Sold-out tickets, long lines, extended dates and times: Japan¡¯s art scene was bursting with public enthusiasm for exhibitions this year. This mirrored the country¡¯s robust art market, which managed to expand slightly even as those of many other countries contracted.
Two of Tokyo¡¯s most popular contemporary art exhibitions this year were ¡°Ryuichi Sakamoto: Seeing Sound, Hearing Time¡± at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and ¡°Hilma af Klint: The Beyond¡± at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (MOMAT). The Sakamoto show ¡ª a posthumous tribute to the musician and sound artist ¡ª drew hourlong lines, while the af Klint exhibition delivered Asia¡¯s first major retrospective for the 19th-century Swedish painter reappraised as a spiritual symbolist.
Across Japan, 2025 was marked by anniversaries and historical reflections. The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art started the year with ¡°Our Lives from January 17, 1995,¡± observing the 30 years following the Great Hanshin Earthquake through installations, photographs and videos by leading Kansai artists. At The National Art Center, Tokyo, ¡°Prism of the Real¡± attempted to distill the creative landscape from 1989 to 2010.
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