Tokyo Wondersite opens new space in central Shibuya

Tokyo Wondersite is an art space run by the Metropolitan City of Tokyo. Tonight they opened a second space in central Shibuya, adding to the Ochanomizu space which has been hosting exhibitions and events for the past two years or so. There are not many publicly run contemporary art spaces in Tokyo - museums of course exist but none of the public ones have substantial exhibition budgets. It is therefore rare for them to show young emerging artists or installations and performances of a more experimental nature. Furthermore, there are hardly any art spaces that give opportunities to young curators or artists to organise exhibitions or projects. In this situation, Tokyo Wondersite is perhaps the only public institution that has made efforts to reach out to a wider contemporary arts community and to younger practitioners. They have organised so called 'artist nights', all night multi-media events as well as host group exhibitions of emerging or graduate artists, difficult large-scale installation works and begun to initiate an artist in residence programme. However, their activities and opportunities remain relatively unknown to a broad public (e.g. although they have worked with international artists, their website and publications are not bi-lingual). They have the infrastructure and space to initiate strong contemporary programmes in Tokyo at a crucial juncture when public art institutions face increasing budget cuts and streamlining. I hope that they can continue to tighten their programming, perhaps inviting guest curators/ artists in from time to time to programme different areas (music, art, literature etc).
The new space in Shibuya comprises exhibition galleries and multi-use spaces within an old building run by Shibuya ward. AIT will co-curate and organise 'Publicly Speaking' there together with Szamzie art Space from Seoul - a group exhibition and critical project investigating new directions in public art and socially engaged practice from Tokyo and Seoul. 'Publicly Speaking' opens at Wondersite Shibuya on August 19 and will show works by six artists.
Congratulations to Tokyo Wondersite on their new space - if you want to know more go here.