In 2001, a peculiar contemporary-art space called Tokyo Wonder Site opened in a disused building in Bunkyo Ward in Northeast Tokyo. Supported by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the project attracted a measure of initial interest, but never developed into anything like a hot spot for art. This is probably because the shows were middle of the road and the space was in the middle of nowhere.
But last July a second Wonder Site opened, smack in the center of the planet's youth-culture Mecca of Shibuya. What's more, the space signaled early on that it would court participation from the city's grassroots art community -- Roger McDonald and the Art Initiative Tokyo group had a hand in the second show, a Japanese/Korean collaboration titled "Publicly Speaking"; and Masato Nakamura, director of the avant-garde collective Command N, gave a talk at the same exhibition.
Wonder Site Shibuya's current exhibition, "F*ckin' Brilliant," is a group show featuring work in a variety of media from 13 artists, five from Japan and eight from the artist-run Rockwell Gallery in London.
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