Watarium Art Museum

Watari Museum of Contemporary Art

The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, commonly referred to as Watari-um, is a museum of contemporary art located in Shibuya, Tokyo. Founded by Shizuko Watari and opened in 1990, the museum is near Gaienmae Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line. The institution promotes conceptual art and other non-commercial artists in Japan

The Watari Museum is an impressive and unusual sight – an elegant wedge of concrete that rises from a narrow triangular plot in one of Tokyo’s most affluent neighbourhoods.

The museum has showcased a wide variety of work, from pioneering street photography by Katsumi Watanabe to the offbeat videos, drawings and photographs of Tam Ochiai, which included “Squirrels in the City”, snapshots of strangers walking down New York streets with large instruments on their backs.

The basement is home to On Sundays, one of Tokyo’s best art bookshops, which stocks limited-edition vintage photo books.
3-7-6 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, +81 3 3402 3001, watarium.co.jp, admission ¥1000. Open Tues-Sun 11am-7pm, Wed 11am-9pm