TOKYO.- Earlier this year, the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake led to the postponement of ART FAIR TOKYO, which had been established as an art event held annually during the cherry blossom season.

In spite of the postponement, ART FAIR TOKYO 2011 will take place at the Tokyo International Forum and feature 133 galleries covering a wide range of artworks from antiques, arts and crafts, nihonga, and modern art to contemporary art. In addition, they are currently planning a program of related-events including talk series and charity programs. Those events will be themed on the notion that art can contribute to the recovery efforts for a society in the midst of this crisis by functioning as an interactive platform to exchange various ideas.

Despite the current situation, ART FAIR TOKYO will continue to seek to demonstrate the attractions of Tokyo, Japan’s capital city, where traditional and modern culture co-exist with our theme of “open art”, and also work towards the development of the Japanese art market.

This year there will be a special exhibition “Artistic Practices”. Starting from 2011, ART FAIR TOKYO has commenced setting up a new section within our PROJECTS program. This will be a special exhibition that retraces the first decade of the 21st century. This year, the artists selected for inclusion are Taro SHINODA and Tadasu TAKAMINE. They were chosen through responses to a questionnaire received from 100 persons well-versed in art who had been nominated by the PROJECTS Artistic Committee. This special exhibition aims not only to offer an opportunity for contemporary artworks to be showcased within a new context, but also to function as a platform for interactive communication among Asians and for exploring the Asian sense of nature and a new source of energy through artworks and related talk events.

Artist Taro SHINODA was born in 1964 in Tokyo, where he still lives today. SHINODA is an Artist well known for his sculptures and large-scaled installations. He studied landscape gardening. After working as a gardener, he became an artist. His works vary widely, drawings and video to three-dimensional works, but his themes always revolve around his unique sense of the universe.

Artist Tadasu TAKAMINE was born in 1968 in Kagoshima, and currently lives in Shiga. TAKAMINE is an Artist and Stage Director. From the early 1990’s, he started to conduct various performances, and joined Dumb Type between 1993 and 1997. He now employs a diverse range of media, including installation, video, photography, performance, and others.