Featured Events in Tokyo in February, 2025 (July Updated)

Tokyo Metropolitan Government has created a new tourist resource for nighttime viewing by using the exterior wall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No. 1 as a screen to express a variety of art with light and sound, and to perform projection mapping all year round in order to activate and revitalize nighttime tourism. This time, as the 45th anniversary is approaching next year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will begin showing works using the world-famous "Pac-Man". The game board appears on the outer wall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, and Pac-Man, who is making a futuristic scene, eats up everything vividly. The music of the game of Pac-Man, which has a futuristic feel, and the music of the highly friendly soundtrack maker Mr. Haraguchi Sasuke have produced. Please enjoy the collaborative work of Pac-Man and Tokyo that can only be seen in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

Are you ready for a great party? Join Kuromi, My Melody and Hapidanbui for an exciting exhibition! Dive into interactive displays, dance to hit music, and enjoy hands-on fun.

The newly launched "Ginza Sony Park" has officially opened on January 26, 2025 (Sunday), and the first wave of planning activities "Sony Park Exhibition 2025" will be held simultaneously. With the theme of Sony's six major fields of music, semiconductors, finance, games, entertainment technology and movies, six groups of artists including YOASOBI, Sheep Literature, Vaundy, BABYMONSTER, Creepy Nuts, and Kensuke Ushio will be invited to participate in the creation, using art and high technology to create amazing experiences. Exhibiting works, the event will be divided into two stages, with three groups of works on display in each stage.

Ryudai Takano (1963-) is a photographer and artist who won the 31st Kimura Ihei Photography Award for his photo book "IN MY ROOM" (2005) and continues to work both in Japan and abroad. In addition to his works on the theme of sexuality, such as "IN MY ROOM," Takano also takes snapshots of everyday life, such as "Daily Photos" and "Kasubaba." Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, he has also been working on the theme of exploring the origins of photography, using "shadows" as a subject. The title of this exhibition, "Kasubaba," is a word coined by Takano and is the plural of the word for a place like kas (ba). We live in the midst of rapid change in the times, with large-scale natural disasters, global epidemics of infectious diseases, environmental destruction and urban development due to economic development. Takano accepts reality, which is not just beautiful, and presents the viewer with raw images of weak and ugly things as they are. Through Takano's works, we will be able to see anew the richness and chaos of the everyday life we ​​live in, something that is familiar to us but that we do not look closely at. We hope that this exhibition, which surveys Takano's career, including works shown for the first time, will provide some hints for surviving this everyday life, from which it is becoming increasingly difficult to see an exit.

Claude Monet (1840-1926), one of the leading painters of the Impressionists, captured the vicissitudes of nature on his canvas with a keen eye that caught a moment of light. In later years, however, his art was transformed into more abstract and internal images. Monet's later years were also a time when he faced many challenges, such as the death of a beloved family member, his own eye disease, and the First World War. In such a situation, the source of his greatest creativity was the water lily pond built in the garden of his residence in Giverny, where the surrounding trees, sky, and light are reflected as one. And the idea of a "large decorative painting" that covers the walls of the room with a huge canvas depicting this subject would occupy Monet's mind until his very end. At the center of this exhibition is a number of large-scale "water lilies" created through this process of trial and error. This time, about 50 works from the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris will be exhibited for the first time in Japan, including many important works. In addition, works from various collections in Japan will be added to introduce the pinnacle of Monet's late art. It will be a valuable opportunity for the largest "water lilies" ever to gather in Japan.

British art from the turn of the century is often introduced in terms of its lineage with the Pre-Raphaelites or its relationship with Aestheticism and Symbolism, but inspired by the development of modern French painting, various movements arose in which young artists sought to create new environments for their work. The New English Art Club was founded in 1886 in opposition to the Royal Academy of Arts, which dominated the art world, the Camden Town Group was formed in 1911 in response to the Academy's conservatism, and the Newlyn School, which formed an artists' colony in a fishing village in Cornwall. In these movements, we can see responses to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as well as a backlash against London's rapid urbanization and industrialization.

Yayoi Kusama has constantly faced the critical realities of life and death as pressing issues. Her experience of the Pacific War in a complex family environment, along with her overcoming of suicidal impulses triggered by trauma and neurosis through her creative practices, has influenced her perception of these issues. This exhibition unveils Kusama’s evolving outlook on life and death, alongside the corresponding shifts in her artistic presentation, through a series of diverse works—from her 1940s and 1950s paintings, which bear the imprint of war, to her very latest pieces. After relocating to the United States in 1957, Kusama gained a reputation for her net paintings and sculptures that embody ‘self-obliteration’: the feeling of losing the boundary between the self and the other through the obsessive repetition of motifs originating from her hallucinations. In her anti-war happenings in the late 1960s, she painted dots onto the human body using the same concept of ‘self-obliteration’ while also highlighting the beauty of life and the human body. During the 1970s and 80s, following the loss of her father and her lover, as well as her return to Japan due to health issues, Kusama produced numerous dark-toned collages and three-dimensional works centered on the theme of death, as well as poetry and novels imbued with a sense of mortality. As she continued creating fantastical works exploring death and the afterlife, her works from the late 1980s began to explore themes of transmigration and cyclical returns to eternity through ‘self-obliteration’. Kusama’s works, which increasingly incorporated more colors, reveal how her creative process evolved from a means of coping with death to becoming synonymous with her very existence. In her painting series from 2000 onwards, Kusama has been relentlessly depicting the beauty of life and the joy of living on canvases overflowing with vibrant colors, driven by the ever-looming presence of her own death.

This spectacular light show is the brainchild of renowned Japanese lighting designer Motoko Ishii. The term Jewellumination stands for jewels and lights, and it is brought to life by seven jewel colors: diamond, ruby, amber, topaz, emerald, sapphire and amethyst. The park is lit up by four million LED lights and divided into five colorful and themed areas: "Amusement Park", "Water Park", "Beautiful Stream", "Kawaii Park" and "Forest", with dance performances synchronized with lights and music. If you purchase an unlimited ride pass, you can also see these lights and the amazing night view of Tokyo from the top of the roller coaster or Ferris wheel.

Glaze is a glassy film that covers the surface of ceramics, and is an element unique to ceramics. Since ancient times, people have sought not only practical use in glazes, but also beauty that changes in various ways depending on the nature and method of application. This pursuit, which has continued for many years, has brought about great developments in the world of Chinese ceramics. Crafts with completely different styles were born, such as Sancai, which boldly uses vivid colors, Celadon, which has a refined appearance, and Yatsuo-gure, which has a fantastic purple-red color. This exhibition will display about 50 pieces that are full of the beauty of glazes, such as green glazes, Sancai, Celadon, and Yatsuo-gure, from about 1,500 years from the Later Han to the Ming dynasties. Please enjoy the rich expressions and unique colors that are born from applying glaze and firing.

Pokémon and spaceships – what kind of battle do you think will happen? Azabudai Hills Gallery will host an upgraded Pokémon Craft Exhibition from November 1, 2024 to February 2, 2025. The exhibition features a collaborative cafe, exclusive talk events and workshops, and will feature 20 artists and around 80 crafts inspired by the iconic works. The works are divided into three categories – Appearance, Story and Lifestyle.

Pliny the Elder’s encyclopedicNaturalis Historia(77 CE) includes the story of the daughter of a ceramic tile maker in Corinth, a city in ancient Greece, wanting a record of the young man she loved, who was setting out on a trip. She drew an outline of his shadow on the wall. In the latter half of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth century, that story was often mentioned as the origin of painting. In fact, if we look at the history of art in Europe, “depicting a person,” figure painting, has long been a significant element in creating works. For example, self-portraits have been both opportunities to display one’s skill and experimental settings for trying new styles. Portrait painting has been a staple source of painters’ livelihoods. In addition to actual human figures, portraits also depict the characters in stories. This exhibition introduces the abundance of paintings of the human figure.

Since its opening in 2020, the Artizon Museum has been holding the annual exhibition "Jam Session," a collaboration between the Ishibashi Foundation Collection and artists. This fifth exhibition will feature Yuko Mohri, an artist garnering attention in the international art scene. Mohri primarily uses installations and sculptures to give form to the flows and changing phenomena that exist latent in a particular space, such as magnetism, electric current, air, dust, water, and temperature, in an attempt to open up new circuits of perception for those who witness her work. The word "physis" in the title of this exhibition is an ancient Greek word that is usually translated as "nature" or "nature." In early Greek philosophy, which gave rise to the question "What is the origin of all things, the principle?" that has continued to this day in philosophy, "physis" was the central subject of consideration. Although only fragments of his writings remain from that time, they were later given the title "Physis = On Nature," and convey the thoughts of philosophers who find the true nature in movements such as creation, change, and disappearance. Their approach to perceiving the world as a constantly changing, vibrant, dynamic world can be seen as overlapping with Mohri's. This exhibition, Mohri's first large-scale exhibition in Japan, will feature new and old works alongside works from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection selected from the artist's perspective, inviting visitors into a tranquil yet organic space filled with subtle sounds and movements that can only be experienced here.

This is the museum's first bird-themed special exhibition. It introduces the origins and evolution of birds, and displays many specimens based on the evolutionary lineage hypothesis revealed by the latest research using genome analysis.

The Ishibashi Foundation Collection now consists of approximately 3,000 works, including Impressionist paintings from the latter half of the nineteenth century, modern paintings from the twentieth century, modern Japanese paintings from the Meiji period on, postwar Abstract paintings, early modern art from Japan and elsewhere in East Asia, and ancient Greek and Roman art. Here we introduce, throughout the year, a variety of works selected from the collection. Special Section Matisse’s Studio Interiors were consistently important elements in paintings by Henri Matisse (1869-1954). Particularly from the 1940s on, his studio was a vitally important space, where daily life and creating came together. This exhibition, in connection with the acquisition of his Dancer and Rocaille Armchair, Black Background (1942), explores, through works in the Ishibashi Foundation Collection and from multiple viewpoints, the role of the studio in Matisse’s paintings.

"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba", which has been loved by generations, is a manga created by Koyoharu Gotouge and animated by ufotable. It has been 5 years since the first episode was aired, and after the final episode of "Hiraru Training Arc" aired in May this year, the "Theatrical Version of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" Infinite Castle Arc" was announced, which has set off a new wave of topics. The focus of this exhibition is on the "Hiraru" swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps, who have inherited the love-hate relationship with Muzan Kibutsuji for thousands of years. The exhibition will allow the audience to have a deeper understanding of the personality and background of the nine pillars through exquisite displays and interactive experiences.

Like all illuminations, this one has a theme: Exciting Moments. The illuminations are divided into three main areas, and you can head to the streets outside Hibiya Nakamura to enjoy the gradient of colors, to the Hibiya Steps Plaza to enjoy the star-studded Christmas tree (open only until December 25), and to the Park View Garden on the sixth floor to enjoy the winter white wonderland.

The sunlight pouring down, the sunlit spots that give a sense of gentle warmth, the moonlight shining through the darkness... we encounter various kinds of light in our lives. In this exhibition, two artists who continue to be active at the forefront of contemporary art, Aoki Noe and Mishima Ritsue, will install their works in various places in the museum and illuminate the Art Deco decorative space from a new perspective. Aoki has opened up new horizons of expression with her sculptures that draw lines in space using iron, while Mishima has scooped up the energy of the place and converted it into light through her colorless and transparent glass works. The materials "iron" and "glass" that the two artists use are blessings of nature that have been passed down to us over time, and are also used extensively in the decoration of the venue, the former Asaka Palace, for chandeliers, reliefs, tympanums on doors, etc. The two artists have visited this place many times and engaged in dialogue with the decorative space of the 1930s to create a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition plan for this exhibition. Both Aoki Noe and Mishima Ritsue use fire in their creations, breathing life into materials with hot, shining flames. Their forms, imbued with primitive power, evoke the energy and cycles of nature, bringing surprise and awareness to the viewer and enveloping the world around us in a new light.

The 22nd collaborative project between the Tokyo National Museum and the Taito Calligraphy Museum will introduce various ways to enjoy rubbings from various perspectives. Please enjoy the charm of rubbings to the fullest, including the only copy of a lost stone monument, rubbings by famous calligraphers such as Wang Xizhi and the Four Great Masters of the Tang Dynasty, and the elegant world of Ming and Qing literati who were fascinated by rubbings.

Philadelphia-born Man Ray (1890-1976) was an American visual artist who was ranked among the top 25 most influential artists of the 20th century. Having played a major, but informal, role in the Dada and Surrealist movements, he created major works in a variety of media—from film and photography to collage and objet d’art—he prided himself foremost as a painter. Man Ray the person was mirthful and likeable, claiming friendship with individuals with highly diverse and divergent views. Featuring Man Ray pieces in the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum collection along with those on loan from renowned Man Ray collector Teruo Ishihara, the exhibition explores the life and legacy of the artistic genius as well as his endearing humanity.

Japan’s imperial family and nobility considered poetry an essential cultural pursuit. They competed in poetry contests, communicated with their lovers through poems, and spent countless hours studying and practicing this literary art. In the mid-900s, a master poet named Mibu no Tadamine wrote an influential guide titled Ten Styles of Japanese Poetry. The original version no longer exists, making the oldest surviving copy, displayed here, a priceless resource for the study of early Japanese poetry. As the guide shows, the beauty of the calligraphy and paper was as important as the poetry itself. During the papermaking process, an artisan incorporated purple and indigo fibers to create a rhythmic pattern of stylized clouds. Over this, the calligrapher transcribed the guide in elegant script using a soft-tipped brush.

The public entry competition FACE established in 2013 is offering a gateway to the art world for up and coming artists regardless of their age or affiliation and many entries are received every year. A panel of judges, comprised of art critics, conducts a rigorous review to choose submitted works that have potential to receive global recognition in the future. Outstanding works are awarded prizes, including the Grand Prix Award and Excellent Work Awards. This exhibition brings together approximately 80 of the recent and new works of 12 artists who received the Grand Prix or Excellent Work Awards in the three years from 2022 to 2024. In addition, this exhibition displays the three works that were awarded the Grand Prix and became works of our permanent collection. By doing so, this exhibition reveals the true value of the works which capture the essence of the times, and explores how the paintings of the artists have evolved over time.

Sagano, located in the northwest of Kyoto, is a beautiful place that has been a favorite place for entertainment for the royal family since ancient times. In the early Heian period, Emperor Saga (786-842) built a detached palace, Saga-in, here. Later, he followed the advice of the monk Kukai (774-835) and placed the Five Great Myogo statues in the Jibutsu-do. In 876, Princess Masako, the daughter of Emperor Saga, transformed this place into a temple, and the history of Daikaku-ji Temple began. 2026 marks the 1,150th anniversary of the founding of Daikaku-ji Temple. In celebration of this important historical moment, this special exhibition brings together many treasures from Daikaku-ji Temple for display. The Shinden, located in the center of the temple, is said to have been given to Emperor Go-Mizunoo in 1620 when Tofukumon In Kazuko married him as a concubine. The shoji paintings and other screen paintings inside the Shinden are masterpieces of Kano Sanraku (1559-1635), a representative painter from the Azuchi-Momoyama to the Edo period, and are designated as important cultural properties. This special exhibition not only displays more than 100 screen paintings, but also calligraphy works by successive emperors that reflect the history of faith, and famous works of esoteric Buddhist art such as the "Godai Myogo-sama" (Myouen-sculpture), which is regarded as the best Buddhist statue in the late Heian period. Please enjoy.

The Graduation and Completion Exhibition, which is well-received every year as the culmination of student life, will be held for the 73rd time this year. All departments of the Faculty of Fine Arts will gather in Ueno to create an impressive exhibition, utilizing the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the University Art Museum, the unique studio spaces of each department on campus, and outdoor locations. Through the exhibition, you will be able to enjoy the university's favorable production and research environment, while also getting a sense of the high-quality results of our graduates and signs of further growth in the future. We hope that you will widely view and evaluate the works, and look forward to the growth of our graduates and students.

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