Typically, from the moment Tokyoites step out the front door, they are subjected to an unrelenting barrage of visual and aural advertising. I've never seen a city that even comes close: Down the street from my place in Kabukicho, squeezed in between the neon signs of a sex club and the golden arches of a fast-food restaurant, are a couple of wall-mounted megaphones. While one shrieks about bodies, the other shrieks about burgers. Meanwhile a tower of light running up alongside the building promotes everything from ice cream to schoolgirl "massages."
But sight and soundwise, few Tokyo neighborhoods are as manic as Akihabara (or "Electric Town," as it is called). It's hard-sell consumerism run rampant, but for the next two weeks, there is some relief in sight, in the form of Akihabara TV, an exhibition of video art that is not trying to sell anyone anything at all. Now in its third year, Akihabara TV is organized by Command N, an art collective with its headquarters in central Electric Town. This third incarnation, "Akihabara TV_542. 03" brings the work of 26 video artists from 10 countries to hundreds of TV sets, large outdoor video monitors and computer screens at about 65 electronic stores in the Akihabara area.
Although there are screen savers and interactive DVDs (for computer displays), the main thrust of "Akihabara TV_542. 03" is a 30-minute compilation of short videos that is playing on television screens throughout the area.