L ike a tsunami moving through deep water, the boom in Japan's contemporary art world has been approaching, little detected, for several years. Now, as it readies to peak in a proliferation of events next week — many of them brand new — we can see for the first time just how big it was, and who was behind it.
If you include all the peripherals, close to 30 events will flood Tokyo around the weekend of April 5-6. To keep track of them all, it's best to keep two things in mind: two — as in the number — and money — as in the stuff that makes the world go round.
So many of next month's events come in pairs you'd think it was Noah who was calling the shots. There will be two art fairs — Art Fair Tokyo and 101TOKYO Contemporary Art Fair; two art auctions — by Shinwa Art Auction and Est-Ouest Art Auctions; two art awards — Art Award Tokyo and The Bacon Prize; and two sets of exhibitions by commercial galleries.