Two developments this autumn serve to illustrate both what is good and what is bad about the current condition of the Japanese contemporary art scene.
First, sadly, it is now official: Last week Kazuko Koike sent a letter to friends, confirming the rumor that she is closing the Sagacho Exhibit Space. For 17 years the ambitious (and spacious) Sagacho had been a glittering point on the often bleak Tokyo art map. It was at the Sagachothat overseas artists as diverse as Anselm Kiefer and Tracey Emin got their first big Japanese shows, and it was in Sagacho that local talents such as Hiroshi Sugimoto and Yasumasa Morimura held the early exhibitions that helped move them to the level of international import they now enjoy. The Sagacho will be missed.
Now for the good news: The venerable Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, which has run a similarly exciting series of exhibitions for a similar stretch of time, has reopened after renovations and looks great. The ceramic tile exterior has been cleaned, the interior walls scrubbed, and rotting door and window frames replaced. Plus there are now ample restrooms (one of the building's original restrooms was long ago taken over by a playful Morimura installation), and, thankfully, Nobuyoshi Araki's vulgar nudie cubicle has been shut up.