Weekly Art News Digest: Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum Reopening and Dig Shibuya

Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum reopens with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Sophie Calle exhibition

The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo (MIMT), is scheduled to reopen on November 23, 2024, after an extended closure for equipment replacement and building maintenance. The reopening will be celebrated with a special Commemorative Reopening Exhibition: Toulouse-Lautrec & Sophie Calle (tentative title). The exhibition will run from November 23, 2024, through January 26, 2025.

The Mitsubishi Ichigokan was designed in 1894 by the British architect Josiah Conder at the invitation of the Meiji Government. Built by Mitsubishi as the first Western-style office building in Tokyo’s Marunouchi district, the structure is based on the Queen Anne style of architecture popular in England in the late 19th century. The original building was demolished in 1968 but was reborn in 2010 as the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, an icon of Tokyo’s Marunouchi district. The MIMT’s collection focuses on late 19th-century Western art and includes works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Odilon Redon, and Felix Vallotton.

The reopening exhibition will bring together all thirty-two Toulouse-Lautrec posters in the MIMT collection for the first time in thirteen years. This is a rare opportunity to see ten prints of Toulouse-Lautrec’s Miss Loie Fuller, each in a different color. The exhibition will also feature works by leading contemporary French artist Sophie Calle (1953–), including one inspired by Odilon Redon’s Grand Bouquet from the MIMT collection. It will be the first time that Calle’s new works will be shown anywhere in the world.

Dig Shibuya 2024: fusion of art and technology

Since 2021, Shibuya Ward has been supporting cultural and entertainment facilities affected by the pandemic. The Creative Tech Committee positions over 150 cultural and entertainment facilities in Shibuya as cultural assets of the district and supports the implementation of measures incorporating cutting-edge technologies, such as Web3, to promote their appeal domestically and internationally. As a part of the project, the Committee will host Dig Shibuya from January 12 to January 14, 2024. A three-day event merging technology and art will create a unique cultural experience and opportunities for people who play, live, study, and work in Shibuya to experience art and the latest technology.

This inaugural event will feature the Los Angeles-based artist collective FriendsWithYou as the leading artist. The collective will present their installation and performance piece, The Happy Dancing Rainbow Alliance, which explores the themes of magic, luck, and friendship. In addition, the event will feature collaborations with local and international art and tech projects, as well as exhibits from community organizations that share the event’s ethos.