Starting from yesterday, April 3rd, Chin Music Press is selling some of our books at the 101Tokyo international art fair near Akihabara. I stopped by for the opening preview on Wednesday night and I have to say I was very impressed. The design of the exhibition space, by POINT Architects in Tokyo (with whom we share office space at co-lab) is excellent. They've managed to convert a low ceiling area (200 square meters or so?) in an unused middle school into a very formidable exhibition space. The fluorescent lighting of doom is still there, but they've accented it with track lighting built into all the booths. The end result is a bright, warm space with a lot of energy. There are some excellent pieces on display and it runs until Sunday the 6th, so hop on over.

Believe it or not, this is currently Tokyo's only international art fair. This is really surprising (or maybe just sad?) considering how mature the Tokyo art world is. It's also worth noting that China's market, while much younger than the Japanese, is having many high-profile international art fairs. I attended the Shanghai biennale last September and I have to say it was impressive -- both in scope of work, range of galleries and the space in which it was held.

From the warmth of reception and success in execution, it looks like 101Tokyo is a first but formidable step in kicking the Japanese art market back in the ass, getting foreign eyes (and wallets) interested in the Tokyo scene again and helping to break up some of the stiffness art fairs in Tokyo seem to carry with them.

We have interviews with the 101Tokyo founders, as well as Tokyo Art Fair coordinator, Misa Shin in our Art Space Tokyo book. AST also covers some thoughts on the Chinese market and how Japan should react / integrate / respond to this surge in interest towards Asian art.