8 Must-See Exhibitions in Tokyo Right Now

Museums and galleries throughout Tokyo are gearing up for Art Week Tokyo, November 5–9, a celebration of the local contemporary art scene co-hosted by more than 50 venues. In lieu of a typical art fair, which brings exhibitors together at a central convention center, visitors can hop on free shuttle buses that crisscross the city, taking them from site to site.

Now in its fourth edition, Art Week Tokyo is the brainchild of director Atsuko Ninagawa, owner of Take Ninagawa Gallery, and is organized by Japan Contemporary Art Platform in collaboration with Art Basel, with support from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs.

Among the leading dealers featured are Pace, Perrotin, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, and Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, the nation’s first contemporary art gallery, which is turning 75 this year. Museums and nonprofit spaces such as the Mori Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, and Espace Louis Vuitton, are also taking part.

Other highlights include special programming like a guided tour of the city’s micro homes, led by Kazuyo Sejima, and “Rituals, or the Absurd Beauty of Prayers,” a selection of video works by 10 artists curated by Keiko Okamura and screening for free at a special pavilion in the Marunouchi district.

And architect Ichio Matsuzawa has designed a unique pop-up space called the AWT Bar, made from acrylic glass warped into strange shapes, where vistors can taste from a menu by chef Shinobu Namae, a recipient of three Michelin stars.

It’s a unique model, melding together the best of art fairs, festivals, and biennials. The event has drawn increasing international crowds since its soft launch during the lockdown in 2021, earning a slot on the global art world calendar. Last year, 80 percent of the event’s VIP guests were visiting from overseas, with overall attendance topping 50,000.

Here are eight must-see shows across the city this year.

“What Is Real?” at the Okura Museum of Art

Curator Adam Szymczyk, the artistic director of documenta 14, has curated this year’s AWT Focus exhibition, where 100 works by 60 international artists represented by the week’s participating galleries are for sale. Housed in the city’s first private art museum, founded in 1917, the show is inspired by the increasingly complex question of how to define the “real” in the digital age. Work by Sachiko Kazama, Gen Otsuka, and Danh Vo, among others is on display.

“Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989–2010” at the National Art Center

Co-curated with M+ in Hong Kong, this survey exhibition looks at contemporary art made in Japan after the end of the Cold War, as international exchange flourished during the Heisei era. More than 50 artists are featured, including Rirkrit Tiravanija (b. 1961), Matthew Barney (b. 1967), Mariko Mori (b. 1967), and Lee Bul (b. 1964).

“Aki Sasamoto’s Life Laboratory” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo

This marks New York-based Japanese artist Aki Sasamoto (b. 1980) first mid-career retrospective, highlighting the range of her practice, which incorporates installation, video, dance, mathematical theory, and pop psychology. Her elaborate sculptures will be activated by four performances, to be held throughout the show’s run, including , which debuted at the 2010 Whitney Biennial at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art.

“The Architecture of Sou Fujimoto: Primordial Future Forest” at the Mori Art Museum

This is the first major museum show for architect Sou Fujimoto (b. 1971), known for projects like  the 2013 Serpentine Pavilion in London, which he constructed from a matrix of thin white steel poles. Aged 41 at the time, he was the youngest architect ever tapped for the annual project. The exhibition features the typical architectural scale models, drawings, and renderings, but also incorporates installations that the visitor can explore to get a true sense of his architectural forms.

“Andy Warhol: Serial Portraits” at Espace Louis Vuitton

Highlighting previously unseen Andy Warhol (1928–87) portraits from the Fondation Louis Vuitton collection, this exhibition unites several bodies of work. The simple and elegant line of his “Unidentified Male” series of sketches from the 1950s are joined by the colorful silk-screened canvases of his “Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century” portfolio (1980) and a series of self-portraits shot in a photo booth the year before Warhol’s death, featuring his platinum blonde “fright wig.”

“Eiki Mori: Moonbow Flags” at Ken Nakahashi

Using layers of film negatives, Eiki Mori (b. 1976) has made a new series of photogram portraits called “Moonbow Flags,” named after the subtle phenomenom of a rainbow in the moonlight. The work incorporates geometric shapes inspired by flag designs, turning these symbols of authority into personal and playful works.

“YEYE: Telepathy” at Kaikai Kiki

This is the first large-scale solo show from Korean artist YEYE, who channeled her studies in animation and cartooning into a career in manga before transitioning to painting in 2022. Her debut show with Kaikai Kiki is a tribute to her adorable late dog Moonge, who was her dedicated companion for 15 years.

“Marina Perez Simão” and “Tomie Ohtake” at Pace

Pace has staged not one but two solo shows for the occasion, pairing works by the contemporary Brazilian artist Marina Perez Simão (b. 1981) with those of one of her greatest influences, the late Japanese-Brazilian Modernist Tomie Ohtake (1913–2015). Ohtake, who immigrated to Brazil in 1936, incorporated both geometric and organic forms into abstract works that spanned painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Simão, who recently had a solo show at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake in São Paulo, is showing semi-abstract landscape paintings.

Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com