Post #3822059

Today we went to not only the best contemporary art gallery I've been to in Tokyo, but possibly also the strangest. Without any prior knowledge and just because it was close to where we were, we thought we'd give the Ueshima Museum in Shibuya a go. It didn't start well. To enter you have to get a QR code emailed via a website which involves the usual Japanese rigmarole of providing waaaaay too much personal information (you should absolutely lie about everything but your email address if you're concerned about data security). So after standing in the heat fiddling with our phones and auto translated websites and clunky UX I was rather grumpy and expecting it to be a waste of time. Once we finally got the QR code to work and made it into the air conditioned lobby is when it started getting word. There was no one at the front desk, which is highly unusual for Japan, where the norm is it takes one person to sell you the ticket, another to process the payment, one to check the ticket and someone else to stand there just wearing white gloves and being polite. But there was no one. Just a series of locked galleries we had to scan into with the QR code. It seemed like we were the only people in the building for our entire visit apart from an old woman who was either mopping the floor or doing performance art. Just us and … wait, that's a Warhol, there's a couple of Banksys, some Tracy Emins, Olafur Eliasson, Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, James Turrell, Chiharu Shiota, Ryoji Ikeda, and so it went. 5 floors of big name international and Japanese contemporary artists and we were completely alone in the galleries the whole time. Absolutely wild experience. A must-see if you like contemporary art and particularly if you hate crowds. #Art #Japan #Tokyo Picture is not related, just some HVAC bonsai that I saw on the way. https://ueshima-museum.com/