The Roppongi Art Night 2024 event will be held from September 27 to 29 at Roppongi District in Tokyo, bringing together art enthusiasts from around the world. This year, the organizing committee introduces the debut of a new initiative RAN Focus and focuses on artists from Taiwan. The Ran Focus [Taiwan] section is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture Taiwan in cooperation with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, and curated by Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB). Featuring the works of 7 artist groups from Taiwan, Watermelon Sisters, XIN Qi, MeimageDance, YUAN Goang-Ming, CHEN Pu, Aka CHANG, and Tsai & Yoshikawa, the exhibit lights up Roppongi Art Night with the unique charms of Taiwan through installation, video, and performance art.
Roppongi Art Night is Tokyo’s premier art festival with 13 editions of history, showcasing multifaceted art forms and inclusive cultural settings since its launch in 2009. The newly launched RAN Focus seeks to present the contemporary arts development of each country or region while exploring the creative output of culturally diversified perspectives, starting with the vibrant art communities of Taiwan to delight audiences from Japan and across the world. Mami KATAOKA, Chair of Roppongi Art Night Executive Committee and Director of Mori Art Museum, says that this year’s theme “A Festival of City, Art, and Future” is a push towards sustainability and continuation into the next generation, establishing Roppongi Art Night as a global beacon of nighttime events.
Speaking at the pre-departure press conference for Tokyo-bound Taiwanese artists, Culture Minister LI Yuan emphasizes that the RAN Focus on Taiwan at Roppongi Art Night “shall bring the vitality and diversity of Taiwanese art closer to international audiences”. He notes that Taiwanese artists possess a “deep cultural heritage and boundless creativity, producing art that can transcend language and cultural barriers, resonating deeply with audiences and evoking profound emotional responses”. This event will be an important platform for Taiwanese culture to be represented on the global stage, coming in the footsteps of the recent Cultural Olympiad.
Choreographer HO Hsiao-Mei’s MeimageDance will present the classic piece New Paradise of Silent Island, which depicts the cultural experience of old temple courtyards using unique icons of Taiwanese culture such as temple deities, betel nut beauties, and glove puppets. Through powerful visual installations, the performance reinterprets traditional Taiwanese elements in contemporary theatrical language. Mixing cultures of the East and the West in Taiwan, the unique stage set invites audiences into a colorful and psychedelic journey.
Also featured are the Watermelon Sisters, comprised of members YU Cheng-Ta and Ming WONG, dressing as fairy sisters who shine a light on worldly inequalities in their state of gender transformation. XIN Qi’s art installation creates a field of fluorescent and metallic elements, combining site surveys, weaving culture, and multimedia technologies to express a fixation on the sense of “transience”. YUAN Goang-Ming’s Everyday War reflects his inquiries into questions of home, peacefulness, and security through explosions and audio backdrops of live-streamed combat gaming sessions.
Artist CHEN Pu specializes in inflatable installations, combining planar/3D and virtual/real elements in his work with scientific principles to invoke the imaginings of future and new forms of life. New media artist Aka CHANG’s light art installations use dots, lines, and planes for geometric composition, employing computers and laser to project lines and structures in an exploration of the expressions of light in space. Tsai & Yoshikawa’s works transform ordinary materials into large, vibrant floral installations, with strong visual tension of mysterious gems that suddenly appear in the metropolis, taking the space to another dimension.
Roppongi Art Night has been organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture), Minato City, and the Roppongi Art Night Executive Committee (The National Art Center, Tokyo, Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo Midtown, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Mori Art Museum, Mori Building, and Roppongi Shopping Street Promotion Association). During the event, museums and cultural institutions in Roppongi will be on extended opening hours, connecting with the streetscape and commercial entities to provide a new perspective on the city through the art of painting, installation, music, performance, and video.