Music Graffiti Japan

4/17 - 6/20

Eighties J-Pop album and CD jacket art will be displayed for a “visual culture” exhibition at Kirin Plaza, Osaka. All kinds of artifacts including music videos, posters, album covers, promotional goods, campaign and promotions items, etc., will be on display, accompanied by the sounds of 80s Japan. For a limited time during the exhibition, Kirin Beer will brew an original beer and serve it at the KPO Kitchen on the 3rd floor.

Kirin Plaza Osaka
Subway Midosuji Shinsaibashi stn., exit 6 or Namba stn., exit 14, right by Dotobori river.
Open: 11am–8:30pm
Admission: free
Tel: 06-6212-6578

Takarazuka: The Land of Dreams

4/17 - 6/20

This exhibition is a new viewpoint on the eternal charm of Takarazuka theatre troupe, which is one of Japan’s iconic performing arts groups and is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. The first public performance of the Takarazuka chorus was in April, Taisho 3 (1914). Since then, they have grown into an industry. They have their own theatre, the Grand Theater in Takarazuka, are advancing into Tokyo, and have performed abroad. The company’s writers are prolific, and there is nothing but praise for each new advance.

This exhibition reminisces the company’s 90 years, with displays of theatrical costumes, a photograph exhibition. There is also a video showing its stars and history. Five artists who represent the modernt art scene in Japan: Nishiyama Minako, Ninagawa mnika, Morimura Yasumasa, Yanagi Miwa and Yoko Tadanori, will be exhibiting their work on the world of Takarazuka.

Suntory Museum Tempozan
Subway Chuo-line, Technoport line, Osaka Minato stn.
Open: 10:30am–7pm (closed Mondays)
Admission: ¥1000/¥700/¥500
Tel: 06-6577-0001

Kyoto National Museum

4/06 - 5/16

There are going to be two notable exhibitions at the Kyoto National Museum. First is a commemoration of the 700th Memorial of Emperor Kameyama and the Treasures of a Great Zen Temple – Nanzenji. Nanzen-ji, the historical head of Rinzai Zen temple of the Nanzenji branch, was designated above the Gozan temples (the five major Rinzai Zen monasteries) by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. This exhibition features treasures from this highest-ranking Zen temple, such as the prayer written by Emperor Kameyama (designated a National Treasure) and screen paintings from
the Central Hall originally from an imperial palace (National Treasure).

The second one is the Mysterious Landscapes and the Korean Edition of Yuzhi Bizangquan from the Nanzen-ji Sutra Collection Included in the collection of the entire Buddhist canon from Nanzen-ji are nineteen volumes (scroll seventeen missing from an original set of twenty volumes) of the Korean edition of the renowned Yuzhi Bizangquan (works by the second Northern Song emperor Taizong (r. 976-997). See these exquisite printed volumes from the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392) with detailed woodcut illustrations modeled on first Chinese Northern Song edition.

Kyoto National Museum
Keihan Shichijo stn.
Open 9:30am – 4:30pm
Admission: free
Closed Mondays
Tel: 075-525-2473

Planet Museum/One Room with Shibakawa Toshiyuki

During a governmental research program, Shibakawa Toshiyuki was assigned to various European countries to participate in numerous historical research collaborations with groups of local archaeologists.

Shibakawa was struck by the sheer durability and energy that artifacts from the past seemed to possess. Inspired by the remains
of the city of Pompeii, Italy, he began producing a variety of “artifacts” of the tools and commodities that symbolize our modern culture, and developed a theme of perceiving modern life from the point of view of the future.

This exhibition attempts to explore the boundaries that lie between time and value systems by presenting the seemingly-familiar objects as artifacts discovered in the future as relics of our civilisation.
This forms a part of the “travelling exhibition series” by Shibakawa, which started from The History Museum of Hiroshima where he built a concrete platform for a display of locally-excavated artifacts (of “Kusato-Sengen”, a town which was completely demolished by a massive flood that occurred 330 years ago) and “contemporary artifacts”.

No explanations are attached to the works. As Shibakawa points out, “There naturally is no explanation at excavation sites. They (the spectators) have to begin with seeing the figure or objects which then lead to imagination, observation, question, reasoning and inspiration”. By adding creativity onto the passive artifacts, history itself becomes an active thing.

MSSOHKAN
Hankyu Line, Oji Koen Stn, walk north, thru the park
Open: 1pm–6pm (closed Wed)
Tel: 078-802-8822

'Manazashi': Asia
by Yoshimi Tsunoda

A stunning photo exhibition by a National Geographic award winning photographer, Yoshimi Tsunoda. Yoshimi's work has been recognised by some of the leading publishing houses not only in Japan but abroad too. The exhibition potrays the color
of people within India, Nepal and Cambodia and was shot and compiled over the last three years. The exhibition carries some selected large wall prints from her recently published photo-book 'Manazashi': Asia.

CALLIBRE CAFÉ
Subway Midosuji line, Shinsaibashi stn.
Open: Everyday, Sun-Thu: 12noon–0am,
Fri-Sat: 12noon–2am
Admission: Free
Tel: 06-6251-1533

Kansai Art Listings

ART section compiled by Maki Nibayashi