Yokohama Museum of Art Audio Guide

Yokohama Museum of Art: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Yokohama Museum of Art

   Welcome to the Yokohama Museum of Art, one of the largest art institutions in Japan. You are in Minato Mirai 21, the futuristic waterfront district of Yokohama, and the museum stands right beside the Yokohama Landmark Tower. Together they make a striking pairing: a soaring skyscraper next to a building designed as a monument to art. The museum opened in 1989 and is known above all for its architecture, the work of Kenzo Tange, one of the great names of Japanese modernism. Inside, its collection runs from the late nineteenth century, when Yokohama opened its port to the world, right up to the present day. Over the next few stops we will look at the building and the ideas behind it, the collection and the stories it holds, and the museum's role as a place where people do more than just look. Let's start by taking in the whole composition of the place.

2. 02

   Kenzo Tange and the Idea of a Building

   The man behind this building was Kenzo Tange, born in Osaka in 1913. He graduated from the Department of Architecture at Tokyo Imperial University in 1938, which later became the University of Tokyo, and went on to teach there from 1946 to 1974. In 1987 he became the first Japanese architect to win the Pritzker Prize, often described as the Nobel Prize of architecture. Over his career he designed more than 400 public and private buildings. Tange thought carefully about how a building should relate to its city. He considered both the interior and the exterior spaces around it, and he often aimed to provide a kind of plaza where many people could gather. Here, visitors are greeted by a facade overlooking the park, and at its center rises an eight-story semi-cylindrical tower. At the base, the Workshop Studio sits on the far right and the Art Library on the far left. The design was meant to express three values that the museum still carries: See, Create, and Learn. So even the layout of the facade tells you this is a place for making and studying art as well as admiring it.

3. 03

   The Grand Gallery and the Beauty of Empty Space

   Step inside and you meet the Grand Gallery, the symbolic heart of the museum. This atrium entrance rises 16 meters high and is built with an abundance of granite. On either side, a staircase-like exhibition space stretches approximately 63 meters. A glass ceiling lets natural light flood in, and louvers control the light levels. The hall is known for superb acoustics and is often used for new art projects and cultural events. Here is the clever part. Tange borrowed from the Japanese principle of yohaku, the idea of blank space in art. The corridor, the Grand Gallery, and other spaces that were intentionally given no single purpose are among the museum's most distinctive features. They are the pauses between the notes, places to gather, wander, or simply breathe before and after the art. From the Grand Gallery you rise to the third floor, where seven galleries await. Galleries 1 to 3 usually present special exhibitions, while Galleries 4 to 7 show works from the museum's own collection, though the arrangement can change with each exhibition.

4. 04

   A Collection Born of a Port City

   The collection begins in the latter half of the nineteenth century, when Yokohama opened its port, and it comes right up to today. It includes artists closely tied to Yokohama, among them Imamura Shiko, Shimomura Kanzan, and Yoshida Chizuko, and numerous pieces by the Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi. It also holds seminal modern names such as Dalí, Picasso, and Magritte. Two major acquisitions shaped it early on: the collection of businessman Sakata Takeo, founder of the Sakata Seed Corporation, centered on the Barbizon school, and the former Taiko Collection from the Nagaoka Contemporary Art Museum. Photography has a special place here, and it fits the city's story. Yokohama was one of the first port cities to open a commercial photo studio, in the late Edo period, around the 1860s. Among the treasures is a daguerreotype from 1854 by Eliphalet Brown Junior, titled Endo Matazaemon and His Retainers, which has been named an Important Cultural Property. The museum has also stepped beyond its own walls. In 2014 it was a main venue for the Yokohama Triennale, directed by the artist Morimura Yasumasa, which ran from August to November with 65 participants and groups from 19 countries.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   The museum's own story has a curious opening act. The building first served as the pavilion for the Yokohama Exotic Showcase, which opened in March 1989. When the showcase ended in November of that year, it officially became the Yokohama Museum of Art. It is also a museum built for taking part. A fully equipped Painting Room, Sculpture Room, and Printmaking Room offer programs led by artists and professional staff. There is a 240-seat hall for lectures, concerts, plays, and exhibition-related events, and programs for children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities. As you move on, look again at how the building meets the park and the towers of Minato Mirai, and notice those open, unhurried spaces where nothing in particular is meant to happen. See what lingers in your mind: the light, the stone, or a single work you did not expect to love.