Art and Architecture Adoration.

architecture

I’m blogging my October 2019 journey to Tokyo a little at a time, so I’ll probably repeat this, though this is the first time I’m typing it: fate had it that my first trip to Asia, would include a typhoon. Typhoon #19, named Hagibis, struck Tokyo the day after I arrived. What is most important is the safety of all individuals in the area, and I’m aware that some lost their lives, so let me immediately quell any talk of how it affected my journey as an artist and photographer.

The conditions meant that many attractions were closed on various days during my trip. On this particular day, a Monday, some locations were open to the public and running as normal. Because of the overcast sky, I decided to turn the day into a small museum and modern architecture day. Google is my best travel companion and simply entering “modern architecture Tokyo” returned many results including a page for Notable Architetecture on the website “whereintokyo.com.”

Among the results was the 1995 design of Takahiko Yanagisawa + TAK Architects for the Musueum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. It was amazing and I’ll just let the photographs speak. I fell in love with architecture at a young age, and that same feeling always comes back when I’m in particularly astounding designs, and this location was no different. Really thankful to experience this place:

art

Within the museum’s permanent exhibition space, which is only 500 yen to access by the way (a steal), lied a wonderful piece of sculpture that took my breath away immediately. So strong and present, I was captivated by Gyroscope of the Sun, designed by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro. It weighs five tons and is meant to evoke the perpetual motion and connection between the earth sun and moon. It was originally set outdoors in near museum’s entrance. I agree with the decision to move it indoors. It just looked so bold in the space. I spent an abundance of time viewing and photographing it: