TB ART PROJECTS

This is a project that involves walking through this place we call “Tokyo”, visiting towns, alleys, topographies, buildings, waterfronts, and more as we trace the overlapping layers of time and memory from the past to the present to interpret the everyday act of “walking” or “wandering” in an academic way. The program will also hold a series of special lectures while walking through the streets as fieldwork practice. Sociologist Syunya Yoshimi will serve as president, with architectural historian Hidenobu Jinnai as vice president of the university, through which they will host walking tours of the city and a series of guest lectures.   » “Sanpo University” Report 1: A Special Symposium on “Wander for Wonder.”

This project is an attempt to grasp the structure of the city from the perspective of its physical and conceptual “gaps,” and to utilize these small spaces between buildings as places for presenting artworks or as artworks themselves. This is a legendary project that Masato Nakamura, along with his artist initiative Command N, carried out in 1999. For the biennale, sculptures by artists that mimic potted plants will seemingly thread these gaps of back alleys together to enrich the city’s marginal spaces.   » Exhibition Information

Many old wooden structures remain in central Tokyo, such as charming historic shops that represent “billboard architecture.” However, when they are demolished as part of the city’s metabolic system, they tend to fade from people’s memories. This project will make use of existing wooden structures, “Ebihara Shoten (former clothing store),” “Kamiya Goriten (former Ice shop),” and “Kakuchi Konpo (former packing store),” as festival venues that transmit the structures’ appeal and create opportunities for us to deepen our respect for Tokyo’s foundational culture. In addition, for this occasion we plan to hold lectures and walking tours led by architect and architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori.

This is a project that is being developed in collaboration with unique overseas art organizations. Presented by the Norway-based Tenthaus Art Collective, this project will be developed and carried out by The Oven, a collaborative platform that explores new ways of gathering, sharing knowledge, and sustaining collective practice. Based at Ebihara Shoten (a former clothing store) in Kanda, the project will activate the space through a series of public interventions, workshops, and site-responsive actions.  

Fragmentary, diverse, and sensory realizations will be discovered through taking walks. These are clues that help us to actively update our interpretation of the world around us. Through this project, in conjunction with the “Wandering University” project, we will conduct fieldwork to create a new “art map” of Tokyo.   In addition to information on exhibitions for the Tokyo Biennale 2025, we are creating maps collecting data on public art and cultural facilities. These maps will be available online and exhibited at the Etoile Kaito Living Building during the Biennale. At the same time, the “This is Art Discovery Team,” which collects interesting hidden aspects of the city, is an initiative open to everyone via social media. Through the “Modernology Map” project, we explore the Nihonbashi/Bakurocho and Yaesu/Kyobashi areas to read traces of everyday life from the Edo period to the present and weave them into stories.   » Exhibition Information

In the Nihonbashi/Bakurocho and Yaesu/Kyobashi areas, Modernology Maps read the traces of everyday life from Edo to the present.   In contrast to archaeology, Modernology (Kogengaku) is the study and research of people’s current lifestyles and culture. It was proposed by architect and folklorist Wajiro Kon (1888–1973). Kogengaku investigates and analyzes subjects through observation, writing, sketching, photography, and other methods, and also contributed to the later development of lifestyle studies, folklore studies, and sociology. It further influenced the activities of the “Street Observation Society” led by artist Genpei Akasegawa.   This project, led by Modernology researcher Izumi Kuroishi (Professor at Fukushima Gakuin University) together with the local community, produced multiple digital Modernology maps, also on view at Etoile Kaito Living Building. Observing the city’s details and people’s movements helps bring out new layers of urban life.   » Exhibition Information » “A Map Tells Stories of the Places = Sanpo Art Map” by Izumi Kuroishi