PRESS - 2024.09.26
The 7 Best Artsy Places to Visit in Tokyo －Autumn 2024－
Leaves have started changing their colors, and the Autumn is almost there. How about visiting artsy places where you can experience and appreciate artworks in Tokyo? Following events in this Summer, several heart-moving and memorable exhibitions and events including artworks by Japanese and international artists are coming. In this article, we would like to spot some of them with our wishes for you are having a great “artsy” time in Tokyo.
The giant spider sculpture Maman by Louise BOURGEOIS has become an iconic symbol of Roppongi Hills. The Mori Art Museum, located in Roppongi Hills, will be hosting a solo exhibition titled “Louis Bourgeois: I have been to hell and back. And let me tell you, it was wonderful.” 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT will hold an exhibition, “pooploop” to face to our environmental issues relating a circulation of our daily waste and excrement. It sets a new term of “pooploop” and encourages visitors to deepen understanding of ongoing environmental issues. Apart from these exhibitions, there is a night art event in the same area in Roppongi. “Roppongi Art Night” marks their 13th edition and will transform the entire Roppongi district, including nearby museums, into a stage for art and offer magical experiences. Following this, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, will hold an exhibition featuring Japanese relics, “Modern Images of Ancient Clay Figures.” It explores the discovery of aesthetic value in excavated artifacts and their influence on contemporary art. There will be a large-scale exhibition at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery “Takesada Matsutani” features over 200 works by the artist, who explored one of the Japanese post-war artistic movement “Gutai” and has been continuing creation in Paris and around the world. Another featured place is an exhibition “Alec Soth: A Room of Rooms” at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. This exhibition will showcase about 60 works with centered on the theme of “rooms”.
For those looking to experience a unique atmosphere different from art exhibitions or events, how about visiting “The 68th SBI Art Auction | MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART”? Its preview also will be held at the same venue. You may find your favorite piece there and experience immersive feeling during biddings.
1. Mori Art Museum, “Louise Bourgeois: I have been to hell and back. And let me tell you, it was wonderful.” (September 25, 2024 – January 19, 2025)
Upper-right-side image: Louise Bourgeois, The Couple, 2003/Photo: Christopher Burke
© The Easton Foundation/Licensed by JASPAR, Tokyo, and VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Lower-right-side image: Louise Bourgeois, The Destruction of the Father, 1974
© The Easton Foundation/Licensed by JASPAR, Tokyo, and VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Mori Art Museum will open an exhibition “Louise Bourgeois: I have been to hell and back. And let me tell you, it was wonderful.”
on Wednesday, September 25, 2024. BOURGEOUIS is widely known in Japan as the creator of Maman, the iconic spider sculpture in Roppongi Hills, is also recognized as one of the most prominent artists of the 20th century on the international stage. Her artistic approach continuously evolved over her more than 70-years career, resulting in a diverse range of works, including installations, paintings, sculptures, and more.
BOURGEOUIS’ childhood experiences served as a source of inspiration, and her works often captured her inner conflicts and traumas. These her expressions captive viewers in many ways. She frequently addressed themes of sexuality and gender; making her works a focal point in feminist discourse. This exhibition will showcase works making her debut in Japan, including pieces crafted after 1998 and approximately ten early paintings that will be shown for the first time in Asia, allowing visitors to trace the evolution of her life and art.
This exhibition will be her first solo exhibition in Japan in the last 27 years and will feature over 100 artworks by BOURGEOUIS. Please do not miss this opportunity!
2. 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Exhibition “pooploop” (September 27, 2024 – February 16, 2025)
Middle image: Mike Kerry “Life Cycles”
Right image: Toshio Matsui “Sainenshow”/ Photo: Kazuhiro Shiraishi
An upcoming exhibition “pooploop” will open at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT on Friday, September 27, 2024. This exhibition will address ongoing environmental issues from a perspective of wastes and excrements, which are things close to human daily life. While wastes were part of our lives just moments ago, and excrements were part of our bodies just few seconds before, we tend to treat them if they will vanish immediately after they are separated from our lives or bodies. However, they never truly disappear; instead, they change their forms and continue circulating through the world. In the natural world, the concepts of trash or wastes do not exist; they constantly change their forms and then circulate. On the other hand, in the human world, these waste materials and excretions are treated as something undesirable, and their circulation system has been considered a significant social issue.
Exhibition Director Mr. Shinichi Takemura once said, “The history of our planet is the history of living things updating Earth’s operating systems (OS).” Until today, a large number of species lived in the earth and their diverse functions and characteristics have driven the ongoing decompositions and regenerations and updated the Earth’s OS. Humans are not the only one creature which can update this OS; however, they have an awareness of ongoing environmental and social issues and a power to perceive and influence these changes. This exhibition will be a place where visitors can experiment with how humans can face the world’s circulation and be part of it with consideration of the natural cyclic system. Please enjoy and learn the pooploop of the world throughout this unique exhibition.
3. Roppongi Art Night 2024 (September 27 – 29, 2024)
Upper-right-side image: MeimageDance, New Paradise of Silent Island, 2022 / Photo by Chen Hsiang Liu
Lower-right-side image: Kyota Takahashi, Ronde of Flowers, 2018 / Photo by Mito Murakami
The 13th edition of “Roppongi Art Night” will take a place over three days starting from Friday, September 27th, 2024. This art event, which transforms the entire Roppongi district – known for many museums – into a creative playground. It readdresses its core theme of “A Festival of the City, Art and the Future” and will introduce several events as part of new initiatives, “RAN Picks” and “RAN Focus.” The former is a program featuring exhibitions by artists highlighted by Roppongi Art Night, while the later focuses on artists from a yearly selected specific country or region, with this year’s spotlight on Taiwan.
During this event, streets in the Roppongi area will be filled with a wide range of activities including artists-led parades, performances, installations, and long-term exhibition programs.
As the summer heat begins to wane, why not take an evening stroll and enjoy the vibrant art scene in this late September?
4. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, “Modern Images of Ancient Clay Figures” (October 1 – December 22, 2024)
Upper-right image: Okamoto Taro, Flower Pot, Dog-shaped, 1954, The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, the Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art
Lower-right image: Saito Kiyoshi, Haniwa, 1953, Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art/©Hisako Watanabe
An art exhibition themed around excavated artifacts, titled “Modern Images of Ancient Clay Figures (Haniwa to Dogu no Kindai)” will be held at National Museum of Moder Art, Tokyo, from Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Some may find the exhibition title confused since it does not order chronologically. In a general chronological exhibition, Dogu from the Jomon period (around 14,000 BCE to 300 BCE, and known for its distinctive pottery with cord-marked pattern) comes first and Haniwa from the Kofun period (around 250 CE to 538 CE and characterized by the construction of large burial mounds called kofun) follows it. Rather than exhibiting actual Haniwa and Dogu, this exhibition deals with images of excavated artifacts as motifs in modern and contemporary art. By tracing the aesthetic perspectives that have been cast upon these artifacts from the Meiji period to the present, a phenomenon emerges where the Haniwa boom came first, followed by the Jomon period boom. A sequence of these events resulted in this reversed exhibition title. Divided into four chapters, the exhibition traces back to activities of “Kokoka (antiquarians)” in the early Meiji period (1868 – 1912). It also examines the Haniwa boom during the mid-Showa period, and the postwar re-engagement with those artifacts by artists like OKAMOTO Taro and NOGUCHI Isamu. Apart from the, it touches upon the meanings and influences of "soil" during the time when the exploration of "Japanese Ness" and "tradition" was actively pursued. The final chapter shows how the images of Haniwa and Dogu spread into mass culture, from the 1970s onwards and their connection to today.
This exhibition, which meticulously traces the link between excavated artifacts and modernity, may prompt viewers to recognize unexpected connections to their own lives.
5. Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery “Takesada Matsutani” (October 3 – December 17, 2024)
Right image: Takesada Matsutani in Paris, 2019/Photo: Michel Lunardelli
A large-scale solo exhibition “Takesada Matsutani,” which features over 200 works by the artist, will be held by Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery from Thursday, October 3, 2024. The artist has been working on the global stage following his previous activities as a member of Gutai (one of the significant post-war art movements) and subsequently moving to Paris. As a second-generation of Gutai artist, MATSUTANI created relief works with organic forms using vinyl-adhesives, which were a new material at that time. Following that, new works were produced which later became his signature motif. The artist joined a printmaking studio called “Atelier 17”, where skilled artists gathered. During the time there, he encountered motifs that guide his artistic practices fundamentally. Apart from them, more artworks will be showcased in the exhibition, such as ones created by papers and pencils. Some of these pencil works marked the origin of MATSUTANI’s significant “black” world. Moreover, the exhibition will feature rare works and undisclosed sketchbooks with daily drawings. These specific works would offer a glimpse into the artist’s creative background.
This exhibition will be a great opportunity to see MATSUTANI’s trajectory of over 60 years of his artistic activities.
6. Tokyo Photographic Art Museum “Alec Soth: A Room of Rooms” (October 10, 2024 – January 19, 2025)
Left-side image: Alec Soth, Anna, Kentfield, California from the series I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating, 2017, Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum ⓒAlec Soth
Upper-right-side image: Alec Soth, Bil, Sandusky, Ohio from the series Songbook, 2012, Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum ⓒAlec Soth
Lower-right-side image: Alec Soth, Still LifeⅡ from the series Advice for Young Artists, 2024, Collection of the artist ⓒAlec Soth
Alec SOTH is a renown photographic artist and a full member of an international photographic cooperative Magnum Photos. Tokyo Photographic Art Museum will hold his solo exhibition, “Alec Soth: A Room of Rooms” from Thursday, October 10, 2024. This exhibition will feature approximately 60 artworks, ranging from his early renown series to his most recent works based on a theme of “rooms.” One of his early representative works captures people and landscapes with a large-format camera during his trip across his homeland, the United States, by car. Meanwhile, I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating, a series which will be exhibited in this exhibition, represents a SOTH‘s departure from the road-trip approach. The artist traveled to various places and visited diverse figures around the world. Throughout these encounters, he captured their portraits and their personal belongings in their private space where they spent most of their times. This thematic exploration of SOTH’s work through the concept of "rooms" will be the first attempt among other exhibitions which deepen understanding of his works.
The exhibition invites visitors to experience how SOTH’s photographs of indoor spaces—where he himself feels a strong sense of familiarity—offer a unique perspective on what is visible in these environments.
7. SBI Art Auction “The 68th SBI Art Auction | MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART” Auction Viewing & Auction (October 23 – October 26, 2024)
Courtesy of SBI Art Auction
SBI Art Auction will hold “The 68th SBI Art Auction | MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART” at Daikanyama Hillside Forum at 1:00 PM (JST) on Friday, October 25th, and October 26th, 2024. Its preview also will be open on Wednesday, October 23, 2024. This auction sale will be the final sale of 2024, and the first overseas auction viewing in Seoul will be held at the beginning of October.
This sale will feature a diverse collection of works surpassing generations or genres and offer you a glimpse into the multilayered nature of art markets. There will be several canvases works of KUSAMA Yayoi’s iconic Pumpkin series and another renown series Infinity Nets (1999). Additionally, a 2m-long work, CONJUNCTION 91 - 23, by a leading figure of Korean monochrome movement, Ha Chong-Hyun, has significant presence and will be up for the auction. The artist is known for his Conjunction series pursuing materiality and achieved a new texture by filtering oil paint through the backside of hemp cloth. SEKINE Nobuo’s sculpture work, Pedestal of Sky will be showcased in this auction. It has a same motif and title with his well-known public art sculpture located in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Park (called Fureai Mall). On the other hand, the auction will also feature works by internationally active artists, such as José PARLÁ, who started his career in street and graffiti culture, and follows the legacy of American abstract expressionism, and Glenn LIGON, who uses diverse mediums to explore themes like American history, literature, and society. Moreover, a silkscreen work Marilyn Monroe (F. & S. Ⅱ.26), by Andy WARHOL. It captures one of his representative motifs and uses vibrant pink hue complementing subtle colors.
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