Art Week Tokyo co-founder on its mission: Japanese capital always had art, ‘we just didn’t know how to present it’
- Tokyo is many things, but ‘contemporary art hub’ may not be the first that springs to mind, despite having thriving galleries from Roppongi to Yanaka
- Art Week Tokyo, now in its second year, is starting to change perceptions by making it easier to take in the huge, sprawling city’s many art exhibitions
Home to Art Basel’s Asian outpost, Hong Kong has spent decades cementing its status as the region’s international art hub. But recently, amid the city’s political uncertainties and lingering Covid-19 restrictions, other countries have been vying to become the centre of Asia’s art market.
Singapore is also in the race, with the inaugural ART SG, Southeast Asia’s largest ever art fair, pencilled in for January 2023.
Another city that has been cultivating its presence on the international art stage is Tokyo, one of Asia’s – and arguably the world’s – top cultural destinations.
That is not for a lack of art galleries or institutions. It is largely because local and international audiences have not been given the chance to appreciate the diversity of the contemporary art scene and consider it in its entirety, says Atsuko Ninagawa, founder of the Tokyo-based gallery Take Ninagawa.