A first look at Tokyo Gendai 2024

Image courtesy Tokyo Gendai

With the second edition of Tokyo Gendai set to commence in just over a month, Japan’s newest art fair has unveiled its programming, which includes a series of talks, curated exhibitions, commissions, and satellite events.

The fair will take place from July 5 to July 7, with a VIP preview day on July 4, at Pacifico Yokohama. Seventy-two galleries are participating, including prestigious names like Almine Rech, BLUM, Perrotin, Sadie Coles HQ, and, for the first time, Pace Gallery. Notably, over half of the exhibitors are galleries with a presence in Japan. The fair is organized by Art Assembly, the same entity behind Art SG in Singapore and Taipei Dangdai.

This year's edition will feature the exhibition “ALL THINGS ARE DELICATELY INTERCONNECTED,” showcasing four women artists of diverse identities who explore the relationship between civilizations and the natural world. This exhibition, a continuation from last year, is presented by the art collective Spectrum and co-curated by Spectrum co-founder Marina Amada and Soonjung Yi, a curator at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea. The featured artists are Mika Tajima, Miya Ando, Jenny Holzer—who currently has an installation at the Guggenheim Museum in New York—and Sareena Sattapon.

The fair will also host the Sato “Meadow,” featuring four large-scale installations, including two specially created for the event. The commissions include "The Cowboys on the Grass," a performance work by Yuichiro E. Tamura, where three bandana-wearing cowboys sit on a large green bandana-patterned carpet inspired by Édouard Manet’s "The Luncheon on the Grass," and "LINES" by Kengo Kito.

Image courtesy Tokyo Gendai

An extensive Art Talks program will feature discussions on significant topics in the art world, with participants such as Pace CEO Marc Glimcher, Calder Foundation president Alexander S.C. Rower, Mori Museum director Mami Kataoka, Taguchi Art Collection co-founder Miwa Taguchi, and Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art director Eriko Kimura, among others.

The fair has also planned numerous satellite events, including an opening party at the Yokohama Museum of Art on July 4 and various museum exhibition openings. Notably, the Mori Art Museum, one of Japan’s leading art institutions, will open “Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei,” the artist’s first solo exhibition in Japan, featuring ceramics, architecture, and music.

Confirmed exhibitors include:

A Lighthouse called Kanata (Tokyo)

Almine Rech (Paris, Brussels, London, New York, Shanghai, Monaco)

Art Front Gallery (Tokyo)

BLUM (Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo)

Ceysson & Bénétière (Saint-Étienne, Paris, Lyon, Luxembourg, Geneva, New York, Panéry)

Chalk Horse (Sydney)

Each Modern (Taipei)

Galerie EIGEN + ART (Leipzig, Berlin)

Galerie frank elbaz (Paris)

Gallery EXIT (Hong Kong

gallery rosenfeld (London)

GALLERY SIDE 2 (Tokyo)

imura art gallery (Kyoto)

Kaikai Kiki Gallery (Tokyo)

Kamakura Gallery (Kamakura)

KOSAKU KANECHIKA (Tokyo)

KOTARO NUKAGA (Tokyo)

Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery (Hong Kong)

MAHO KUBOTA GALLERY (Tokyo)

MAKI Gallery (Tokyo)

MISA SHIN GALLERY (Tokyo)

Mizuma Art Gallery (Tokyo, Singapore)

NANZUKA (Tokyo)

nca | nichido contemporary art (Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Paris)

Over the Influence (Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Bangkok)

Pace Gallery (New York, London, Seoul, Geneva, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Tokyo)

Perrotin (Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, New York, Seoul, Shanghai, Los Angeles)

Polígrafa Obra Gràfica (Barcelona)

Sadie Coles HQ (London)

SCAI THE BATHHOUSE (Tokyo)

ShugoArts (Tokyo)

SPURS Gallery (Beijing)

Sundaram Tagore Gallery (New York)

Taka Ishii Gallery (Tokyo, Kyoto, Maebashi)

Takuro Someya Contemporary Art (Tokyo)

Tang Contemporary Art (Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Bangkok)

TARO NASU (Tokyo)

Wada Fine Arts Y++ (Tokyo)