First of all, as a follow-up information of my previous report on Ameya Norimizu’s exhibition, let me tell you that the artist is back among the living. According to schedule, a surprisingly healthy-looking Ameya climbed out of his box on Sunday, August 21st, at nine in the evening. I later learned that during his days in the box Ameya lost eight kilos, and celebrated the successful project with Peking duck that night! Now if that’s not a man of superhuman mental and physical strength (and digestion?)! The October and November issues of literature magazine "Shincho" (appearing in September and October respectively) are going to feature Sawaragi Noi’s comments on the exhibition.

All Photos by David Guarino

One week before that (in other words, three weeks ago) I followed an invitation to "Hotel Hibino x agnes b.", which was held as part of the "HIBINO EXPO 2005 - Katsuhiko Hibino’s One-man Exposition" (through 9/19) at Art Tower Mito. On two days, 20 guests per night were invited to stay overnight at the museum. To spend the night at an art museum is an idea Ozawa Tsuyoshi realized earlier with his "Sodan Geijutsu Hotel" (shown at the "My Home Is Yours/Your Home Is Mine" exhibition at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, 2001), but this project was quite different (at least in my eyes) from Ozawa’s approach installing a complete capsule hotel inside the museum. It was a fairly luxurious event at which visitors could attend a party and a workshop, and even take Hibino-designed and agnes b.-produced nightwear and sheets home as a gift.

Typical for Hibino, who is known for producing cardboard art, the beds this time were made of cardboard too. It took only ten minutes to make comfortable places for grown-up people to sleep by fixing some parts with velcro straps and reinforcing them with binding tape. Guests who wanted to secure their privacy could close their cabins with curtains. Since everything was basically made of paper, it was not really waterproof, but when dismantled the whole thing takes up little space, and once these quarters are mass-produced, costs would certainly become cheaper too. I really think there is a market for these, for example in evacuation shelters in disaster-stricken areas.

The night I spent at the "hotel", other invited guests included manga artist Shiriagari Kotobuki, chef Kentaro, and planner Nakamura Sadahiro, who has been involved with the "Office" and "Sign" cafes, Hotel Claska, and others. The night before actress Muroi Shigeru reportedly was there too. Probably due to Hibino’s multifarious associations, people I met at the opening party and other occasions were much different from the usual art museum audience. Reflecting the fact that the event was supported by agnes b., one could say that the atmosphere was casual yet stylish. The actual exhibition, by the way, consisted of cardboard artworks made in the '80s and more recently, whereas I found particularly the high degree of perfection of the early works quite amazing. I watched with delight the odd array of materials.

Hibino is famous as a creator, but opinions in the art world differ. When he made his glamorous debut in his 20s, some (envious persons, surely) commented in public, "that’s not art, that’s illustration". In fact, Hibino’s first major award was the grand prize of the Nippon Graphic Exhibition in 1982, and ever since he consistently kept attracting attention with his achievements in the design field. Even though his official website introduces him an "artist", I guess Hibino himself doesn't really care.

What I'm more concerned about anyway is the future direction of the Contemporary Art Center/Gallery, Art Tower Mito. Opened in 1990, the museum was showing exhibitions by Christian Boltanski, Christo, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jenny Holzer, James Turrell, Daniel Buren, Jeff Wall, and other up-and-coming representatives of contemporary/high art in the '90s. The Isozaki-designed museum naturally presented itself as a good venue for architecture exhibitions, and since last fall such architecture shows as "Maho-chan-chi", "Archigram - Experimental Architecture 1961-1974", "The Chronicles of Kaiyodo", and finally, this time’s Hibino exhibition are being held one after another.

"Maho-chan-chi" was kind of a family exhibition by photographers and collectors of Chinese accessories, Shimao Shinzo and Ushioda Tokuko, together with their daughter, popular manga artist Shimao Maho. The father of Shinzo, who also writes himself, is Shimao Toshio, the author of "The Sting of Death (Shi no toge)", so the atmosphere of the exhibition was a mixture of accessories and literature. The "Archigram" show was, as its title suggested, an architecture and graphics exhibition introducing the work of the British group of architects. "Kaiyodo" was a showcase of the leading Japanese maker of figures and other toys. There was no real contemporary art show, but one could rather observe a tendency toward subculture, even some kind of anti-high art movement. As Kubota Kenji and Baba Masataka report in their recent columns in RT, the "Mito R Project" is another one taking place mainly at the museum.

With the opening of Mori Art Museum two years ago, and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (which is far but still reachable by airplane in less than two hours) last year, the greater Tokyo area has suddenly turned into some kind of battleground of contemporary art museums. "Ours is the one with the smallest budget", explains Mito curator Kubota Kenji half-joking. Intrepidly and adventurously, Art Tower Mito seems to be tackling the budget issue by heading into a new direction and distinguishing itself from other museums. The next exhibition, "X-Color/Graffiti in Japan", opens on October 1st. Including all the pros and cons of showing a graffiti exhibition at a public art museum, it is certainly a notable project.