Tokyo Metropolitan Photography Museum

The Tokyo Metropolitan Photography Museum specializes in still and moving images and is the first of its kind in Japan with a focus on collecting, displaying and restoring images of cultural importance to Japan and around the word.  The main gallery is used to exhibit works from the museum’s own collection as well as an array of works collected from around the world and Japan, while a secondary space is used to present independently organized and traveling exhibitions from different Japanese and international museums.

The museum also houses an Images and Technology Gallery which displays works that utilize computer graphics and video and a cinema used to screen various films from Japan and abroad.

Still Motion, the museum’s current exhibit, is on display until until October 13th and features art that offers a transition between still images, painting and film or video by utilizing LCD flat-panel screens as a canvas.  In a recent review by the Daily Yomiuri, Cristoph Mark describes one of the displays:

“Immediately arresting is Hiroshi Senju’s A Forest of Water (2008), a two-minute film played on eight video panels set up to look like a folding screen. Depicted is a lake surrounded by trees draped in fog. Birds can be heard chirping–and occasionally be seen flying–as the water laps up against the shore. The incredible realism combined with the sounds creates a relaxing, tranquil work. The artist refers to his style as a modern form of Nihon-ga painting, though the incredible detail is distinctly different.”
From the Daily Yomiuri review of Still Motion

The Tokyo Metropolitan Photography Museum is also showing Visions of America Part 2 THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND : 1918-1961 simultaneously, featuring black and white images from the period, which will close on October 19th.  Visions of America Part 3 AMERICAN MEGA MIX : 1957-1987 will open on October 25th and run through December 7th.  The Tokyo Metropolitan Photography Museum schedule is available online and offers details about these and other great events at this innovative museum.

Museum Details

Location: About 7 minutes on foot (via the Sky Walk) from JR Ebisu station east gate. (access map)
Hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (Thursday・Friday are to 20:00), Closed on Mondays unless it is a national holiday in which case it will be closed the following Tuesday.  Also Closed from December 29- January 1 each year.
Admission Rates:
Still Motion – Adults Y1,000, College Students Y800, High School and Junior School Students and those over 65 Y600.
Visions of America Part 2  – Adults Y500, College Students Y400, High School and Junior School Students and those over 65  Y250.
Refer to the online schedule for admission rates to other events at the museum.

Image Credit: Flickr, 200508 museum of photography