The National Art Center, Tokyo Audio Guide

National Art Center, Tokyo: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to The National Art Center, Tokyo

   Welcome to The National Art Center, Tokyo, known in Japanese as Kokuritsu Shin-Bijutsukan. You are in Roppongi, in Minato ward, one of the most cosmopolitan corners of the capital, and this museum is one of its cultural anchors. This guide stays with what is firmly documented: how the museum came to exist, what it is for, and how its architecture earned international recognition. It will not wander into detailed room-by-room claims, so the story you hear is the solid one. Here is the headline. The museum opened in January 2007, and it is one of the five institutions that make up the Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art. It is a young museum by the standards of the great art capitals, but its roots reach back decades before its doors opened. Let's start there.

2. 02

   A Wish Made in 1978: The National Art Center, Tokyo's Origins

   The story of The National Art Center, Tokyo begins with a request, not a building. In 1978, people from Japan's art world asked for a new museum in the capital, one designed for open-call exhibitions. These are shows where artists submit work to be selected and displayed, a tradition central to how many art associations in Japan present their members. That original wish still shapes the museum's character. Today it offers artist associations from around the country a place to present and promote their activities. In other words, it was conceived as a stage as much as a storehouse. It took until January 2007 for the doors to open. When you walk in, you are standing in the answer to a question that artists in Tokyo first asked in the late 1970s.

3. 03

   Kisho Kurokawa's Design at The National Art Center, Tokyo

   Now look at the building itself. The National Art Center, Tokyo was created by the late Kisho Kurokawa, a world-renowned architect, and it is a characteristic museum building that people travel to see in its own right. Kurokawa's glass-fronted design, with its rippling facade, is one of the signature images of Roppongi. The design was recognized beyond Japan too. It received the International Architecture Awards in 2006 from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design. In 2007 it won a Good Lighting Award from the Illuminating Engineering Institute of Japan, and also an award from the Japan Society of Seismic Isolation, a reminder that beauty in Tokyo must work hand in hand with earthquake engineering. In 2008 it received a Good Design Award. If you want to go deeper, the museum offers a web application about its architecture in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. You can read or listen to details of its architectural features and take a virtual tour of recommended spots inside.

4. 04

   Contemporary Art and Open Doors at The National Art Center, Tokyo

   What happens inside this building today? The National Art Center, Tokyo focuses on contemporary art, and it showcases new expression across many genres, including design, fashion and architecture. So a visit here can range well beyond paintings on a wall. The museum also looks outward. It develops programs in partnership with museums, universities, artists and corporations, and it builds a global network by cooperating with international organizations and embassies in various countries. Through internships and volunteer programs, it works to nurture future professionals in art and culture. The popularity is real. In October 2018, the museum announced that its exhibitions had passed 30 million visitors in total. For a museum that opened in 2007, that is a remarkable crowd to have gathered in just over a decade.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off from The National Art Center, Tokyo

   As you finish your visit to The National Art Center, Tokyo, try looking at it from the outside once more. The building was designed by Kisho Kurokawa, and the rows of cherry blossom trees outside make it a particularly beautiful spot when they are in bloom. Notice how the glass and the trees frame each other, and how the museum sits in the middle of busy Roppongi. Then ask yourself what an open-call stage for artists, imagined in 1978, looks like when it finally becomes a landmark. There is plenty more to discover here: the changing exhibitions, the architecture web application, and the way the building feels at different times of day. Which of those will you follow next?