Art in Japan>Contemporary Art 1930-2004>JAM: Tokyo-London

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

JAM: Tokyo-London

by John McGee

Masayuki Yoshinaga, GC Yoakemae (Tadaima!), 2000 (Courtesy Masayuki Yoshinaga)

When the Guggenheim Museum in New York held an exhibition on the history and design of the motorcycle in 1998, many art enthusiasts were outraged—how could a Schwarzenegger movie play in their art house cinema? Simple: In a competitive market and uncertain economy, a popular show means more visitors. More visitors means more cash and, ultimately, survival. 

Crossovers between design and fine art are relatively common in Tokyo, with art spaces like Parco Gallery (inside Parco department store) actively promoting hip graphic design and photography over painting and installation. "JAM: Tokyo-London," organized by London's Barbican Art Gallery as part of the Japan 2001 Festival in Britain, capitalizes on this growing trend. 

Gorgerous booth, installation view
(Photo: ©Tadahisa Sakurai)

According to the curatorial statement, this noisy, chaotic show is a "fusion...of media, fashion, graphic design, photo, fine art and music"—a jam session among 43 of Tokyo and London's "most talked-about artists and groups." 

While the typical jam session has musicians riffing on each other in a loosely structured, free-flowing collaboration, "JAM: Tokyo-London" is closer to a sampler CD—a collection of separate visions, a few really good, the rest bland or vacant. 

Small booths screening music videos, displaying action figures, or draped with clothes cram the usually capacious Opera City Art Gallery. Many of the contributors, like pop-anthropologist Kyoichi Tsuzuki (love hotel photos), musician Cornelius (Koyaanisqaatsi-style music video), and fashion designer Hussein Chalayan (buried dresses) are already superstars in contemporary culture with books, CDs and other products readily available. Other works, like Kazuhiko Hachiya's pink teddy bear, Momo, appear regularly in ads on the Yamanote line. 

Playing with a Post-pet UFO catcher may seem tanoshii (fun) in London, but here it just looks like a Shibuya street corner. Past the Bathing Ape, Chappies and other product placements however, there are a several great tracks that make this sampler worth repeat listening, if not keeping. Among the best are Chris Morris's videos portraying hysterical inversions of social norms. In one soft-focus ode to love and aging, the artist recounts how he never found the right woman so he decided to marry himself. At the formal wedding ceremony, the minister intones, "I now pronounce you 'husband.'" 

Steven Gontarski, Block III, 2000 
(Courtesy Jay Jopling/White Cube 
and the artist)

Hideyuki Tanaka and Ichiro Tanida's music videos are also silly and stylish: a sacred cow break dancing to disco, a zombie schoolgirl attacking a housewife at the local garbage drop-off, and mod giants in red and black vinyl kung-fu fighting in miniature cities. 

Combine "gorgeous," "dangerous" and "glamorous," and you get "Gorgerous," the name of an art rock band formed by Hiroyuki Matsukage and Muneteru Ujino. Instruments made from electrified baseball bats, motorcycle handlebars and snakeskin hang next to a stack of amps blaring the duo's music. But these valiant efforts can't save the show. In a good musical jam session, the synergy created among the members erases individual limitations and forges something creative and new. A bad one feels like this traffic jam—boisterous and crowded. 

Postmodern muddying of the waters, like mixing art, design and commerce, can be extremely productive and thought-provoking, but what's sold in the museum store should be an extension of what hangs on the museum walls, not the other way around. 

Also included in the admission price are two other galleries upstairs that add to the disparate harmonies at Tokyo Opera City. The Terada Collection has an interesting show of contemporary nihonga. Project N, which showcases emerging Japanese artists, displays the colorful landscapes of Eiko Tanaka.

This exhibition was held Mar-May 2002 at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.

©2006 John McGee

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