Everything you should see at Roppongi Art Night 2022: 10m-tall Doraemon and more

It may be called Roppongi Art Night, but this highly anticipated art festival in central Tokyo runs for longer than you’d think. Scheduled for the three-day weekend of Saturday September 17 to Monday September 19, this neighbourhood-wide art extravaganza will feature roughly 100 events ranging from exhibitions and concerts to dance performances and talks. Many of these events will take place before and after as well as during the official programme dates, so there's a lot to see and do beyond those three days. 

What’s on the main programme 

Headlining Roppongi Art Night 2022 is famed contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, the mastermind behind this year’s theme ‘Magical Adventure’. Some of the artworks will be installed in public spaces like the Roppongi Hills West Walk and Roppongi Hills Area, so that anyone can enjoy them for free. A small selection of the exhibitions, however, will require an admission ticket. 

Due to the pandemic, the most recent editions of Roppongi Art Night had to be cancelled. This is the first time in three years that the festival is making a full return to the city – so expect big things. By ‘big things’, we mean Takashi Murakami’s giant 10-metre-tall Doraemon that will be installed at the Roppongi Hills Arena. 

Doraemon, reimagined 

There’s even more Doraemon-inspired art around the corner. Murakami has enlisted 12 artists to join him at the festival and showcase their artistic vision through the beloved blue cat-robot. Among them are Aya Takano, Madsaki, Kasing Leung, T9G and Shin Murata, who each gave the futuristic robo-cat a drastic makeover.

Other free art installations worth checking out 

Don’t worry, there will be plenty of non-Doraemon related projects as well. Installations to look forward to for the weekend of September 17 to September 19 include Yusuke Iguchi’s ‘Kaleidoscope’ at the Roppongi Hills 66 Plaza. With this interactive artwork, you can rotate the bicycle pedals to move its parts around and effectively change the sculpture’s appearance, hence the title of the piece.

Kawaii Monster Cafe artist Sebastian Matsuda's is also participating in the festival with his three-day installation 'Polychromatic Skin-Gender Tower'. This enormous test tube filled with cutesy mascots stands as a metaphor for diversity in race, religion, gender and national borders. On display from Saturday September 17 to Monday September 19, it’s got a prime spot by the clocktower at Roppongi Crossing, so look out for it as you exit Roppongi Station.

Even sanitising your hands could come with an encounter with art through the 'Room of Distance' piece by the Nora Design Collective. In this project, a handful of sanitising stations scattered around Roppongi Hills, Ignoppor and Lapiross Roppongi will have screens with a person 'living' inside them. The mysterious little figure will only appear for seconds at a time, so make sure you don't take your eyes off the screen as you spritz your hands with disinfectant.

Many of the installations are already on display 

There are also a number of festival highlights that are already available now, including Tangent’s ‘Inaho’ installation, which is inspired by the way golden ears of rice sway in the summer wind. The piece, which was installed at the Roppongi Hills North Tower on September 12, is fitted with LED lights and motion sensors, so it will respond to approaching observers by lighting up and swaying.

Other free installations to look forward to include Michael Lin’s ‘Window’, which you’ll find at the Giotto House and the West Walk in Roppongi Hills from now until September 16 and September 17 to September 19 respectively. 

Over at Roppongi Hills West Walk on the second floor you'll find Kazuhiko Hiwa’s five-metre-tall 'Hiwadrome' installation, which was made of roughly 60 wheelchairs. The sculpture, which is interlaced with LED lights that make the piece look like a strange and luminous mass after dark, was inspired by the artist's experience with his own disability. The installation is around through September 19. While its viewing hours are usually from 10am to 8pm daily, the sculpture will be illuminated until 10pm on Saturday September 17 and Sunday September 18. 

On the same floor is Lawrence Weiner's series 'Here for a Time There for a Time & Somewhere for a Time', which is on show until September 19. Weiner, who passed away in 2021, was an American conceptual artist lauded for his typography centred art projects, where large structures like buildings and even cargo ships were used as canvases. This new showcase of Lawrence’s works is inspired by the past and present of Tokyo and the vibrant Roppongi district.

For the list of exhibitions and events, check out Roppongi Art Night’s website.

This article was originally published on August 5 and updated on September 14. 

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