WHAT MUSEUM was opened in December 2020 aiming to make artists’ and collectors’ precious art properties that have been entrusted to us accessible to the public. It exhibits works by artists active in the contemporary art scene side-by-side with the thoughts of the collectors as well as the artists, offering a new kind of space for the appreciation of art. At this Obayashi Collection Exhibition, we will be highlighting a collection of masterpieces accumulated over many years by Mr. Takeo Obayashi, Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the international art festival, “Aichi Triennale 2022” (Aichi Prefecture), and exhibiting the collection along three different themes. By displaying “Tadao Ando : The Act of Drawing,” “Between the City and Me,” and “Self-History,” not only will we aim to demonstrate the changing nature of this collection, we will also attempt a more multi-faceted approach to this assemblage of artistic works.

In “Between the City and Me” of the Obayashi Collection Exhibition, 15 separate works of photography by 9 artists capturing the sight of cities from the artists’ unique perspectives will be displayed. The subjects of these works will include various building blocks of cities that exist in the spaces “between” the cities and its people (the artists and the rest of us), such as urban infrastructure, architecture, interiors, and models. The “untitled/Osaka” series by Naoya Hatakeyama renders the changing vista of cityscapes as altered by time, while the “Untitled (Barragan House)” series by Luisa Lambri depicts minute changes wrought by time and personal experiences found in the Barragan House, which was designed by Luis Barragan. Furthermore, the subject of “Museum H 64” by Thomas Demand is the architectural models developed in the atelier of architect Kazuyo Sejima, as they are built day after day over the process of completing a building. These works evoke the image of “another” city as captured and visualized through the lens of a camera, one that exists “between” the physical city and the artist. Through this exhibit, we will create opportunities for visitors to witness cities from a new perspective.

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