The origins of Nara Yoshitomo's creativity are now on permanent display!
Hirosaki Brick Warehouse Museum (Hirosaki City, Aomori)
Based on the concept of "inheriting memories," the Meiji and Taisho period brick building was renovated by architect Tsuyoshi Tane. At the entrance, you will be greeted by "A to Z Memorial Dog" by Hirosaki native Yoshitomo Nara.
In 2024, JAIL HOUSE 33 1/3, a rock café that once existed in Hirosaki and was opened by Nara and his friends when he was a high school student, will also be added to the permanent exhibition. Works by other artists who have participated in previous exhibitions, such as Jean-Michel Othoniel and Reijiro Wada, are also on permanent display in various locations throughout the museum.
Nurturing people and building towns through art
Hachinohe City Museum of Art (Aomori/Hachinohe City)
The museum, which had been loved for about 30 years, has been completely rebuilt. The long-awaited new museum is based on the concept of "an art farm for encounters and learning."
The museum is garnering attention as an open cultural hub, where highly specialized private rooms surround the central "Giant Room," a massive exhibition space, including the "Collection Lab," which introduces local collections from a new perspective. It encourages interaction with artists and encourages local citizens to create and learn.
One of Japan's leading collections in analog and digital formats
Artizon Museum (Kyobashi, Tokyo)
Founded in 1952, the Bridgestone Museum of Art reopened in 2020 with a new name and building. In the atrium between the third and fifth floors, where the entrance to the exhibition rooms is located, you will be greeted by an object by TONERICO:INC., who designed the space.
The museum exhibits a wide range of art, from ancient art and impressionism to modern Japanese Western paintings and contemporary art, with a focus on the Ishibashi Foundation Collection. The roughly 3,000 pieces in the collection are constantly digitally displayed on TeamLab's "Digital Collection Wall," and visitors can enjoy freely viewing them on the touch panel.
A collection of over 700 pieces of contemporary art
UESHIMA MUSEUM (Shibuya, Tokyo)
The museum's lineup reads like a textbook on contemporary art, with works by Gerhard Richter, Louise Bourgeois, Olafur Eliasson, Takashi Murakami, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Kohei Nawa, and Chiharu Shiota.
The building, which was formerly an international school, has been renovated from the basement floor to the sixth floor, with the former gymnasium now a hall capable of displaying large works, the former corridor now a long, narrow exhibition room for video works, and the former medical office now an exhibition room for works that use light, creating spaces that highlight the individuality of the collection.
The world of dinosaurs is now even more realistic and impressive
Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum (Katsuyama City, Fukui)
Fukui is known as the "kingdom of dinosaurs," boasting one of the largest numbers of dinosaur fossils excavated in Japan. Its iconic museum will be renovated in 2023. Inside the dome of the new building, there will be a "visible storage facility," a "three-sided dinosaur theater" where you can immerse yourself in the age of dinosaurs on a giant screen, and a lab where you can try your hand at cleaning fossils like a researcher.
The life-size "Dinosaur Tower" monument on the first floor of the hall is also impressive. The main building's exhibits have also been upgraded with this event. The number of complete skeleton fossils has increased to 50, and a real mummified Brachylophosaurus fossil will be on display in Japan for the first time!
