MoN Takanawa: Museum of Narratives. (Photo ©Yasuyuki Tanaka)
Tokyo is a city with multiple city centers. The average Tokyoite will spend regular time in a few of them, but may not go to others for years on end. During those years, so much can change. When unexpectedly confronted by a major new urban development after returning to a center after a multi-year absence, Tokyo can feel like a rather disorientating place.
Such a feeling awaits those who have not been down to Shinagawa recently, specifically to the area outside of the Takanawa Gateway station. A "new city," Takanawa Gateway City, has gone up on former railway yards. It opened in March of this year.
In addition to the retail and residential facilities, the development features MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives, a stunning addition to Tokyo’s already impressive array of exhibition spaces and performance venues.
The building itself is a work of art. The exterior is sculpturesque and the roof garden includes a foot bath. The interior has the feel of a labyrinth. A generous array of public sitting and relaxation spaces includes a 100-mat tatami room.
New Gallery and Performance Hall
MoN Takanawa contains an exhibition gallery and a "next generation immersive performance hall" named Box1000. The hall is designed as a "flexible digital performance environment" rather than a traditional stage theater. It employs a giant digital screen (21m wide by 9m high), advanced lighting, spatial sound, streaming capability, and interactive technologies to create performances that "blur the line between theater, installation art, concerts, and virtual participation."
The hall is presently hosting the ballet Aleko, in which the digital screen is being employed to its full potential. Aleko is most famous for its four original backdrops, which were painted by French-Russian Artist Marc Chagall. The backdrops have been reproduced in digital form on the screen and are believable as paintings upon canvas. The quality is exceptional.
Backdrops Find a Home in Regional Japan
The original backdrops were completed by Chagall in 1942, soon after he and his family had fled Nazi occupied France. In 1977, they were auctioned off to collectors. Three of the four were eventually purchased by Aomori prefecture in 1994.
The existence of the backdrops in Aomori prefecture is a function of the bubble era of the 1980s. At that time, regional prefectures and municipalities were awash with central government money. Much of this money was spent on questionable projects.
In the case of the Chagall Aleko backdrops, the purchase was remarkably astute. The value of the backdrops has appreciated considerably, and they presently feature in a purpose-built art gallery in Aomori city, which has become a significant tourist attraction.
In 2024, a production of Aleko was performed in front of the actual backdrops in their permanent Aomori location, but the gallery has limitations for the staging of an actual ballet. Only 200 people were able to attend each of the six stages.
It is unimaginable for Aleko to be staged without Chagall’s backdrop designs, and there are no plans for the backdrops to be used on tour. Accordingly, digital technology provides the means for the ballet to be performed and enjoyed outside of Aomori city.
A Permanent Digital Screen
The high quality digitalization of backdrops is not new, explained Maholo Uchida, Artistic Director of MoN Takanawa to Japan Forward. But the cost of temporary installation is prohibitive. The permanency of the screen at Box1000 thereby provides the Tokyo production world with a ready made venue whenever digitization is the logical option.
In the near future, Box1000 will also stage kabuki performances, during which the screen will highlight costuming and staging details, in addition to the kabuki backdrops.
Another clear virtue of the digital screen is the ability to provide a synopsis of the performance to the audience, prior to its commencement. The MoN Takanawa production of Aleko is preceded by an explanation of the narrative and how the story is represented in the backdrops. This approach will be followed in the upcoming kabuki performances, in which the history and tradition of the art will be outlined, in addition to the actual story of the play.
"MoN is the Museum of Narratives, and I really respect the background and process of the making of art," Uchida said. "Moreover, one of our policies is omotenashi. We want to be welcoming to beginners."
Spiral Spiral in the Exhibition Gallery
Within the exhibition gallery at MoN Takanawa is an exhibition titled Spiral Spiral: Evolving Human Narratives. This exhibition is a place to encounter and experience various forms of circulation. It features works of fine art, but also highlights applications of circulation such as the Yamanote Line that supports the city of Tokyo, the circulation of resources and money that underpins the consumer society, skills that are passed down through generations, and even the swirling motions of daily housework and the human body. The exhibition is characterized as "intellectual entertainment" that unravels the power to be found in the spinning form. The variety of exhibits is extraordinary.
A Twenty-First Century Gateway
During the Edo period, the Takanawa Okido, Great Wooden Gate, was the southern entrance to Edo (Tokyo). When the first railway line was constructed in Japan, between Yokohama and Shimbashi in 1872, it entered central Tokyo along a 2.7 kilometer embankment constructed in shallow water within Tokyo Bay, adjacent to Takanawa.
In future years, the maglev bullet train will terminate in neighboring Shinagawa station. MoN means "gate" (門) in Japanese, reminds Uchida, in addition to "Museum of Narratives" in its acronym form. The Takanawa Gateway complex aims to build on the legacy of Takanawa and develop itself as a future-oriented international hub of artistic innovation, fusion, education and exchange—a gateway to the future.
Aleko concludes on Sunday June 7
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Author: Paul de Vries
