Former 8-Floor Capsule Hotel Transformed into Art Space: Inaugural "Tokyo Jazz Club" to Feature Domestic and International Galleries and Artists
The inaugural "Tokyo Jazz Club" art event will take place across eight floors of a former capsule hotel in Kanda Nishikicho, Tokyo, featuring domestic and international galleries and artists.Summary
A new art and performance event called "Tokyo Jazz Club" will hold its inaugural edition from November 1 to 8 at the former Nine Hours Otemachi, a capsule hotel in Kanda Nishikicho, Tokyo, near Jimbocho. The entire eight-floor building will be transformed, with stages, exhibition spaces, listening booths, a whiskey bar, a game room, and art spaces utilizing the capsules. It is conceived as an experimental social club where artists, musicians, performers, and visitors co-create a shared environment. The project draws inspiration from Japan's unique jazz kissa and listening bar culture, adopting an "8 floors, 8 days" structure that echoes the eight-note octave. Each day features a different program, with the jazz principle of "improvising together and embracing harmonious chaos" as the event's overarching concept. The prototype, "Basel Social Club," is a non-profit platform founded in 2022 by a collective of art professionals including artists, curators, and gallerists. Held every June in Basel, Switzerland, where people gather for Art Basel, it is characterized by a nomadic format without a fixed venue. Tokyo Jazz Club inherits this approach while developing an exhibition model emphasizing temporality and social connection, adapted to the city of Tokyo. It aims to bring together emerging, mid-career, and established artists from Japan and abroad, connecting the commercial and cultural spheres in a shared space. The venue design is handled by UM, an architecture and design collective based in Tokyo and Brussels, converting the building once lined with capsules for individual rest into a space for interaction. Lighting is by Matière Noire, a spatial design studio based in Paris. During the event, live performances co-curated with Cyrus Gobarville will be held, featuring Akira Onda, Geinou Yamashiro-gumi, Standing on the Corner, Esben Weile Kjær, Jim C. Nedd, OKI, and Riki Hidaka, among others. Talks by Theaster Gates and Arthur Jafa, as well as a listening session hosted by Jafa, are also planned. Exhibitions will feature galleries and projects from Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, London, Berlin, Seoul, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and beyond. Works by a diverse range of artists will be shown, including Sonia Boyce, Gabriel Orozco, Christine Sun Kim, Barbara Kruger, Yuko Mohri, Yoko Ono, Arthur Jafa, Keiichi Tanaami, Shinro Ohtake, and Maurizio Cattelan. Specific works include Arthur Jafa's "Structural Mutiny _ Prince" (2025), Chen Wei's "Trouble City #250504" (2025), Keiichi Tanaami's "Commercial War" (1971), and Maurizio Cattelan's "Brothers" (2025).
(Source：美術手帖)