Left: Different exhibitions’ leaflets on display; Right: exhibition entry tickets
Tokyo is a cultural hub where world-class art, crafts and design exhibitions are constantly taking place. I could spend days visiting museums and galleries when I am there, but on this trip, I only picked out a few due to time constraint.
On the day when I left Kyoto for Tokyo, I made a special trip to see Robert Doisneau‘s retrospective at Isetan’s gallery within the Kyoto station complex. Over 200 photos are exhibited including his famous “Le baiser de l’hôtel de ville”. I have never seen such a comprehensive collection of the photographer’s work, so I was quite intrigued, though it is fair to say that his later colour work are not as striking as his black and white ones taken at the height of his career.
In Tokyo, I decided to spend a day around Ueno Park where I visited the Chocolate exhibition at the National Museum of Nature and Science. The exhibition’s information and displays are all in Japanese, but it was still interesting to see an exhibition dedicated solely to chocolate.
Top left: Robert Doisneau’s exhibition poster; top right/ bottom left and right: chocolate sculptures at the chocolate exhibition. Main: National museum of nature & science
Not far from the Nature and science museum is the Tokyo National Museum, which houses a large and beautiful collection of arts and crafts items. Besides the permanent collection, I also visited the two special exhibitions: Enku’s Buddhas: Sculptures from Senkoji Temple and the Hida Region ( until April 7th) and Wang Xizhi: Master Calligrapher ( until 3rd March). The first exhibition displays outstanding carved Buddhist wooden statues by a Buddhist monk and sculptor, Enku, from the 17th century.
Enku was a poor pilgrim who during his travels around Japan, believed to have carved about 120,000 wooden statues of the Buddha. His statues not only display his highly skilled craftsmanship, they are also incredibly mesmerising and touching.
The latter exhibition being held at the Heiseikan building, showcases a large collection of calligraphy work related to the famous Chinese calligrapher, Wang Xizhi (303–361). None of his original work remained today, but there are reproductions and traced copies of his original work, including a rare copy that is being displayed for the first time at the exhibition.
Top left & right: temporary exhibitions at the Tokyo National Museum; Main: Main building; bottom left & right: illustrations on coal-miners
After spending hours wandering inside the museums, I headed away from the park and walked towards Scai the bathhouse, a contemporary art gallery converted from a 200-year old public bathhouse. This gallery is known for discovering and promoting young Japanese artists, but interestingly, the current exhibition is on British artist, Haroon Mirza ( until 23rd Feb). Mirza’s interactive installations are a mix of objects, lights and sounds that work especially well with the bare white gallery space. Unique and very interesting.
Scai the bathhouse and another gallery opposite ( bottom right)
Not far from Shinjuku is Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, where I saw Arai Junichi: Tradition and Creation and Project N: Abe Minako ( until 24th March). Many years ago, I took some short courses on experimental textiles and I fell in love with the techniques of shibori ( tie-dying). Before the courses, I had no idea that textiles could be manipulated in so many ways, it was a revelation to me. Hence I was keen to see work produced by legendary textiles designer Junichi Arai. Unknown to many outside of Japan, Arai has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the fashion world like Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo since 1970s. Arai‘s ability to merge of traditional techniques with unusual fabrics or materials has created many innovated and experimental pieces that can be seen, touched or walked through at the exhibition.
Top left: Tokyo opera city’s foyer; top right: Antony Gormley’s Two times (two); main: Junichi Arai’s work; bottom left: Abe Minako’s work; bottom right: cello made of flowers
While I was visiting Muji’s shop in Yurakucho, I came across their free White shirt exhibition ( until 3rd March), which examines the brand’s well-known creation, a simple white shirt. Yes, it’s all about shirts but as you can see from the photos, it’s actually more than a simple white shirt…
White shirt exhibition at the Muji shop in Yurakucho