Aug 4 – Nov 5, 2017

Various Venues

August marked the opening of the sixth edition of the Yokohama Triennale, held at several venues in the port city, including the Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No. 1 and in the basement level of the Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall. Under the title “Islands, Constellations & Galapagos” the triennial’s three co-directors included curator and international artistic director of the Benesse Art Site Naoshima, Miki Akiko; the director of the Yokohama Museum of Art, Osaka Eriko; and Kashiwagi Tomoh, project director of the Yokohama Museum of Art. Following a conception meeting with six experts from the museum and university sectors, the diverse team centered the exhibition on the themes of connectivity, isolation, co-existence, and diversity.

The triennial showcased a cozy roster of 38 artists and artist groups, as well as one project. Featured in the exhibition are large-scale installations by Ai Weiwei and Joko Aviant at the Yokohama Museum of Art, a complete takeover of the basement at the Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall by Yanagi Yukinori, and the debut of artists Zhao Zhao and Ian Cheng in a major exhibition in Japan. The Triennale’s organizers have also scheduled several fringe events, including a dialogue series titled Yokohama Round with many notable speakers, artist workshops and screenings around the city.

Aug 4 – 26, 2017

Ken Nakahashi Gallery

Tokyo’s tiny Ken Nakahashi Gallery hosted an uncrowded multinational group exhibition featuring provocative work from several artists, including Cendrillon Belanger (France-Canada), Clarisse Robin (France), Cremance (Mexico), Daria G. Pascalis (France-Italy), Léa Le Bricomte (France), Pascal Lièvre (France), Sarisa Dhammalangka (Thailand), Shelly Silver (USA), Soukaina Joual (Morocco), Stephen Lack (Canada-USA), Tom de Pékin (France), and Travis Klose (USA).

The exhibition, titled “One Cup, La Petite Tasse,” was curated by journalist and writer Stephen Sarrazin, and showcased a mix of new and recent painting, photography and video art which, according to Sarrazin, “asks whether or not contemporary artists are still able today to reflect on what is gender realism and post-eroticism in the 21st century, and create works that move beyond provocation, revelation and transgression.”

Aug 6 – 27, 2017

Sezon Art Gallery

Sezon Art Gallery is a new initiative by the Sezon Museum of Modern Art. Spanning three floors in a building in Tokyo’s Harajuku neighborhood, the exhibition areas include a street-level presence along with a unique underground space, affording the curators a wealth of options for interesting installations and display.

For the gallery’s show in August, “Universal Nature – Rediscovery of Kalevala by 6 Contemporary Japanese Artists,” participating artists took the 19th century Finnish epic poem, Kalevala, as a launch pad to create new works inspired by the classic. The exhibition featured installation, video, painting, photography and sculpture by Yusuke Asai, Hideki Iinuma, Tomoko Konoike, Shiriagari Kotobuki, Yuji Ohta and Ayumi Tanaka.

Curated by Kenji Kubota, the show is organized by Helsinki’s Kalevala Society and The Finnish Institute in Japan.

Aug 19 – Oct 15, 2017

Nijo Castle and Kyoto Art Center

The Culture City of East Asia project was first implemented in 2014 as a collaborative effort by the governments of China, Japan and South Korea to deepen cultural awareness and understanding across the region, while promoting tourism to each of the three countries. This year, in addition to Changsha in China and Daegu in South Korea, the historic Japanese city of Kyoto has been selected to showcase the wealth of contemporary art from the three member states.

The Asia Corridor Contemporary Art Exhibition 2017, led by artistic director Tatehata Akira, with support from assistant director Yamamoto Mayumi and curator Tokuyama Hirokazu, presented works by 25 artists, including China’s Yang Fudong, Japan’s Yayoi Kusama and Ito Zon, and South Korea’s Choi Jeonghwa. Housed in Nijo Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Kyoto Art Center, a former elementary school that is over 100 years old, more than half of the work was site-specific, created for this exhibition. Highlights include several of Choi Jeonghwa’s inflatable sculptures, Mishima Ritsue’s floating Venetian glass installations in the moat of Nijo Castle and Yang Fudong’s film Moving Mountains (2016), an interpretation of the Chinese folktale The Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains with a beautiful visual style influenced by 20th-century painter Xu Beihong.

BANK Gallery: Aug 25 – 27, 2017

Take Ninagawa: Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2017

Under the umbrella of Singapore: Inside Out Tokyo, STPI Creative Workshop collaborated with Take Ninagawa for a pop-up exhibition featuring artists Tabaimo and Teppei Kaneuji from August 26 through September 1, 2017. The weeklong event kicked off with an opening reception that included an artists’ talk. The special exhibition also marks the continuation of STPI’s 15th-anniversary programming.

The pop-up is a partner event of “HyperCity” at BANK Gallery in Tokyo’s Omotesando neighborhood, a weekend showcase of interactive artworks, light projections and music performances.

Singapore: Inside Out is an initiative by the Singaporean government to promote the city-state’s creative industry abroad. In particular, the project includes collaborations with artists from the partner cities of Sydney and Tokyo.

Notes from Nippon is a monthly blog, featuring a roundup of news and exhibition openings from Japan.

Peter Augustus Owen is the Tokyo-based associate publisher of ArtAsiaPacific.

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