ART WEEK TOKYO UNVEILS HIGHLIGHTS OF 2024 EDITION
- Institutions and galleries showcase the stars of Japanese contemporary art, from legendary Pop artist Keiichi Tanaami to global icon Yoshitomo Nara and rising talent Yuko Mohri
- Mori Art Museum director Mami Kataoka’s AWT Focus exhibition brings together 57 artists and groups addressing Asian visions of the future
- AWT Video presents 14 works by 13 artists selected by Sohrab Mohebbi, director of SculptureCenter in New York
- AWT Bar features an environment by landscape architect Eiko Tomura and edible creations by chef Miya Enmeiji
- Adriano Pedrosa, curator of the 60th Venice Biennale, headlines AWT Talks
Art Week Tokyo is pleased to unveil the highlights of its upcoming third full-scale edition, running November 7–10, 2024. This year’s lineup of exhibitions is the strongest yet, with 53 participating institutions and galleries presenting more star power and a broader mix of artistic practices and mediums than ever before. Art Week Tokyo’s special platforms add to the excitement with unique initiatives for opening contemporary art up to diverse audiences. These range from the curated sales platform AWT Focus to the pop-up AWT Bar, where visitors can enjoy edible creations and artist cocktails in a space designed by an emerging architect. Collectively these programs establish Art Week Tokyo as the premier event for experiencing art in Japan’s capital city.
EXHIBITIONS AT INSTITUTIONS AND GALLERIES
This year Art Week Tokyo engages 13 institutions and 40 galleries and art spaces across the city, including first-time participants Chanel Nexus Hall, Pace, and Prada Aoyama.
The city’s flagship institutions are showcasing today’s leading artists in tandem with historic figures and emerging talents. Highlights include:
- An exciting double-bill of exhibitions at the National Art Center, Tokyo, with a retrospective of legendary Pop artist Keiichi Tanaami alongside a new collaborative project by globetrotting performance artist Ei Arakawa-Nash
- Multimedia artist Yuko Mohri’s first large-scale institutional solo exhibition in Tokyo at Artizon Museum
- A star-studded survey of works from the collection of Ryutaro Takahashi, one of Japan’s leading art patrons, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
- A blockbuster Louise Bourgeois exhibition at the Mori Art Museum, marking the historic artist’s first show in Japan in 27 years and featuring works never previously shown in Asia
In addition, corporately sponsored art spaces are asserting their importance in the local art ecosystem by serving as kunsthalle-type venues for special projects. These include:
- New work by ephemeral installation artist Rei Naito in the glass brick architecture of Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum
- Emerging artist Shiori Watanabe, known for her multimedia installations revisioning local ecosystems, at Shiseido Gallery
- Pioneering curator Yuko Hasegawa’s collaborative project with emerging exhibition makers at Chanel Nexus Hall
Across the spectrum, Art Week Tokyo’s 40 participating galleries are presenting an incredible lineup of exhibitions, featuring some of the biggest names in Japanese contemporary art as well as a strong representation of leading female artists. These include:
- Japanese Pop art icon Yoshitomo Nara at Blum
- New paintings by Hiroshi Sugito, inaugurating Tomio Koyama Gallery’s new space in Kyobashi
- The latest works by Superflat star Aya Takano at Kaikai Kiki Gallery
- Multimedia artist Tabaimo’s first solo show at Gallery Koyanagi in six years
- Mixed-media works addressing themes of ecology by Jaeeun Choi at Misa Shin Gallery Reflecting the depth of modern and contemporary art in Japan, galleries are also presenting significant works by historic artists, including:
- A two-person exhibition of Gutai artists Kazuo Shiraga and Akira Kanayama, observing the centenary of the artists’ births, at Fergus McCaffrey
- Tokyo Gallery + BTAP’s show of avant-garde calligrapher Nankoku Hidai
- Surrealist mise-en-scènes by Michiko Kon at photography specialist PGI
- A group exhibition centering on experimental calligrapher and photographer Shigeru Onishi at MEM
Exhibitions by emerging and midcareer Japanese talents at galleries include:
- Multimedia artist Meiro Koizumi at Mujin-to Production
- Satoru Aoyama’s embroidery works at Mizuma Art Gallery
- Sound installations by Miyu Hosoi at Gallery 38
As always, Tokyo’s galleries feature a strong representation of international artists. These include:
- A two-person show at Kotaro Nukaga pairing British-Iranian-American artist Kour Pour’s “carpet paintings” with Rember Yahuarcani’s works drawing on the customs and iconography of the Uitoto people in the northern Amazon
- Chinese photographer Chen Wei’s staged scenes of urban landscapes at Ota Fine Arts
- Indonesian painter Roby Dwi Antono’s blend of street art, Surrealism, and Futurism at Nanzuka
- The latest installment of British Conceptual artist Jonathan Monk’s ongoing project engaging with the work of Italian painter Salvo at Taro Nasu
- Sokchanlina Lim’s new media works reflecting on rapidly changing social conditions in Cambodia at nca | nichido contemporary art
- Videos and sculptural installations by Berlin- and Tbilisi-based artist Vajiko Chachkhiani at SCAI The Bathhouse
All venues are connected by the free AWT Bus service, with buses running every 15 minutes between 10am and 6pm across multiple routes.
Visit Art Week Tokyo’s website for details on all exhibitions.
AWT FOCUS: EARTH, WIND, AND FIRE
After its successful launch last year, Art Week Tokyo’s curated sales platform AWT Focus returns for a second edition helmed by Mami Kataoka, director of the Mori Art Museum and director of the National Center for Art Research, both in Tokyo.
Entitled “Earth, Wind, and Fire: Visions of the Future from Asia,” Kataoka’s AWT Focus exhibition surveys Japanese contemporary art in relation to new art in Asia and beyond through works by 57 artists and groups. The exhibition is divided into four sections addressing the themes of cosmic structures; hand, body, and prayer; invisible forces; and natural cycles and ecosystems. Responding to the architecture of the host venue, the Okura Museum of Art, which was established as Japan’s first private museum in 1917 and is housed in a building designed by pioneering modern architect Chuta Ito, the exhibition will also integrate works from the Okura collection into its displays.
Kataoka’s exhibition expands the scope of AWT Focus beyond Japan, with participants hailing from places as varied as Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Alongside 26 participating galleries from Japan, international galleries Kukje (Seoul), Silverlens (Manila/New York), and TKG+ (Taipei) are also contributing works to the exhibition.
The exhibition is notable for the diversity of practices it presents, ranging from ceramics to cutting-edge media. Highlights include:
- Kyoto-based artist Ryoko Aoki’s enigmatic installations of drawings and objects, presented by Take Ninagawa
- Indonesian painter Heri Dono’s contemporary repurposing of mythological symbols, presented by Mizuma Art Gallery
- A relief-style woven object by Brisbane-based Pacific Islander artist Taloi Havini, winner of this year’s Artes Mundi 10 prize, presented by Silverlens
- Leiko Ikemura’s totemic pair of standing ceramic objects, glazed to look like bronze sculptures, presented by ShugoArts
- Kikuji Kawada’s iconic postwarera photographs of Hiroshima, presented by PGI
- A psychedelic d.o.pe. carpet by German artist Thomas Ruff, presented by Gallery Koyanagi
- A three-dimensional work by emerging ceramic artist Akane Saijo, presented by Blum
- Paper works from leading Korean artist Haegue Yang’s Mesmerizing Mesh series, presented by Kukje Gallery
All works, aside from those in the Okura Museum of Art collection, will be available for purchase through their presenting galleries. Additionally, SMBC Group, Art Week Tokyo’s Official Partner, has announced a fund to acquire works from AWT Focus for its corporate collection, reflecting the company’s longstanding commitment to supporting the arts.
AWT VIDEO: BETWEEN CONTRAIL AND MOUNTAINS
One of Art Week Tokyo’s most popular platforms, AWT Video invites an international curator to organize a program of moving-image works by artists represented by Art Week Tokyo’s participating galleries.
This year’s edition of AWT Video is curated by Sohrab Mohebbi, director of Sculpture Center in New York. Mohebbi has selected 14 works by 13 Japanese and international artists under the theme “Between Contrail and Mountains.” The selection includes artists from diverse generations and backgrounds, ranging from Tsubasa Kato, known for his videos documenting collaborative tasks he performs with communities around the world, to Saori Miyake, who revisits footage she shot of Suzu, a coastal town that was devastated by an earthquake on January 1, 2024, and Mika Ninagawa, a photographer and filmmaker who is celebrated for her hypersaturated aesthetic. The program also includes international artists with whom Mohebbi has previously worked, such as Edgar Calel, Tishan Hsu, and Miljohn Ruperto.
The free AWT Video program will be on view daily from 10am to 6pm in a special pavilion in SMBC East Tower in the Marunouchi district.
AWT BAR: FIRST LOOK
The pop-up AWT Bar provides visitors a multi-sensory art experience and convivial gathering point during Art Week Tokyo. Hosted at Art Week Tokyo cofounder Kazunari Shirai’s emergence aoyama complex, the platform spans three commissions: an emerging architect designs the bar space, a rising chef produces new edible creations, and selected contemporary artists invent special cocktails that reflect their practices.
Landscape architect Eiko Tomura, whose current projects include Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden Revitalisation in Washington, DC, has conceived an undulating bar space that reflects the hidden landscape of the city, while award-winning pâtissier and chef Miya Enmeiji, owner of Emmé in Tokyo’s Omotesando district, has produced new bite-sized treats that incorporate seasonal delicacies in flower-shaped designs.
Presenting a heady cross-section of contemporary art practices, this year’s cocktails are conceived by artists whose work is being featured during Art Week Tokyo: Ei ArakawaNash (National Art Center, Tokyo), Meiro Koizumi (Mujin-to Production), and Tabaimo (Gallery Koyanagi).
The AWT Bar is open to the public from 10am to 10:30pm during Art Week Tokyo.
AWT TALKS: ADRIANO PEDROSA HEADLINES SYMPOSIUM
The AWT Talks program encompasses a symposium, a closed-door curators’ roundtable, and an online talks series.
Held on November 7 at Keio University’s Mita Campus in conjunction with the Keio University Art Center, the symposium is headlined by keynote speaker Adriano Pedrosa, curator of this year’s 60th Venice Biennale. Also speaking at the symposium, which addresses the theme “Imagining Others: Transnational Visions of Contemporary Art,” will be AWT Focus curator Mami Kataoka and AWT Video curator Sohrab Mohebbi. Following the symposium, the closed-door curators’ roundtable, which convenes in the historic Ex-Noguchi Room at Keio University, brings together Japanese and international curators to discuss
urgent issues in contemporary art.
With new videos posting throughout the year, the online talks program invites artists, art historians, curators, critics, and other creators to address overlooked currents in Japanese art and cultural history. The latest online talks include:
- A landmark conversation between Takashi Murakami and Shinro Ohtake, two of the most influential artists in contemporary Japanese art
- A conversation between Yuko Mohri, Japan’s representative at the Venice Biennale, and Ming Wong, a Berlin-based Singaporean media artist who has produced numerous projects in Japan (forthcoming)
- A lecture by researcher Izumi Nakajima of Osaka University, who reconsiders the narrative of postwar Japanese art from a feminist perspective (forthcoming)
About Art Week Tokyo
An annual showcase of the creativity and diversity of Tokyo’s contemporary art scene, Art Week Tokyo is organized by Japan Contemporary Art Platform in collaboration with Art Basel, with support from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. Art Week Tokyo’s infrastructural development initiative, the Art Week Tokyo Mobile Project, is coorganized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Art Week Tokyo Mobile Project Organizing Committee. Art Week Tokyo held a soft-launch edition in November 2021 under pandemic conditions, followed by its first full-scale edition in November 2022. Last year’s edition featured 50 participating institutions, galleries, and art spaces and attracted more than 43,000 visitors.
