The Kaleidoscopic Eye in the Mori Art Museum

The Mori Art Museum will present The Kaleidoscopic Eye: Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection from Saturday, April 4, to Sunday, July 5, 2009. The exhibition is realized as a collaboration between Mori Art Museum and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary.

The Kaleidoscopic Eye investigates the question of how to define “what’s real”, which has preoccupied philosophy, science, religion and the arts for the longest time. Reality, in everyday usage, means "the state of things as they actually exist”, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. On a more subjective level, investigations into reality activate private experiences, curiosity, inquiry and interpretation, but also reflections on void, nothingness and emptiness on the part of the inquiring subject.
Light, color, sound, language, concept and communication: Contemporary art is much more than just a visual medium. For this exhibition, the Mori Art Museum joins with Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21), a Vienna-based foundation, drawing on their renowned collection to present a selection of art, including dynamic installation, that stimulates the senses in myriad ways.
The artists represented in the exhibition have a unique and original take on human perception and consciousness. Enveloped in their worlds, viewers are made to feel that their very facilities of perception are being questioned, and that everything they have taken for granted is suddenly thrown into doubt. How do we decide what is real? What is this world we inhabit? Contemporary art presents a kaleidoscope of answers to these most fundamental of questions.

DURATION: April 4 - July 5, 2009
LOCATION: Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan


Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary founded in 2002 by Francesca von Habsburg, daughter of the Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (the founder of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid), is committed to supporting the production of contemporary art, actively commissioning and collecting unconventional projects that defy traditional disciplinary boundaries. The more than 450 pieces in its collection include paintings, photographs, installations, and video works. Support is given to the production of art in a variety of formats, including projects that are architectural, site-specific, or performative, keeping the collection firmly in touch with the ever-diversifying languages of contemporary art.

ART FAIR TOKYO 2009
Friday, April 3rd through Sunday, April 5th First Choice & Opening Preview: Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Since its inception in 2005, ART FAIR TOYKO has procured its position as Japan's most substantial art fair. Our third edition in 2008 attracted a record of 43,000 visitors over four days, included participation from 108 domestic and international galleries, and resulted in ART FAIR TOKYO being featured in over 400 national and worldwide media outlets. ART FAIR TOKYO 2009 will be the largest art fair we have ever presented with more than 140 galleries from home and abroad. It will be held at the same location, the Tokyo International Forum (@FORUM), featuring a wide variety of genres of contemporary art, modern paintings, nihonga, Asian works of art and antiques

"Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art" at the Mori Art Museum

"Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art"
Thru Sunday, March 15

"Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art," a popular exhibition featuring 27 artists from India is being held until March 15. This exhibition introducing Indian contemporary art, which has been the center of worldwide attention since the 90's, is the largest ever to be held in Japan. The art works reflect the changes of lifestyles, problems, and dreams coming from the rapid economic growth and globalization, and brings light to the current situations in India today.
The exhibition is a virtual tour through present India, so "Chalo! India (Let's go to India!)

The largest exhibition of Indian contemporary art ever to be held in Japan
“Chalo” is Hindi for "Let's go." With the words "Chalo! India" (Let's go! India), we invite you to discover an explosion of creativity and vitality in Indian contemporary art. "Chalo! India" will take you on a journey through more than 100 works by 27 artists and artist groups from all over India. Encompassing a broad range of media, including painting, sculpture, photography and installation, this exhibition examines the latest movements in Indian contemporary art.
Details: http://www.mori.art.museum/english/contents/india/index.html

Mori Art Museum (MAM, Tokyo), Exhibition schedule for 2009

Exhibition schedule for 2009
Exciting exhibitions will be held at the Mori Art Museum this year.
Please see website for details on each exhibition.

The Kaleidoscopic Eye: Thyssen-Bornemizsa Art Contemporary Collection
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21), founded in 2002 by Francesca von Habsburg, is committed to supporting the production of contemporary art and is actively engaged in commissioning unconventional projects that break traditional boundaries. The foundation’s collection of contemporary art has a strong international orientation. The Mori Art Museum is joining forces with T-B A21 to present an exhibition of specially selected works from the foundation’s collection. Many of the artworks are dynamic installations and sculptures that stimulate viewers not only visually, but also by means of sound, touch, and spatial presence. The experience uproots our sense of what is normal and immutable, jolting our notions of reality. In this exhibition we take in the sensory pleasures of art, while seeking answers to the question, “How do we decide what’s real?”
Date: 4 April - 5 July, 2009


Ai Weiwei
25 July - 8 November, 2009
MORI ART MUSEUM

Ai Weiwei is active in creative fields from art and architecture to design and publishing. He is one of the most important Chinese artists of his generation, with his Fairytale project at “Documenta 12” in 2007 and his collaboration with Herzog and de Meuron on the main stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, propelling him to international stardom over the last few years. After spending the Cultural Revolution in the Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region, Ai lived in the United States for 12 years until he returns to China in 1993. Since then, he has observed China’s development and transformation from his base in the Caochangdi district of Beijing, which has become the city’s newest art zone. With a focus on his art and architectural projects, this exhibition presents over 20 years of his unfailingly original activities, allowing their concepts, forms and their incorporation and adaptation of history and tradition to become clear.

MAM PROJECT 009:
Koizumi Meiro
25 July - 8 November, 2009
MORI ART MUSEUM

Koizumi Meiro (born in 1976) produces unique video works. They are records of his own performance incorporating extraordinary use of natural voice and his conversations with others, developing into comical and absurd situations. Depicting violent passions, intoxication and anger, his works explore the genuine nature of human psychology and emotion. Koizumi made his debut while a student at an art college in London. This is his first solo show in a museum.

The Body as universe: Works from the Wellcome Collection with Contemporary and Japanese art (title to be confirmed)
28 November, 2009 - 7 March, 2010
MORI ART MUSEUM
Nothing is so close and yet so little known to us as the human body. From ancient times, we have sought to elucidate its mechanisms and through developments in medical technologies, prolong our own deaths. At the same time, the body has always been the artist’s subject and inspiration - one that is often used as a metaphor for the whole world. The theme of this exhibition is the body as the meeting place of art and science. With the help of the British Wellcome Trust - the world’s largest independent charity funding research in medicine and pharmacology - we bring precious historical documents on medicine together with contemporary and classical Japanese art, exploring a fascinating union that continues from times long gone through to futuristic explorations such as in biotechnology. This unique exhibition finds connections between the mortal human life and the eternity of art.

Works from the Wellcome Collection with Contemporary and Japanese art (tbc)

MAM PROJECT 010:
Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen
28 November, 2009 - 7 March, 2010
MORI ART MUSEUM

Based in Helsinki, this two-artist unit has been active since 2005. In their “Complaints Choir” series they ask people in various locations around the world about their biggest gripes and complaints. The complaints are arranged as songs which the locals are then asked to sing. The works bring the sometimes strained relationship between the homogenizing forces of globalization and the uniqueness of local cultures into relief. The artists plan to make a “Complaints Choir” in Tokyo.

Mari Yamagiwa Solo Show 'Instinct' in Monkdogz (New York)

Opening reception on Thursday December 18 from 6 to 8pm
Show runs until January 17, 2009.