Art in Japan>Contemporary Art 1930-2004>Faret Tachikawa

Original articles on art, artists, architecture, exhibitions, galleries, museums and cultural institutions around Tokyo, Japan.

Faret Tachikawa

by John McGee

Sculpture by Martin Kippenberger (Images courtesy Art Front Gallery)

Public art is not always well-loved or respected. Lenin has been toppled everywhere, the Sphinx was once used for target practice, and even Nelson's Column gets its share of pigeons. Tachikawa City, a major hub on the west end of the Chuo line on the western outskirts of Tokyo, thinks public art should be accessible and fun, not monumental and alienating. To this end, they've installed over 100 artworks by 92 artists in the downtown business center. 

Faret Tachikawa is part of an early 1990s urban renewal project aimed at creating a pleasant living and working environment around the town. "Faret," coined from the Italian fare (to make, create, or produce) and "t" for Tachikawa, expresses the vision of a town as a living and growing organism, continually evolving in rhythm with its inhabitants and workers. 

Normally discreet infrastructure like ventilation shafts, benches and bollards (posts to keep cars off the sidewalk) have been outfitted with or turned into works of art. The leafy six-block area is fairly cluttered with art, but the locals take it in stride, rollerblading around Jean-Pierre Raynaud's giant red flowerpot, resting on Takashi Fukai's stone bench with angel wings, or parking their bicycles in the lot under Robert Rauschenberg's neon bike sign. 

After Tachikawa's US Army base was decommissioned in the late 1970s, the Urban Development Corporation, a government joint venture, took over the huge site and began planning a progressive urban landscape. A large tract became Showa Kinen Koen, one of Tokyo's largest parks. And they held a competition to choose the art planner for the business district of Faret Tachikawa. 

Bicycle parking lot sign by
Robert Rauschenberg

Daikanyama-based Art Front Gallery's winning concept was: 1) Function into Fiction—turn urban functions into works of art 2) A Town Reflecting the World—show the diversity of the world via site-specific works created by international artists 3) A Town of Wonder and Discovery—bring the general public to the new town by encouraging them to explore human-scale artworks with all five senses. 

Fram Kitagawa, Art Front's main curator, invited an encyclopedia of artists: Abramovic, Acconci, Borofsky, Cragg, Gonzalez-Torres, Horn, Judd, Kapoor, Kawamata, Kippenberger, Kosuth, Miyajima, Oldenburg, Puryear, Rauschenberg, de Saint Phalle and Wilson. You get the picture, there's something from everyone and for everyone. (Art Front Gallery also organized Echigo-Tsumari Art Necklace in 2001 in Niigata Prefecture, Japan.) 

Though the inevitable graffiti splash and pissoir stench add a lived-in feeling to a few of the works, civic pride suggests that downtown Tachikawa has made a successful transition from base town to culture town since Faret Tachikawa opened in 1994. Volunteer groups maintain the artworks and lead art tours. The Tachikawa International Art Festival is held annually in the autumn. And, being part of the thriving shopping district in front of the station, it's crowded on weekends. While Faret Tachikawa may be a little scattershot to rival the glories of Rome, it's a satisfying day trip.

The Tachikawa city office provides a free map, quite useful in the Easter egg hunt for sculpture hidden among the office towers and parking lots. The maps also indicate the method for interacting with the artwork--touch, listen, sit, view at night--and include brief artist biographies.

Plan one-and-a-half to three hours to see everything. For more information, contact: (English) Art Front Gallery, Daikanyama stn (Tokyu Toyoko line). Hillside Terrace A, 29-18 Sarugakucho. Tel: 03-3476-4868 (Japanese) Tachikawa City Cultural Promotion Section (Bunka Shinkoka). Tel: 0425-23-2111.

Faret Tachikawa Tachikawa stn (JR Chuo line), north exit. About 30 minutes from Shinjuku station by express train. 8, 35-41, 2-chome Akebono-cho, Tachikawa City. Open 24 hours a day, year round. Maps are available in Tachikawa station, 1F (near the koban), at the Tachikawa City Office, or at the city library inside Faret Tachikawa. 

Showa Kinen Park is open 9:30am-5pm daily. Tel: 042-528-1751.

©2006 John McGee

©2006-2008 John McGee. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission.