21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art

This article is based on a visit made on Thursday, 17 May 2018.

Edit 15 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I visited Kanazawa.  After doing the rounds at Kenroku-en, which is on many a tourist's radar, my next stop was one of a more personal interest: the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art (金沢21世紀美術館, Kanazawa Nijūichi-seiki Bijutsukan).  This museum, founded in 2004, showcases modern art installations from creators the world over.

The museum is situated in a circle-shaped, glass-walled building with three different entrances.  This design is meant to encourage visitors not to experience art from only one viewpoint.  Although, if you wound up gravitating towards the entrance by the ticket desk, as we did, I wouldn't blame you.  Some of the museum's works are situated outside the main exhibit areas, and are free to explore.  One of these is "Colour Activity House" by Olafur Eliasson (Denmark, b. 1967).  It consists of three curved transparent panels forming a round pavilion.  By passing your gaze through multiple panels, additional colours can be seen.  Because that's how light works.  The orb in the centre can reflect the light of the sunset and project even more colours about the landscape... if the cloud cover cooperates, which in Kanazawa is not a given.

Heading into the museum itself, the entrance hall was dotted by pillars dressed in trouser-legs and shoes!  That's what I like about modern art: you never know what to expect.

Arguably the museum's most iconic piece is "The Swimming Pool" by Leandro Erlich (Argentina, b. 1973).  Within the free zone, you can walk up to it and look at it from above, where it appears to be an ordinary swimming pool.

But, as part of paid admission, you can step down into the pool!  The water on top is actually a thin layer atop a glass sheet, letting you walk underneath.  There's not much down here, but if you're already checking out the paid exhibitions, it's a nice bonus.

Cameras and cell phones are not allowed within the paid areas, presumably to protect the artists' copyrights, so I don't have any pictures to show you of the artworks within.  So instead, I shall describe some of my favourites.  Note that the pieces described below may no longer be on display by the time you visit.  In that case, the museum's website has an online catalog of the works in its past and present collections, which I shall be linking to as we go along.  More information: (English) (Japanese)

• "setting the butterfly free" by Takehito Koganezawa (Japan, b. 1974).  This piece consists of a looped video clip projected onto three walls of a room, showing a flipbook being flipped through, animating a series of coloured splotches.  The flipbook used in the film is on display in the centre of the room.
• The sculptures "My Own" and "One Way or Another" by Tony Cragg (England, b. 1949), and "Glass no.4 H" by Kazuo Kadonaga (Japan, b, 1946).  All three pieces are abstract sculptures of different media (fibreglass, marble, and glass respectively) which feature wild, twisting shapes.
• Various pillar sculptures by Isa Genzken (Germany, 1948).  These works, including the "New Building For Berlin" series, consist of wooden columns adorned with all manner of materials: paint, metal, marble, mirrors, photos, etc.
• "Rotating Pyramid II" by Jeppe Hein (Denmark, b. 1974).  This piece consists of a mirror-lined pyramid, mounted sideways along the wall, that rotates by a motor behind the base.
• "L'Origine du monde" by Anish Kapoor (India, b. 1954).  This piece consists of a grey concrete room.  The back wall slopes upwards and has a large, black, oval-shaped hole cut into it. 
• "Scale (1/16 Inch = 1 Foot)" by Runa Islam (Bangladesh, b. 1970).  This piece consists of two videos projected onto two separate panels, one in front of the other.  One is of an empty parking garage, and one is of a restaurant.  Both sets were filming locations for Get Carter (1971), a British crime drama starring Michael Caine.  Occasionally the two shots will switch places, and while nothing much seems to be happening in either video, they are presented with an ominous ambience to make you feel like they're leading up to something, even if you can't figure out what.  I didn't stay to find out, but as somebody who has dabbled in video editing before, this kind of juxtaposition creates interesting effects for the viewer.

During my visit, the museum's secondary exhibit was devoted to Christine Ay Tjoe, an artist born in Bandung, Indonesia in 1973 and active since 2000.  Her paintings are inspired by her previous experience with drypoint print-making, and thus have a scratchy, sketchy look to them, with many works also employing the use of negative space.  Thematically, most of her works are based on matters of Christian spirituality.  For example, the painting "Too Many Fishes" (2013) consists of lots of simple fish-shaped figures surrounding an explosive burst of red in the centre of the frame.  Given her usual subject matter, I would imagine this was based on a Biblical event like the Miraculous catches of fish.  Again, I don't have my own pictures, but the museum's website has a page on this exhibition with some samples of her work: (English) (Japanese)

But as part of this exhibition, something completely different stuck with me the most.  "Lama Sabakhtani #01" (2010) consists of a guillotine (with its blade thankfully in the "down" position), a network of small metal balls hanging from the ceiling, and some lights mounted onto the guillotine's frame, which cast shadows of the balls all across the walls of the otherwise-empty room.  The title "Lama Sabakhtani", which means "why have you forsaken me" in Aramaic and other languages, and is taken from one of the sayings of Jesus Christ during His crucifixion, as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.  I suppose that is where the idea for the guillotine came from.  But really, you can't go wrong with such stark imagery.  It's bound to evoke vivid images in anyone who sees it.

I very much enjoyed this museum and found it quite relevant to my interests, although bear in mind that I am a bit weird.  I don't expect this type of art to be in everyone's tastes, but then again, you know what they say about the eye of the beholder.  Having a bunch of pieces on public display without needing to pay for them is a welcome bonus.  If nothing else, check those out, and see what else captures your fancy!  But for now, I must press on with the recount of my adventures in Kanazawa, continuing with Nagamachi, the former samurai district, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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Hours: Paid exhibitions are open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, or to 8:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.  Free areas within the museum building are open from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM.  Closed on Mondays and New Year's Day.

Costs: Up to ¥1,200 for paid exhibitions.

Address: 1-2-1 Hirosaka, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa-ken 〒920-8509

Access: From bus stop 6 at Kanazawa Station, take a JR or Hokutetsu bus to Hirosaka / 21st-Century Museum (10 minutes, ¥200).  You can also take the Kanazawa Loop buses or Kenrokuen Shuttle to the same stop, albeit in twice the time. (20 minutes, ¥200).  For those also visiting Kenroku-en, the museum is across the corner from the park's western Mayumizaka Gate.

Website: (English) (Japanese)