Central East Tokyo 2023 / OPEN START
Area
H
Higashi-nihonbashi・Bakurocho Area
Nihonbashi Yokoyamacho, Bakurocho, Higashi-Nihonbashi, Chuo Ward, Higashi-Kanda, Chiyoda Ward
Outline
Central East Tokyo (CET) was a complex event combining art, design, and architecture that took place between 2003 and 2010 in the hollowed-out east area of Tokyo. Inheriting the idea of utilizing locality and the independent guerrilla spirit practiced by this initiative, this project is an attempt to reexamine its methodology in the current Yokoyama-cho neighborhood, surrounded by an area that has undergone redevelopment over the course of the 2010s.
We began to refer affectionately to the TMonyagai (wholesale district) of Nihonbashi, a distinctive triangular city block neighborhood comprising Yokoyamacho, Bakurocho, and Higashi-Nihonbashi, as the “Sankaku (Triangle) Wholesale District.”
Tonyagai is a business district trading in products for professionals that has been in existence since the Edo period. Crowded with wholesaler’s “pencil” buildings, so-called due to their slender form, the district is small in scale for central Tokyo. From around 2003, the area has served as the center for Central East Tokyo (CET). Described using various terms such as “a complex event of art, design, and architecture” and “legal occupation,” CET is a movement that continues to be talked about in various parts of the creative industry. While the project came to an end in 2010 with CET10 OPEN END, it continues to be a source for various activities, teams, and projects today.
Twenty years have passed, the city enjoys an increasing number of residents and new businesses, and the wholesaler industry is going through a period of major change. Enter a building, and you will glimpse spaces both small and large that appear unused. As was the case in the past, refined wholesale store owners and creators who find value in urban margins have gathered in this district. By combining their focus, what view can be seen today when looking at the area anew?
Excavating unused space and time, and momentarily putting various circumstances aside, we would like to create a time for free ideas and actions. A special time in which everyone can examine the area in an unbiased manner, regardless of whether or not they have money, taste, or skill.
For CET in 2023, we believe that by creating time to fully open up the “trivial” spaces within the city under the theme of OPEN START, we can envision a future different from that of cities shaped by prioritizing economic rationality. Design, art, architecture, and everything in between! This is exactly what CET once advocated.
So then, let’s discover the Sankaku Wholesale District.
Central East Tokyo 2023 Executive Committee
Artists・Members
Chairman: Takahiro Toriyama (Nitto Towel)
Fumiko Ikeda (gift_), Tadashi Iwamoto (MIZUBESOKEN), Yusuke Katsutoshi (Katsutata Maruyama Architectural Project), Tomohiro Karashina (Patchworks), Toshikazu Goto (gift_), Naoki Sato (TDB-CE/CET04-10 Producer), SHIMIZUYOSHIYUKI (TDB-CE/CET04-10 office-general), Masayoshi Takeuchi (MIKAN), Yuta Takeda (LOGS), Masataka Baba (OPEN A), Kinnosuke Hayakawa (Etoile Kaito & Co., Inc.), Maha Harada (novelist), Hiroshi Furuta (FULL_DESIGN)
Urban Renaissance Agency
Masanori Ikeda, Mitsuhiro Ikeda, Masashi Isai + Daisuke Uzunami, Yukako Ishikawa, Tadashi Iwamoto, Muneteru Ujino, Emmanuelle Moureaux, atsuo ogawa, kagari yusuke, Yusuke Katsumata, Soichiro Kanai, Tomohiro Karashina, gift_ (Toshikazu Goto / Fumiko Ikeda), GROUND LEVEL (Motoko Tanaka + Masaki Onishi), Naoki Sato, Yoshiyuki Shimizu, Ryuta Shiroyama, Suzueri, Hiroaki Suzuki, Masayoshi Takeuchi, TADA, Takashi Tsuda, Kosuke Tsumura, TMPR (Iwasawa brothers + Junichiro Horikawa + Yu Miyama + Kazue Nakata), Asao TOKOLO + Yasutoshi Kobayashi, HIROSHI TOMIKAWA + Go Hiyama + AISO, Takahiro Toriyama, Masataka Baba, Maha HARADA, Kazuya Matsumoto, Takahiko Yanagisawa and others.
AISO
Masataka Baba
gift_
Maha Harada
Go Hiyama
Mitsuhiro Ikeda
Masanori Ikeda
Masashi Isai
Yukako Ishikawa
Tadashi Iwamoto
Yusuke Kagari
Soichiro Kanai
Tomohiro Karashina
Yusuke Katsumata
Yasutoshi Kobayashi
Kazuya Matsumoto
Emmanuelle Moureaux
Atsuo Ogawa
Naoki Sato
Yoshiyuki Shimizu
Ryuta Shiroyama
Eriko Suzuki
Hiroaki Suzuki (Hyper Resort)
TADA
Masayoshi Takeuchi
TMPR (Iwasawa brothers + Junichiro Horikawa + Yu Miyama + Kazue Nakata)
Asao Tokolo
Hiroshi Tomikawa
Takahiro Toriyama
Takashi Tsuda
Kosuke Tsumura
Muneteru Ujino
Daisuke Uzunami
Takahiko Yanagisawa
Related event
Ongoing
Exhibition
2023.9.23 - 11.5
Etoile Kaito Living Building
H11
CET2023 | Naoki Sato: Late of "There, It Has Grown." 2014-2023Upcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Nakagawado (outer wall)
H18
CET2023 | Atsuo Ogawa: Survey MarkerUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Danshiryo
H20
CET2023|Muneaki Ujino: dormbeatUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
sango
H21
CET2023 | Hiroaki Suzuki (Hyper Resort)Upcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Solar Building
H22
CET2023 | Hiroshi Tomikawa + Go Hiyama + AISO: Staircases for Wholesale DistrictUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
The Burger Shop Bakurocho
H23
CET2023 | Asao Tokolo & Yasutoshi Kobayashi: meat meet more meatUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Higashi-Nihonbashi/Bakurocho (TBD)
H24
CET2023|Kosuke Tsumura: YumeYume shrineUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Higashi-Nihonbashi/Bakurocho (TBD)
H25
CET2023 | Masanori Ikeda Photography ExhibitUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Higashi-Nihonbashi/Bakurocho (TBD)
H26
CET2023|Yusuke Kagari: Texture of MemoryUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Higashi-Nihonbashi/Bakurocho (TBD)
H27
CET2023 | TMPR (Iwasawa brothers + Junichiro Horikawa + Yu Miyama + Kazue Nakata)Upcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Higashi-Nihonbashi/Bakurocho (TBD)
H28
CET2023 | Mitsuhiro IkedaUpcoming
Exhibition
Other
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Higashi-Nihonbashi/Bakurocho (TBD)
H29
CET2023 | N/A Yukako Ishikawa +Daiki Kanaoka : Tiny Mud ParkUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Taigaku Building #102
etc.H30
CET2023 | SOUNDS/NOISES curated by gift_: Suzueri / Takashi Tsuda / Kazuya MatsumotoUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Higashi-Nihonbashi/Bakurocho (TBD)
H31
CET2023 | Tada Photography ExhibitUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Higashi-Nihonbashi/Bakurocho (TBD)
H32
CET2023 | Soichiro KanaiUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.23 - 11.5
Higashi-Nihonbashi/Bakurocho (TBD)
H33
CET2023 | Takahiko YanagisawaUpcoming
Exhibition
2023.10.28 - 11.5
Taigaku Building #102
H19
CET2023 | Masashi Isai + Daisuke Uzunami + gift_: Silent CityUpcoming
Talk
2023.11.3
Taigaku Building #102
H34
CET Directors' TALK 2023 (Naoki Sato, Masataka Baba, Masayoshi Takeuchi, Maha Harada, gift_, Yoshiyuki Shimizu)Upcoming
Tours
TBD
TBD
H35
CET2023|Tokyo Ship Tour on the RiverEnded
Tours
2023.9.14
+PLUSLOBBY Nihonbashi Wholesale Street
H00+
CET2023 | Guided Tour of the Exhibition Spaces around Sankaku Tonyagai (Triangle wholesale area)