Art Fair Tokyo 2011

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Featuring Some of Japan's Top Art Talent, Earthquake-Postponed Art Fair Tokyo 2011 Opens

After being postphoned due to the tsunami and earthquake took place on March 11th, ART FAIR TOKYO 2011 finally kicked off on July 29th, 2011 and will be closed on July 31st. As the largest fair of its kind in Japan, ART FAIR TOKYO fea­tures with high-quality domes­tic and inter­na­tional gal­leries cov­er­ing a wide range of gen­res and peri­ods from antiques, arts and crafts, nihonga, and mod­ern art to con­tem­po­rary art. It began in 2005, and since 2007 it has been held at the Tokyo Inter­na­tional Forum every year. Art Fair Tokyo offers the oppor­tu­nity to enjoy and acquire art across gen­res and peri­ods, and cel­e­brates the strength and vibrancy of Tokyo’s art scene.

This year’s event focuses on the notion that art can function as an interactive platform to exchange various ideas and contribute to the recovery efforts for a society in the midst of crisis. Art Fair Tokyo 2011 was held with an inter­na­tional vision of ‘Tokyo as a city within Asia’ to develop in a way to open art to soci­ety within Japan.

Art Fair Tokyo com­mences active com­mu­ni­ca­tion to build up new net­works pri­mar­ily in the Asian region, and estab­lished the PROJECTS Artis­tic Com­mit­tee con­sist­ing of four col­lec­tors and arts pro­fes­sion­als from Tokyo and other cities in East Asia. With its estab­lish­ment, we expect to strengthen the fair’s foun­da­tion in its region through dis­cus­sions among East-Asia-based per­sons well-versed in art and to plan new exhi­bi­tions within Art Fair Tokyo.

Tucked away behind some pillars was a special booth for the 'more trees' eco project, displaying designer penguins by Takashi Kuribayashi. Photo: William Andrews

Upstairs in the Projects section of younger galleries, most of the booths were much tighter. However, a new addition was this special area called 'Artistic Practices'. Here Tadasu Takamine exhibited his 'super-capacitors' explorations into technology and energy. Photo: William Andrews

For Nanzuka Underground Yuji Honbori created cardboard versions of Buddhist sculptures. Photo William Andrews

Chaos at Mujin-to Production where they showcased the work of Tsubasa Kato. Photo: William Andrews

Along with some talk events, one of the nods towards the recent catastrophe in Japan is a charity stall selling fans decorated by artists. Photo: William Andrews