The first thing you notice is the strong odor, which is somewhere just on the forgiving side of rank. Imagine the refrigeration breaking down for a couple of August days in a provincial French cheese shop, and the aromatic quickly turning miasmatic, andyou'll begin to get an idea of just how the Rontgen Kunstraum contemporary art gallery is smelling right now.
The reason for this is a German artist named Wolfgang Stiller, 39, or rather his room-filling installation and exhibition, "Industrial Deposits."
It isn't particularly difficult, of course, to fill up the Rontgen Kunstraum, which is quite possibly Tokyo's smallest art gallery. But Stiller has taken over the space in an inspired fashion, with a series of stalagmitelike wax objects that reach for the main exhibition room's ceiling. There are about 10 spires here, some rather resembling dishes stacked skillfully on the floor, others bringing to mind the dynamics of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.