Let’s hope it carries on

5__Art Center Ongoing

Let’s hope it carries on

The Art Center Ongoing in Kichijoji, a small and high-class art institution, lies outside the conservative and traditional gallery scene in Ginza, not only geographically but also in terms of its programme. The main point of difference to the usual galleries in Tokyo is that artists do not have to pay for their exhibitions here, as they usually do in Japan, but are chosen, and then have the opportunity to present their works at Ongoing. Thus the gallery is not focussed on established or well-to-do artists but provides an artistic home for the young and the avant-garde.

The institution emerged from a project at the start of the century, when a group of the ‘young and wild’ met once a year to discuss their work and to conceive an exhibition for it. As this was an ongoing project that had no fixed end, the name for the programme was born – and is always written in English, even in Japanese texts issued by the group.

What started out as an annual event finally took on a permanent form in 2008 at the Art Center Ongoing, with a fixed location for holding discussions and putting on exhibitions for one generation after the other. In this way, young artists have a home for their works, which are sometimes bulky, and always both unconventional and exciting. Furthermore, the Art Center Ongoing organises a threemonth artist-in-residence programme, which includes accommodation and an exhibition.

When you step inside the gallery, it is easy to get your bearings in the rooms. The staircase on the right leads up to the exhibition of the moment. If you head left instead, you find yourself in the café – or, later in the day, in the bar – where opening nights and discussion evenings take place. Here you can linger over a drink or eat a snack, browse through an art book from the library, or purchase an avantgarde work of art from the shop.

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Address Art Center Ongoing, Kichijoji Higashi-cho 1-8-7, Musashino-shi, 180 – 0002 Tokyo, www.ongoing.jp/en | Getting there JR-Chuo or Keio-Inokashira Line to Kichijoji, 10-minute walk | Hours Wed – Sun noon – 11pm (gallery until 9pm) | Tip On the way to or from Kichijoji station you can go shopping on Sun Road, where the Linde bakery produces original German bread.