Monthly Archives: January 2012

Art Marathon: Tokyo part 3

Posted on January 30, 2012 by M-KOS| Leave a comment

3331 Arts Chiyoda is a former junior high school transformed into a vast art complex, opened in 2010. The venue inhabits a number of art galleries, design offices, a wood workshop, artist studios, a library, a roof top organic garden as well as a café and restaurant. Although the space is owned by local government and there are many community based programs, it is actually run by a private association. M-KOS visited the featured show 3331 Independents Scholarship (7–29 January 2012) at the main gallery, an annual open submission where eight finalists were selected individually by seven different juries and audience voting.
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Posted in Art Marathon, Visual Arts

Tagged 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo

Art Marathon: Tokyo, part 2

Posted on January 25, 2012 by M-KOS| Leave a comment

For the second round of our Tokyo Art Marathon, M-KOS visited five of the eight contemporary art galleries that occupy the fifth to seventh floor of Maruhachi warehouse building in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa.

TOMIO KOYAMA GALLERY
Yoko Ono: Light (10 Dec 2011 – 28 Jan 2012)

© Yoko Ono. Courtesy Tomio Koyama Gallery

Unfortunately we are not able to publish photos of Yoko Ono’s installation due to strict copyright regulations. Yoko Ono showed two installations to bring light and hope for Japanese people in the wake of Great East Japan Earthquake. On the seventh floor, Tomio Koyama Gallery invited audiences to walk around Ono’s dimly lit space by handing out small torches to guide us through a labyrinth made of black mesh, circulating around a faint source of light glaring in the centre. For the sixth floor gallery space, Ono offered a performance on the opening night, writing Japanese characters on canvas walls, such as Imagine, Hope, Eternity, Dream and more. The middle of the same space was displayed several found objects from the house of Ono’s friend, destroyed to its foundations in Sendai by the earthquake.

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Posted in Art Marathon, Visual Arts

Tagged Ai Kowada Gallery, ShugoArts, Sprout Curation, Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Tomio Koyama Gallery

Art Marathon: Tokyo, part 1

Posted on January 24, 2012 by M-KOS| Leave a comment

Unlike most other Asian countries (Happy Lunar New Year of Dragon, BTW), Japan celebrates its new year on the first of January. For this occasion, three days of public holidays are followed by another long holiday weekend, celebrating the coming-of-age of 20 year olds. Many Japanese art galleries see a slow start to the year, as the country settles into holiday activities such as soaking in hot springs. Nevertheless, M-KOS still found a few good art galleries to visit in Tokyo, although this is not our usual long winded marathon. Here is a taster what we’ve seen (part one of three).

SCAI THE BATHHOUSE
Nobuko Tsuchiya: We Are Living In A Time Machine (18 Nov 2011 – 28 Jan 2012)

Situated in the neighbourhood of Yanaka where many traditional houses can recall a period townscape, the gallery SCAI THE BATHHOUSE refurbished what used to be a public bathhouse (Sento), and to this day kept the original facade. Courtesy SCAI THE BATHHOUSE. Photo by M-KOS