Tokyo Weekender - January 2016
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GALLERY GUIDE<br />
TOKYO GALLERY GUIDE<br />
OUR PICKS FROM THE EXHIBITIONS AROUND TOWN<br />
by Luca Eandi<br />
TOKYO ART MEETING VI: “TOKYO” – Sensing the Cultural Magma of the Metropolis<br />
In the build up to the <strong>Tokyo</strong><br />
2020 Olympic Games, the<br />
public focus has been largely<br />
on questions around the<br />
skyrocketing cost of hosting<br />
(recently quoted at an estimated<br />
¥1.8 trillion) and controversial<br />
issues such as logo plagiarism,<br />
outlandish stadium designs and<br />
increased security from possible<br />
terrorist threats. The latest<br />
installment of the “<strong>Tokyo</strong> Art<br />
Meeting” series seeks to answer<br />
a different question: what is<br />
<strong>Tokyo</strong>’s cultural identity and how<br />
does it differentiate itself among<br />
other enlightened world capitals?<br />
Acknowledging <strong>Tokyo</strong>’s initial<br />
impact onto the global artistic<br />
scene in the 1980s, the exhibition<br />
is framed by two elements that allow<br />
people to sense <strong>Tokyo</strong> anew.<br />
One presents images curated by<br />
<strong>Tokyo</strong>-based, internationally<br />
known creative figures and the<br />
other consists of new works by<br />
artists who work both in Japan<br />
and abroad, all proposing their<br />
own concept of the city.<br />
Not restricted to conventional<br />
art, the exhibition covers<br />
a wide range of media including<br />
music, video and design,<br />
giving the viewer a sense of the<br />
possibilities that are present<br />
in the city today and putting<br />
its current identity into relief.<br />
Some of the featured artists<br />
include YMO + Akio Miyazawa,<br />
Mika Ninagawa, SUPERFLEX,<br />
Takashi Homma, Saâdane Afif,<br />
Toshiki Okada, [Mé], EBM(T),<br />
Lin Ke and Tetsuaki Matsue,<br />
along with works from the collection<br />
of Museum of Contemporary<br />
Art <strong>Tokyo</strong>.<br />
Tabor Robak 20XX, 2013, Courtesy: the artist and Team Gallery<br />
Museum of Contemporary Art <strong>Tokyo</strong><br />
Dates: November 7, 2015–February 14, <strong>2016</strong><br />
Open: 10:00 am–6:00 pm, closed on Mondays (except Jan 11) and Jan 12<br />
Web: www.mot-art-museum.jp/eng/exhibition/TAM6-tokyo.html<br />
CEDRIC DELSAUX: Dark Lens<br />
Dark Lens, The Falcon’s Flight, Dubai, 2009 © Cédric Delsaux<br />
As we get used to them,<br />
the shapes and contours<br />
of fictional characters<br />
become as fully integrated<br />
into our culture as our actual<br />
surroundings. Shaking up the<br />
boundaries between fiction and reality,<br />
French photographer Cedric<br />
Delsaux pairs familiar images of<br />
modern cityscapes with equally<br />
familiar characters and vehicles<br />
from the “Star Wars” universe, to<br />
create scenes that induce a sort of<br />
“double déjà vu.” The postmodern<br />
world meets “a long time ago, in a<br />
galaxy far, far away.”<br />
Serving as the artist’s first-ev-<br />
er exhibition in Japan, and<br />
coinciding with the release of the<br />
much-awaited film, “Star Wars:<br />
The Force Awakens,” “Dark Lens”<br />
features photographs of surreal<br />
scenes such as an AT-AT Walker<br />
wandering through a thick fog<br />
by interstate overpasses, the Millennium<br />
Falcon parked amidst a<br />
Dubai construction site and two<br />
Speeder Bikes zooming under<br />
power lines. The fourteen pieces<br />
that make up the exhibit have<br />
received high praise from George<br />
Lucas himself and were released<br />
as part of a book, also titled<br />
“Dark Lens,” back in November.<br />
Diesel Art Gallery<br />
Dates: November 20, 2015–February 11, <strong>2016</strong> | Open: 11:30 am–9:00 pm<br />
Web: www.diesel.co.jp/art/en/cedric_delsaux<br />
JANUARY <strong>2016</strong> www.tokyoweekender.com