March 17, noon-8 p.m. in Daikanyama
March 25, 1 a.m.-9 p.m. at Super Deluxe, Nishi Azabu
Can you get your head around art about curating art? Since 2002, Arts Initiative Tokyo has held "hour museums" in nontraditional art spaces that address issues of museums and how they are used. Their fourth and final will take place over the next two weekends, with lectures (in Japanese) by artists, curators and an anthropologist in Daikanyama's Hillside Terrace Annex A on March 17, and performances, videos and installations in the always cutting-edge Super Deluxe (www.super-deluxe.com) on March 25.
A nonprofit organization, AIT (www.a-i-t.net) explores different ways of curating contemporary art through their alternative exhibitions and educational programs. As a reaction against catalogs that don't really represent their own exhibitions, at Super Deluxe AIT plan to hand out a free catalog (in English and Japanese) actually produced during the two events. It will include works by artists such as Toyomitsu Higa, Saki Satom and Mary-Elizabeth Yarborough, as well as transcripts from the events. As for performance at Super Deluxe, Tokyo's DJ Duck Rock will be playing in the afternoon and artist Tadasu Takamine will do a piece on the future of museums. While the premise sounds self referential, the results will hopefully equal lively art for anyone looking for something different.
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