Roppongi Art Night 2023’s advance exhibition program is held at various locations in Roppongi prior to the opening of the main festival. By extending the exhibition period, we hope to create an opportunity for more people to enjoy Roppongi Art Night.

“100 colors” installation tracing “memory”. Composed of small numbers writing “years”, overlapping in 100 colors layers — the deeper the layer, the older the year — the artwork is an abstract representation of layers of “memory”. The front layer, expressing the present 2023, is represented in white, while the 100 colors gradation expresses the flow of past time. May this colorful space of memory be where people gather, think, and remember precious memories.

Tomoko Konoike continues to question the fundamentals of art through a variety of media such as painting, sculpture, and performance, as well as site-specific expressions realized through travel.
At the The National Art Center, Tokyo, her works with animal motifs such as “Wolf Bench” will be exhibited along with Black Kite.

A series of photographs documenting the dance-like gestures of a human attempting to interact with bees will be exhibited outdoors in the form of billboard advertisements. As the bodies of the human and the bees draw close together, they dodge each other out of dislike, sometimes moving in the same direction as a result of dodging, and sometimes losing their balance. Between the two buildings that symbolize the past and present of the National Art Center, Tokyo, the exhibition will inquire into the relationship that emerges when we try to maintain an appropriate distance from others and end up influencing one another.

This work takes you walking through the streets of Hoi An, Vietnam, pulled along by a stray dog (actually Ayaka Ura). The video installation uses two monitors to visualize a chain of desire systems of “moving = living,” driven by encounters with different things.

Amidst the growing interest in the relationship between humans and nature in recent years, Midzuki Shibata has consistently sought to capture the great flow of nature in her work. For this exhibition, Shibata will create an installation using soil and water collected from the grounds of the National Art Center, Tokyo, in collaboration with a bamboo grove growing on the rooftop garden of the museum. In this process, Shibata builds a relationship with the materials and the surrounding environment, attempting to present through a work of art the challenge of finding a connection with nature in the midst of the urban environment of Roppongi.

The National Art Center, Tokyo presents “Nezumikke”, the second exhibition in the “NACT View” series utilizing public spaces, featuring projection mapping and AR animation by Tsukiji Nohara, an animation artist who creates works with a new approach based on the theme of a fusion of two and three dimensions. During Roppongi Art Night, a special version of the animation will be exhibited.

A friend came to my room when I lived alone and told me that the blanket I had brought from my parent’s house was dated. The Rococo-style flower pattern, which I had never paid much attention to, suddenly became a source of embarrassment and a focus of attention, and I’ve used it in my work ever since. Flower pattern blankets, which were born in Japan around 1968, blended and coexisted with Japanese culture of the time, almost like a gradation, producing a sense of coveted Western luxury. This time, I will create a dream house based on the motif of Licca-chan’s home, expressing an aspirational lifestyle that changes with the times with a floral blanket that evokes the Western luxury that I long for.

A mixed-media installation centered on a mirrored dodecahedron over 1 meter in diameter, the work is composed of glass, ironwork, plants, LED lighting, sound, and other elements.In this work, Shuku, a mysterious ancient deity from various parts of Japan, is represented as a modern-day possession of a “cyborg deity” that mixes natural and man-made objects, organic and inorganic, human and other species without boundaries.

Mitsuki Naka believes that the appreciation of music leads to a deeper understanding of people, and her motifs feature dynamic musical instruments and impulsively moving limbs. At Roppongi Art Night, she will depict the various musical instruments in comparison to people as they overlap, resonate, and intersect. Through her artwork, visitors will be able to see the development of Roppongi as a cultural city and the communication between the people of the city.

Haru Matsuda processes 3D scans of human bodies and fake greens in VR, and also copies images in real space by silkscreen printing and drawing on statues. In recent years, in addition to two-dimensional works, he has also created videos and sculptures.

In the city, elements mix and blend into the hustle and bustle, all while maintaining an exquisite balance. However, even in such a city, the seasons do indeed pass, and all living creatures are engaged in a daily drama that should not be overlooked, as the waves of life continue to move through the city. In this exhibition, “Passion – Intrinsic Passion”, we present the works of artists who, in the midst of their fast-paced daily lives, keep their shaken emotions inside their hearts and continue to work with sincerity while resisting what they cannot control and what they cannot possibly overcome.

“Colored spectacles are out of style!” The public poster exhibition spreading across the globe with more than 150 shows in 40 countries finally arrived in Japan for the first time. Over 200 international artists, including Milton Glaser of “I LOVE NY” participated. All kinds of diversity exist worldwide, while LGBTQ and gender imbalance are particularly concerning in Japan. Our aim is to expand poster shows accessibility to make it an opportunity for free conversation without biased views.

Installed by the Roppongi Shopping District Promotional Association, the smart streetlights will display outstanding works from the Roppongi Photo Contest and Roppongi Designers Flag Contest on their digital screens.

Heatherwick Studio is a London-based design team that undertakes innovative projects around the world. This is the first exhibition in Japan to showcase 28 major projects, including the Lower levels of Azabudai Hills, which will open this fall. The Studio explores architecture that moves the human heart with kindness, beauty, intellectual stimulation, and empathy.
Organizer: Mori Art Museum

With the motif of “salamander” and the theme of “evolution,” contemporary artist Yuki Inoue expresses the contemporary world in a cynical and unique way. In this exhibition, Inoue focuses on the sense of stagnation and crisis that still pervades the world today. He has created works by looking at the space between inside and outside, a result of being separated by boundaries.

This exhibition liberates contemporary art- from the confines of fine art, drawing and craft and showcase approximately 150 works by 54 artists/artist groups in 8 sections by other subjects: Language and Literature; Social Studies; Philosophy; Mathematics; Science; Music; Phys.Ed.;and Transdisciplinary . The exhibition transforms the art museum into an open classroom for lessons on the world.

Every year since 2008, Tokyo Midtown has held the TOKYO MIDTOWN AWARD, a competition to support young artists. At the Street Museum, the six award recipients from last year’s art competition will present new works. Each artist looked deep into their own self and their interests in creating their work, offering a chance to expand your imagination and senses.

When we think of color, for example, there is actually no such thing as a “dirty” or “beautiful” color.
There is merely a color relationship that “looks” dirty or beautiful. Setting standards often allows us to discover something we are unaware of.
I think, on the other hand, existence that cannot be measured, such as feelings, are also very precious.
I find that these subtleties in my daily life are what make me engaged with this world.

Glassblowing is a technique of forming vessels by blowing air into hot molten glass. The emergence of blown glass, which makes the most of the glass’s material properties, also marked the birth of “forms” that are unique to glass. This exhibition features unique blown glass works from the East and the West, focusing on the “techniques” of the glassblowers who created the unique expressions in this medium. The exhibition also introduces the results of research into techniques by contemporary glass artists, and explores the ingenuity of glassblowers who were once unknown to the public.