BCTION: Reviving Tokyo’s Dead Space

Last weekend I was lucky enough to catch the final day of the most exciting exhibition I’ve seen in a long while. Titled BCTION, over 70 young artists came together to fill nine floors of an old office building in Kojimachi (麹町), scheduled for demolition, with a dizzying array of art installations.

In preparation for the 2020 Olympics, large swathes of Tokyo are being redeveloped, and colourful takeovers of the “dead space of the city”, spearheaded by artist Kotaro Oyama and photographer Joji Shimamoto, have attracted much attention on Tokyo’s creative scene.

Here’s what you missed…

First Floor

On the ground floor paint was provided for anyone to add their touch to the adjacent walls.

Ground Floor DJ
Free Wall
1F

Second Floor

Installations by COLORgung, Kenta Kaido and Kamizato Mami among others.

Colorgung
2F
Kenta Kaido
Kleptomaniac
Kamizato Mami

Fourth Floor

An amazing spiral of characters covers the fourth floor by USUGROW with wall illustrations by Yohei Takahashi and others.

4F
Yohei Takahashi
Kaz
4F
Takeru Iwzk

Fifth Floor

The entire 5th floor was covered in a surreal installation by imaone.

Soh (Tha)
Soh (Tha)
Soh (Tha)
Soh (Tha)
Soh (Tha)

Sixth Floor

Vivid paintings cover the walls, including a large mural by art group WHOLE9.

6F
Whole9
Dragon76
Oleo (RtypeL)
Oleo (RtypeL)
Toru Matsushita
Hizgi
Hizgi

Seventh Floor

The 7th floor had a cool cityscape model by RtypeL and paintings by Hideyuki Katsumata among others.

RtypeL
Hideyuki Katsumata
Hideyuki Katsumata
7F
RtypeL
Mon (Doppel)
Mon (Doppel)
Shogo Iwakiri
Refract
Michinori Maru

Eight Floor

Work by JONJON GREEN, Yudai Nishi, 81 Bastards and others.

Jonjon Green
Yu Soda
Jonjon Green
Yudai Nishi
8F
Ot, Mhak, Yoshi47, San Naoki, Jun Inoue
Ot, Mhak, Yoshi47, San Naoki, Jun Inoue
Ryuichi Ogino

There were even a few surprises in the dimly lit basement!

B1
David avatar

One response

  1. Peter avatar
    Peter

    Looks amazing!

Leave a Reply to Peter Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *