Macworld is reporting that invitations have been sent by Apple Japan to select journalists for a special music-related event to be held at 10am on August 4 at the Tokyo International Forum. Apple iTunes Music Store, anyone?
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Month: July 2005
Spiral is on a roll these days with their exhibitions! The latest: “Enzo Mari Vs. 10 Billion Japanese Cedar Trees.”
The maestro of Italian industrial design, Enzo Mari, has worked together with furniture manufacturer Hida Industries from Takayama city in Gifu. They present a new line of furniture made possible with wood-compression technologies applied to domestic Japanese cedar trees. Following the Milan Triennale in April, it is the first time they are being displayed in Japan. (TAB)
It’s taking place at Spiral until July 31.
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GA International 2005
Last week to catch the “GA International 2005,” featuring a who’s who of world-renown architects.
GA International provides an outlook on upcoming trends in contemporary architecture. In this exhibition, the latest projects of 5 Japanese and 13 non-Japanese cutting-edge architects will be introduced. (TAB)
It’s at the GA Gallery until July 31.
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Midnight Eye Update
Japanese film review site Midnight Eye has just updated with an interview with Lee Sang-Il (SIXTY NINE), a feature on the new book IRON MAN: THE CINEMA OF SHINYA TSUKAMOTO (written by Midnight Eye’s Tom Mes), a few reviews, and a piece on Frankfurt’s “Nippon Connection” film festival.
Speaking of Tsukamoto, last week I watched his latest film, VITAL, which I quite enjoyed. It’s slow going, but there’s something about the pace and the characters that just had me the whole time, and it ended up almost feeling like I was watching a short (meaning it ended too quickly). Of course, it stars my main man Tadanobu Asano, so that also had something to do with it — I could probably watch him sit on a chair and do nothing for 2 hours and still be enthralled.
Oh man, I need to go to Stair, a new cafe/restaurant/bar in Aoyama designed by Wonderwall‘s Masamichi Katayama. More pics on this page. Here’s the description from the Wonderwall site:
The idea behind this bar lounge was the revival of the glitzy cabaret of a past era. Gaudiness, allure, a touch of the wicked and other elements were integrated to fashion this space. In the quest to tastefully incorporate “tattoos” to an environment built with traditional materials such as marble, rosewood, Katayama enlisted a custom painter to paint a design with a touch of mischievousness in mind directly on the surface once the space was completed.
According to the map, it looks like it’s located on the same street as the Bape Exclusive shop.
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Spiral
The Spiral building in Aoyama.
Art Fair Tokyo sounds like a great way to take in all of the city’s great art options all in one go, with a setting (Tokyo International Forum) that I always enjoy taking in. From Tokyo Q:
Art Fair Tokyo aims to make modern art more accessible to the public by taking it out of small, cliquey galleries and bringing some trade-fair razzmatazz to the proceedings. It’s a great idea, since all too often the art lover in this city, having spent an hour trekking to some obscure location, is rewarded with a “show” of a dozen works that can be viewed in a few minutes. The Art Fair is unique in that the 80 participating galleries offer a wide range of contemporary and traditional art, from modern avant-garde paintings to antique woodblock prints. The galleries are predominantly Japanese, with a large contingent from Tokyo including many that are regularly showcased here, such as SCAI, Mizuma, Roentgenwerke, Taguchi, Taro Nasu, Taka Ishii, etc. There are also a sprinkling from Kansai, and a handful of international entries from New York, Milan, Amsterdam, Seoul, Taipei and Hong Kong. John Szoke Editions from New York specializes in fine contemporary prints, Inouye Oriental Art from Tokyo offers various modern pottery, and Keumsan Gallery from Seoul offers paintings by contemporary Korean artists. The Art Fair is unabashedly commercial, there’s even a friendly seminar series entitled “Let’s Go Buy Art,” and unlike a museum, the curators will be there hawking their artists and their works. With 80 galleries showing 1,500 works, Art Fair Tokyo sounds like a great day out – and a better show than many of the museum exhibitions (which generally average about 150 pieces). Art, now more than ever! [RJ]
It happens August 6-8, with tickets going for 1000 yen (800 yen in advance).
The latest issue of the free paper SAL (15) has been put online.
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Looking Up
That same alley from yesterday, but this time looking up.
Oh man…