10 Things in Tokyo: October Round-Up

Tokyo Midtown Design Touch is an annual event celebrating design in everyday life, covering interior design, graphics, products, food, music and more. The two-week program includes workshops and installations across the Midtown complex. Runs from October 17 until November 3rd. Meanwhile, a couple of blocks away, Roppongi Hills’ Mori Art Museum is holding “Lee Mingwei and His Relations,” a large showcase of audience-generated artworks by the Taiwan-born American artist. His life-affirming, fully earnest pieces depend on the emotional contributions of his audience and facilitate exchange with fellow art-goers. Among his works on display are “The Mending Project,” “The Fabric of Memory,” “The Dining Project” and “The Living Room.” Runs until January 4th.

Head to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in Kiba Park to see a one-of-kind exhibition of, and created by, French filmmaker Michel Gondry. Not only is it a display of his music videos, storyboards and props, but it is also a working film set. Visitors have the chance to make a script and then film a real movie using the various charming sets installed within the museum (such as the bullet train set above). The museum is also currently holding its “MoT Annual“, with this year’s theme being body movement. See a large number of dance-inspired works plus an impressive, high-tech screen work by artist collective Dumb Type. Both exhibitions end on January 4th next year.

Natsuyuki Nakanishi was a part the postwar avant-garde and a founding member of the short-lived but influential Tokyo collective Hi-Red Center. See some of his paintings, dating from the 60s until very recent, at SCAI The Bathhouse in Yanaka. Runs until November 8th. Another name from art history is Keizo Kitajima, a photographer who has been operating in Tokyo and beyond since the 1960s. His work is on display at Photographers’ Gallery until November 10. To round it off, Yamamoto Gendai are marking their 10th anniversary this month with an impressive exhibition of works by Chu Enoki, an artist who has been making weapon-like sculptures for the past 40 years. Until November 1.

The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum is an art venue on Mt. Ashitaka near Mt. Fuji. Right now (until October 14th) visitors can take in Leiko Ikemura’s “Pioon,” a collection of her delicate and well-adored sketches and sculptures of girls and rabbits. The exhibition promises a 3.4 metre high work, Usagi Kannon.

Tokyo Opera City is about to open a large survey of the leading architect Zaha Hadid, designer of the New National Stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. See this and other major designs, with a focus on recent work, from October 18 until December 23.

Finally, Shiseido Gallery in Ginza is holding “Lifescape,” an exhibition curated by artist Yoshihiro Suda. Known for his delicate plant sculptures carved from wood, the show is a celebration of nature in contemporary art as well as crossing into other disciplines such as ikebana and textiles. Finishes this weekend October 12.