One of the reasons we ventured outside of Tokyo on our recent Japan trip was to see a few recently built museums (I was traveling with some architects). 

The first one was the great 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa. If you’re familiar with the work of design studio Sanaa, you’ll understand it when I say that the space is quite minimal. Still, it works very nicely, also because they had a few art works commissioned as part of the architecture. There’s one of those James Turrell sky-windows, but the real clincher was this clever, but beautiful piece by Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich. 

They also had a really nice collection, mixing Western conceptual chaps like Jan Fabre and Damien Hirst with local artists and incorporating more ‘popular’ platforms like animation and figurines. I particularly liked this great installation by Yoshitomo Nara, in collaboration with graf. [Read more]

In the previous Japan post, I mentioned the Japanese tendency to experiment a lot with design and their obsession with it. When we went to visit the 21-21 Design Sight pavillion (made by Tadao Ando), we stumbled upon an exhibition called ‘Second Nature’, curated by a designer called Tokujin Yoshioka, which confirmed that thought. 

Apart from very interesting art/design pieces, like human/tree hybrids and chairs made of crystals whose growth is influenced by playing different kinds of music, the setting was amazing. The ceiling of the gallery was covered in 360,000 plastic straws, which made you feel like you were walking in another eerie, beautiful universe. 

We weren’t allowed to take pictures (an interesting habit in most of Japanese galleries), but Wallpaper has a nice collection of stills, plus a Q&A with the designer/curator.