INDEX
“How to Navigate Art Week Tokyo?“
Exhibitions Picked by Salasa, Focusing on Invisible Energies
This time, you mentioned a few other exhibitions from the participating venues of AWT that caught your interest.
Salasa： First, I was intrigued by the solo exhibition Sleepless Tonight by Beijing-based artist Chen Wei, currently being held at Ota Fine Arts.
Chen Wei: Sleepless Tonight Venue: Ota Fine Arts
Chen Wei, an artist based in Beijing, is one of the “post-80s” generation of Chinese artists born after the one-child policy and the reform and opening-up policies. Chen’s photographic works create fictional scenes set in rapidly developing cities that take on an unreal quality. These works evoke a sense of absence and alienation from the people who should inhabit them, prompting reflection on the relationship between society and the individual in a dramatically changing world. This exhibition will feature his new works, including three-dimensional pieces using LED panels.
Exhibition Period: October 19, 2024 (Saturday) – November 30, 2024 (Saturday)
Venue: 3F, Pyramide Building, 6-6-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku
URL: Ota Fine Arts
Salasa: Things from other countries can seem strange when viewed from the outside, but when you’re living within that context, they become normal, right? There are aspects that you can’t fully understand unless you listen to local artists and see their works in person, so I thought it would be interesting.
Rei Naito: come and live – go and live Venue: Ginza Maison Hermes Forum
Rei Naito’s solo exhibition, themed “Is Existence on Earth Itself a Blessing?” explores the subtle moments and phenomena that often go unnoticed in our daily lives, such as the transitions of light, shadow, water, and air, which exist in the space between life and death. Through her work, Naito uncovers a “fundamental scene of life,” connecting it with our own experiences and providing us with profound insights. Alongside the exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum, which was held until mid-September, this exhibition at Ginza Maison Hermes Forum is designed as part of a larger conceptual circle. The display features a series of paintings, color beginning/breath, and three-dimensional works, experienced in a space filled with the light of contemporary urban landscapes through glass blocks. The exhibition highlights connections across time and space, evoking harmony and resonance.
Exhibition Dates: September 7, 2024 (Saturday) – January 13, 2025 (Monday, Holiday)
Location: Ginza Maison Hermes, 8th & 9th floors, 5-4-1 Ginza, Chūō-ku, Tokyo
URL: Maison Hermes Ginza
Salasa: I really want to see Rie Naito’s exhibition at Ginza Maison Hermes Forum. I have a lot of friends who don’t want to have children because they feel sorry for them. I used to think that way when I was in high school, but I decided to stop thinking about it so much. When it comes to life and death, I want to experience it for myself, without being influenced by people or information, which is why I was drawn to the title “Come into life, come into being.” I also find the word “blessing” in the description on the website intriguing.
You also have a song called “Blessing,” and Naito’s theme for her work is “Is existence on Earth itself a blessing?”
AWT: At the Mori Art Museum, there is a solo exhibition by Louise Bourgeois, which expresses themes of “birth” and “motherhood.” These themes differ quite a lot from how Rie Naito explores “being born.” It could be interesting to experience both exhibitions and compare the real voices of people who don’t want children, as well as reflect on your own feelings.
Louise Bourgeois: I’ve Just Come Back from Hell, Just So You Know, It Was Wonderful Venue: Mori Art Museum
Photo by Christopher Burke. © The Easton Foundation/Licensed by JASPAR and VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, courtesy Mori Art Museum ), New York, courtesy Mori Art Museum.
One of the most important artists of the 20th century, Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), is the focus of this large-scale solo exhibition in Japan. Throughout her 70-year career, Bourgeois explored the tension inherent in binary oppositions such as male and female, passive and active, figurative and abstract, and conscious and unconscious, using a variety of media. With her unparalleled sculptural power, she made these tensions coexist within her works. She transcended the complex and sometimes traumatic memories and emotions from her childhood into universal motifs, expressing contrasting emotions and psychological states, such as hope and fear, anxiety and comfort, guilt and atonement, tension and release. Her work has been highly regarded in the context of feminism as well. This exhibition features around 100 works (half of which are shown in Japan for the first time) and is organized into three sections, offering a comprehensive look at this extraordinary artist’s life and career. The works, imbued with the artist’s strong will to live, offer insight into overcoming the suffering humanity faces today.
Exhibition period: September 25, 2024 – January 19, 2025
Venue: Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, 53F
URL: Mori Art Museum
Salasa: It sounds interesting if I could do both; I’d like to visit them.
Have you ever toured art events like this one?
Salasa: I have attended art festivals in regional areas, but in Tokyo, I usually go to see exhibits that catch my interest. Galleries can sometimes be in hard-to-reach locations, so it would be really convenient if something like ‘AWT’ offered bus transportation, it would make it much easier physically.
How do you usually view exhibitions?
Salasa: It was interesting to listen to the gallery staff’s explanation today, but usually, I often rent audio guides. When I visited the Sagrada Familia in Spain, I couldn’t understand the explanation in English, so I decided to try the audio guide, and I found it fascinating. Since then, I’ve started using them at museums as well. I’m not sure if it’s necessarily good or bad, but having one does change the way I view things and broadens my interest.
In another article within this project, when I interviewed haru., they mentioned something along the lines of, “It’s common to feel like you don’t have the right eye for art or that you don’t understand it,” and the audio guide seems like one way to bring the artwork closer to the viewer.
Salasa: With music and movies, you don’t really feel like you need to know something beforehand to enjoy them, but with art, it can sometimes feel difficult to grasp. I think there’s also a difference depending on whether words are used in the artwork or not.
There are so many ways to communicate, but modern society tends to center on language, so the pull of words is strong.
Salasa: I understand. Because of that, I’m drawn to works that feel like they’re inspired by things that are invisible or not easily explained. I was deeply moved when I saw the “Another Energy: The Power of Women Artists Who Keep Challenging” exhibition.
Salasa: I used to think of contemporary art as something that presents new ideas within the context of society and history, but in the “Another Energy” exhibition, there were many artists creating works focused on sensory experiences and invisible energies, which I really liked. Since it was an exhibition featuring female artists, there was a strong sense of hope in seeing a different trend from the male-dominated art world. It’s my favorite exhibition of all the ones I’ve seen so far.
*Editor’s note: held at Mori Art Museum from 2021 to 2022.
AWT FOCUS “Earth, Wind, and Fire: Imagining the Future from Asia” Venue: Okura Shukokan Museum of Art
Launched in 2023, “AWT FOCUS” is a “buyable exhibition” that combines the experiences of viewing art at museums and purchasing works at galleries. The exhibition is curated each year around a different theme, and all the works on display are available for purchase.
The curator for the second edition in 2024 is Mami Kataoka, Director of the Mori Art Museum and also the Director of the National Art Research Center. Titled “Earth, Wind, and Fire: Imagining the Future from Asia,” the exhibition explores an Asian worldview that focuses on natural laws and invisible energies, rather than artificial classifications or power-driven governance, to contemplate a future where diversity coexists.
Dates: November 7 (Thu) – November 10 (Sun), 2024
Location: Okura Shukokan Museum of Art, 1st and 2nd Floors / 2-10-3 Toranomon, Minato-ku
URL: https://www.artweektokyo.com/focus/
Salasa: I really like the theme of this year’s “Earth, Wind, and Fire: Imagining the Future from Asia,” curated by Mami Kataoka, who also curated the “Another Energy” exhibition. I’m particularly interested in works that make you aware of invisible energies.
Salasa’s Recommended Route for the AWT BUS Tour.
Click here for the AWT BUS map
Ginza Maison Hermes Forum (Ginza)
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Taka Ishii Gallery (Roppongi)
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Ota Fine Arts (Roppongi)
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Ken Nakahashi (Shinjuku)
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Opera City (Hatsudai)
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Gallery 38 (Harajuku)
Art Week Tokyo
Dates: November 7, 2024 (Thursday) – November 10, 2024 (Sunday) 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Venues: Participating museums and galleries in Tokyo, AWT FOCUS, AWT BAR, and other program venues
Organizer: Contemporary Art Platform Association
Partnership: Art Basel
Special Cooperation: Agency for Cultural Affairs
Official Website: https://www.artweektokyo.com/
