Tokyo Weekender - January 2016

GALLERY GUIDE | WEEKENDER | 9
18th DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow
Since antiquity, patronage and support has been vital to
young artists’ development and ability to afford training
in their specialties. Since 1967, the Japanese Agency for
Cultural Affairs has been doing their part to help promising
artists make their way overseas to learn from masters of their
respective disciplines. Since the late 1990s, the annual Domani exhibition
has been a showcase of the achievements of the program.
Now in their eighteenth edition, the theme for the exhibition
is “the intersection between expression and material: matter,
action and data.” The conceit is that today’s artists are not limited
to matter as a material for expression—actions and data are also
materials with which art can be created, and perhaps are even best
suited to convey modern society’s shift into expressive media. The
artists featured have been pursuing their development in places
such as Brazil, the US, Indonesia, Estonia, the UK, Italy, Belgium,
France and more.
Making use of the rich space of the National Art Center
and unrestricted by medium requirements, the twelve diverse
exhibits range from painting to sculpture, textiles, mosaics,
animation, video and installation. The wood engravings of guest
artist Sachiko Kazama are also featured for the first time in this
exhibition. Additionally, the works of trainees in the conservation
and restoration field are presented.
The National Art Center, Tokyo
Dates: December 12, 2015–January 26, 2016
Open: 10:00 am–6:00 pm, 10:00 am–8:00 pm on Friday, closed Tuesday
Web: domani-ten.com
FOSTER + PARTNERS: Architecture, Urbanism, Innovation
The Gherkin in London, the Reichstag in Berlin and
Cupertino’s Apple Campus 2 are some of the contemporary
architectural masterpieces created by international
design studio Foster + Partners. The first exhibition to
comprehensively survey the studio’s last half-century of activity,
“Architecture, Urbanism, Innovation” includes models, videos,
furniture, graphics, products and plans focusing on around 50
representative projects.
Founded in 1967 by architect Norman Foster, the studio has
completed more than 300 projects in 45 countries. Lord Foster, also
the subject of the 2010 documentary film, “How Much Does Your
Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?,” is a protégé of architect/system theorist
R. Buckminster Fuller, and has been awarded the prestigious
Pritzker Prize, regarded as the Nobel Prize of architecture.
The exhibition, which is organized by the Mori Art Museum,
highlights Foster + Partners’ organizational pursuit of themes such
as “tradition and the future” as well as “humans and the environment.”
Showcased are projects that have outfitted traditional structures
with state-of-the-art technology, such as the Reichstag, and in
the case of the under-construction Apple Campus 2, the image of
sustainable architecture of the near-future is represented. The setting
of the exhibition at the Sky Gallery, inside the Roppongi Hills
observation deck, affords visitors panoramic views of Tokyo while
stimulating curiosity about the future of the city’s own landscape.
Foster + Partners, 30 St. Mary Axe, 1997-2004, London, Photo: Nigel Young, Foster + Partners
Top: Aika Furukawa, Interlinking Moments, 2013, Private Collection
Bottom: Mutsumi Noda, Namu fukashigi nyorai, 2007
Sky Gallery, Tokyo City View (52F, Roppongi Hills Mori Tower)
Dates: January 1–February 14, 2016
Open: 10:00 am–10:00 pm, last admission 9:30 pm
Web: www.mori.art.museum/english/contents/foster_partners
www.tokyoweekender.com JANUARY 2016