U.S.A. - whose diverse artistic practice includes a focus on sculpture and ceramics. Gates has been influenced by Japanese culture for over 20 years, since his arrival in Japan in 2004 to study ceramics in Tokoname, Aichi, Japan, As an artist, he explores cultural hybridity and has developed his own aesthetic, "Afro-Mingei," which combines a slogan "Black is Beautiful," which was part of the American Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968), with the philosophy of the Japanese "Mingei" movement. The term "Afro-mingei" was coined to describe this unique aesthetic.
Afro-Mingei" is a manifesto that fuses two different cultures: the aesthetics of Black people and the philosophy of Japanese crafts. Under this term, a black pottery created by Gates in Tokoname, works inspired by the late Edo period poet Otagaki Rengetsu, and projects in collaboration with pottery makers from various regions of Japan have been developed.
This exhibition is the largest solo show by Black artist in Japan and reflects the history and the future of Black people as envisioned by Gates. It also demonstrates the importance and significance of their culture and history of opposing discrimination and colonialism, including the recent "Black Lives Matter" (BLM) Movement. This exhibition includes the "Black Library," which covers a wall of the exhibition space with thousands of related books to the exhibition theme, and musical performance, and allowing visitors to experience art, culture, and history from a variety of perspectives.
Exhibition Details
● AZABUDAI HILLS GALLERY “Calder: Un effet du Japonais” (2024/05/30-09/06)
Left Picture: Installation view of Calder: Un effet du japonais, Azabudai Hills Gallery, 2024 Photo: Tadayuki Minamoto
All works by Alexander Calder
All photos courtesy of Calder Foundation, New York / Art Resource, New York
© 2024 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Azabudai Hills Gallery (Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza A MBF) is currently holding a co-hosted exhibition with Pace Gallery, “Calder: Un effet du Japonais” (May 30 (Thu) - September 6 (Fri), 2024). Alexander Calder (1898-1976) was one of the leading artists of the 20th century, known for his invention of the "mobile," a moving abstract sculpture suspended in space and continuously changing while maintaining its balance.
The exhibition consists of approximately 100 works from the 1920s to the 1970s, and includes not only his signature Mobil series, but also a wide range of his oil paintings and drawings. In addition to the wide variety of works, the exhibition space is also a key feature of the exhibition. Architect Stephanie Goto, a longtime Calder Foundation collaborator, designed the space based on the geometry of a 3:4:5 right triangle. Square exhibition rooms reminiscent of a tea ceremony room or Noh stage are also present, and elements and materials from Japanese architecture are interspersed throughout the building to create a resonance between Calder's work and Japanese culture.
Exhibition Details
● UESHIMA MUSEUM “Opening Exhibition” (2024/06/01- The end of December)
Right Picture: The entrance of UESHIMA MUSEUM
Left Picture：Installation View: Connecting with the future through contemporary art/ UESHIMA MUSEUM
UESHIMA MUSEUM, a museum recently opened on June 1 (Sat), 2024, features selected works from the UESHIMA MUSEUM COLLECTION, which includes over 650 contemporary artworks by diverse artists from Japan and abroad. This collection has been built based on a theme of "contemporaneity". The works on display are selected along with five themes and provide different atmosphere in each room. Their “Opening Exhibition” is open from June 1 to the end of December 2024.
The exhibition features a group of works selected based on five themes, “Abstraction in Painting: The Pioneering Spirit”, “Contemporary Expression and the World of Individual Expression”, “The Gaze of Female Painters”, “Things that Change, Things that Disappear” and “Paintings by Yoko Matsumoto”. Each space captures a distinct theme, drawing viewers into a new world from the moment they step into the room.
Exhibition Details
2. Art Exhibition and Events Only Available Now! (The First Week of July)
● Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo ‘Saeborg “I WAS MADE FOR LOVING YOU” / TSUDA Michiko “Life is Delaying” Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2022-2024 Exhibition’ (2024/03/30-07/07)
Left upper picture: Saeborg, “I WAS MADE FOR LOVING YOU”, 2023-2024, installation/Photo: TAKAHASHI Kenji/Photo courtesy of Tokyo Arts and Space
Left lower picture: TSUDA Michiko, “Hello, Camera”, 2024, video, shooting set, camera, software / Photo: TAKAHASHI Kenji / Photo courtesy of Tokyo Arts and Space
Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) has been implementing Tokyo Contemporary Art Award (TCAA), a contemporary art award for mid-career artists. TCAA has been providing continuous support to the winners for several years to encourage them to further developments of their careers. “Saeborg ‘I WAS MADE FOR LOVING YOU’ / TSUDA Michiko ‘Life is Delaying’ Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2022-2024 Exhibition” is on now at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. This exhibition will end on July 7 (Sun), 2024, so please do not miss this chance to visit.
The two artists, who differ in their interests and approaches of art production, interweave in this exhibition that questions viewers about "physicality" and "care”. Saeborg has been working with putting an importance on a relationship between human and animal nature. In this exhibition, she focuses on “care” and a work called “Saedog” representing this theme. Saedog is a weakened pet animal and may touch viewers’ own “weakness” and “power.” Moreover, there are performances which take place during the exhibition, and they will be a device that incorporates the viewer into a part of the work. At the same time, Tsuda pursues "physicality" that has been her particular interest in recent years. Inspired by the artist and her family's first experience of filming with a video camera. Her new artwork reenacts everyday content that many viewers might have already experienced, thereby creating a composition that allows viewers to objectify themselves.
Exhibition Details
● “Tokyo Gendai” (2024/07/05-07/07)
Tokyo Gendai, 2023
“Tokyo Gendai”, which ended successfully last year, will come back to Pacifico Yokohama this year from July 5 (Fri) to July 7 (Sun), 2024. This is an international contemporary art fair that brings together as many as 70 galleries from 18 countries around the world as well as in Japan.
Internationally acclaimed galleries such as Pace Gallery, BLUM, Sadie Cole HQ and Perrotin will be participating in the fair. Why not visit the festival to see the works of renowned local and international artists, as well as up-and-coming young artists, all in one place?
In addition, “Tsubomi,” an exhibition highlighting social issues by four female artists of different nationalities and generations, will be held at this year's festival. Other events include the giant installation “Sato,” a series of art talks, and workshops for children by the exhibiting artists are scheduled.
Art Fair Details
● SBI Art Auction “Thursday Lates Powered by SAKEJUMP” & “The 66th SBI Art Auction | MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART” (2024/07/03-07/07)
Courtesy of SBI Art Auction
SBI Art Auction will hold “Thursday Lates Powered by SAKEJUMP” at Daikanyama Hillside Forum on July 4, 2024 (Thu) prior to “The 66th SBI Art Auction | MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART” on July 6 (Sat) and 7 (Sun), 2024.
With the cooperation of camo, the organizer of "Wakate no Yoake (SAKEJUMP)" and other events, the event will offer you a chance to enjoy fine sake made by emerging Japanese young brewers from all over Japan, and to appreciate modern and contemporary artworks those will be up for this auction.
SAKEJUMP has a role to promote delicious sake and its culture, especially the ambitious activities and thoughts of young brewers, to the world, and shares similar aspirations with SBI Art Auction, which handles works by young and established artists and works to revitalize contemporary art and its market in Japan.
At this event, a total of 12 types of sake will be offered by various sake breweries from Tohoku to Kyushu, in honor of the hometowns of the artists who will be exhibiting their works at the July sale viewing.
Event Details
Auction Details
3. Up-coming Art Exhibitions (From the final week of July to August)
● Artizon Museum “Place and Piece”
Henri MATISSE, Nude in the Studio, 1899
Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation
Artizon Museum, located just a 5-minutes walking distance from Tokyo Station will hold an exhibition “Place and Piece” from 27 July (Sat), 2024.
In this exhibition visitors imagine and experience time and places where artworks have been and existed until today. Artworks exhibited in museums have a public nature that can be appreciated by anyone who visits the museum and are often considered to be out of touch with the personal space they occupy. However, before artworks made their way to museums, they were often displayed in more private spaces, for instance, as fixtures in a mansion or as decorations in a private room. Some of the pieces have been passed down through many hands.
The “Place and Piece” exhibition consists of approximately 130 works from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection, including works by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Tsuguharu Fujita, Ryusei Kishida, and the Rimpa school, as well as abstract paintings. Visitors are invited to imagine and experience the history of these works of art, and to ponder the background of how they were born, how they have been passed on to various people, and how they have been treated.
Exhibition Details
● Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo “A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection” (2024/08/03-11/10))
Yoshitomo Nara《Untitled》1999年、240×276㎝
© NARA Yoshitomo, courtesy of Yoshitomo Nara Foundation
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo will hold an exhibition “A Personal View of Japanese Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection” from August 3 (Sat), 2024. This exhibition will feature Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, which today contains more than 3,500 works, and has become an important part of Japanese contemporary art scene in terms of both quality and quantity.
This exhibition focuses on a perspective of Takahashi, who grew up as a spearhead pioneer of the postwar baby-boom generation. He had an intense and diverse experience, including joining the Zenkyoto student movement, and was exposed to the dense mixture of culture and politics that filled the air in Tokyo in the 1960s. From the mid-90s, when his career as a psychiatrist was stably on track, he began to collect Japanese contemporary art and has acquired more than 3,500 artworks to date. TAKAHASHI can thus be seen as someone who has been observing the trends and currents in Japanese contemporary art from the inside, while at the same time embodying essential aspects from the position of the audience as opposed to that of the artists.
The collection is not limited to the 1990s and 2000s, but also resonates with the changes of the times since the Great East Japan Earthquake, and this exhibition also shows the new direction the collection has taken in recent years.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo opened in 1995, during the same period as the formation of Takahashi Ryutaro Collection. Both collections were largely built in the city of Tokyo during the so-called “lost 30 years” after the burst of the economic bubble in Japan, and the relationship between them can be understood as mutually complementary. How about experiencing this great opportunity, which offers a comprehensive overview of essential and incisively critical works of Japanese contemporary art?
Exhibition Details
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