Volume 04, Number 23

Diversions
By Owen Schaefer

Wintry Lines and Nordic Designs

Looking for elegantly styled furniture, quirky cutlery, stylish glassware and ceramics, a few retro fashions, electronics, books or jewelry? Well, it’s look-but-don’t-touch at the Opera City Gallery’s show “Nordic Modernism—Design and Crafts”. If your gift giving tastes lean toward the Swedish, it might be a good place to get a primer on the recent history of Northern Europe’s unique designs.

The exhibition starts off with the sleek lines of a dog sled and the oddly angular design of a traditional kayak, leading visitors into—what else—“Winter,” the first of four seasonally-themed sections.

The two objects act as a clever reminder of the climate in which the featured designs originate but more importantly, as one moves through the show, there are clear echoes of these most-functional of items in the stripped down forms and materials that modernist designers so passionately took to between the 1920s and 70s.

From the early, leaf-inspired glass and plywood designs of celebrated designer Tapio Wirkkala, to the wing-chairs of Finn Juhl, there is a strong sense that natural forms lent themselves to early Nordic designs. The curves and lines are spare, never ornate, but have the all the flow and dynamics of a snowdrift or leaf edge. Alvar Aalto’s famous Savoy Vase is displayed along with examples of the carved wooden molds used to create it, neatly linking the design directly to the nature he sought to include in his work.

In later sections (“Summer” and “Autumn” in particular), we see the emergence of a more strict modernism: chairs pared down to single sheets of formed plastic; simple clothing cuts, blooming with lurid colors that are pure sixties flash; and some early Bang & Olufsen products with minimal shapes.

The greatest struggle that galleries can have with any design exhibition is in the attempt to escape the sense of shopping in a department store. One highlight of the Opera City show is certainly the darkened room featuring chairs by Verner Panton, creator of the very first single-form plastic stacking chair. While it’s a shame that some of his more outlandish furniture “habitats” were not included, the exhibit shows-off several models along with fittingly futuristic 1960s and 70s-flavored settings, and vaguely psychedelic slideshows featuring some stunning photos. Equally effective is the very first room, in which visitors look up at a ceiling display of stunning overhead lamps. While the sense of suddenly being caught in a department store lamp section is almost palpable, it is tempered by the truly wintry whiteness of the works.

But shopping-mall syndrome is more difficult to escape in other areas. The grouping of certain types of products—entire sections of chairs, ceramics, clothing, glassware, cutlery—certainly seems to highlight the sense of wandering through a high-end Danish department store, and the odd inclusion of one or two random examples of packaging makes it that much worse. Chairs rule most of the show, and at times it seems as though the other products have been included only as an afterthought—as with the two doorknobs sticking absurdly out of one wall, and the decidedly sad little display devoted to Lego.

Still, whether as an appetizer to a day of gift hunting in Ikea, or to appreciate the full impact of Northern European design that is still remarkably strong today, the Nordic Modernism show is an interesting overview of a continuing legacy in design.

Nordic Modernism: Design & Crafts (to Jan. 14) Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery. Hatsudai Station (Keio Line). TBA. 11am–7pm. (to 8pm Fri. and Sat.) Closed Mon. Tel. 03-5353- 0756. www.operacity.jp

Listings:

Isamu Wakabayashi: Daisy 1993–1998 (to Dec. 16) Metal sculpture from the Japanese master of iron and sulfur. Tama Art University Museum. Hashimoto Station (Keio Line). ¥300. 10am–6pm. Closed Tues. Tel. 042-357-1251. www.tamabi.ac.jp/museum
Naoki Ishikawa: Polar (to Dec. 22) Stunning photos of Greenland from Tokyoite Naoki Ishikawa. SCAI The Bathhouse. Nippori Station (JR). Admission free. Noon–7pm. Closed Sun. and Mon. Tel. 03-3821-1144. www.scaithebathhouse.com
Ai Kitahara—How We Divide the World (to Dec. 23) Installation and sculptural works exploring the idea of borders, from the Paris-based Japanese artist. Shiseido Gallery. Ginza Metro Station. Admission free. 11am–7pm. (Sun. to 6pm) Closed Mon. Tel. 03-3572-3901. www.shiseido.co.jp/gallery
Masterpieces from the Philadelphia Museum of Art (to Dec. 24) More than 70 works by masters such as Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, and Duchamp. Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Ueno Station (JR, Metro). ¥1,500. 9am–5pm. Closed Mon. Tel. 03-3823-6921. www.tobikan.jp
Roppongi Crossing 2007: Future Beats in Japanese Contemporary Art (to Jan. 14) Guest curators and 36 contemporary Japanese artists point toward the future of art. Mori Art Museum. Roppongi Metro Station. ¥1,500. 10am–10pm. (Tues. until 5pm) Tel. 03-6406-6100. www.mori.art.museum
Two Lives in Palau (to Jan. 27) Works from literary author Atsushi Nakajima, and the artist known as “Japan’s Gauguin,” Hisakatsu Hijikata. Setagaya Art Museum. Yoga Station (Tokyu Denentoshi Line). ¥800. 10am–6pm. Closed Mon. Tel. 03-3415-6011. www.setagayaartmuseum.or.jp
Flower Robotics (to Jan. 27) Tatsuya Matsui’s sometimes unsettling, sometimes beautiful robots-as-art. Art Tower Mito. JR Mito Station. ¥800. 9:30am–6pm. (Closed Mon.) Tel. 029- 227-8111. www.arttowermito.or.jp
Teshigawara Saburo “MIROKU” (Dec. 8–Dec. 16) Saburo’s first solo return to the stage after a long absence. New National Theatre. Hatsudai Station (Keio Line). ¥1,500–¥6,300. Various times. Tel. 03-5351-3011. www.nntt.jac.go.jp
Journey-Intercultural Encounter and Exchange (Dec. 15–Jan. 28) Celebrating 40 years of the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists. National Art Center Tokyo. Nogizaka Metro Station. 10am–6pm. (to 8pm Fri., closed Tues.) Tel. 03-6812-9900. www.nact.jp
The Nutcracker (Dec 19–Dec 25). The classic toy comes to life in time for Christmas once more. New National Theatre. Hatsudai Station (Keio Line). ¥3,150–¥10,500. Various times. Tel. 03-5352-9999. www.nntt.jac.go.jp