Shibuya Art Exhibition ‘Art Golden Gai’ Being Held at Soon-to-Be-Demolished Apartment Building

The Yomiuri Shimbun

7:00 JST, January 18, 2025

An art exhibition, “Art Golden Gai by NoxGallery x Superchief x Brillia,” is being held using the entirety of an apartment building that is set for demolition in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo.

The works of art on display include a gigantic work that uses the whole building as the canvas. The event is likely to attract attention as a building end-of-life initiative to make effective use of old buildings before they are demolished.

The exhibition opened on Jan. 9 at Sezon Daikanyama. The building, which has 50 apartments and was completed in 1986, is slated for demolition in February due to deterioration and to make way for redevelopment. Up-and-coming artists from Japan and abroad drew or painted their works directly on the walls, the ceilings and the windows of the apartments, from which all the former residents have already moved out.

In Tokyo, an increasing number of buildings are being demolished due to many of the buildings completed amid the construction boom during Japan’s high economic growth period needing renovations, as well as a series of large-scale redevelopment plans.

On the other hand, there are cases where economic losses are incurred because there is a gap in time before demolition of buildings due to various reasons, such as shortage of manpower, rising construction costs and difficulty in obtaining agreement from all involved parties.

“We’d like to propose a new possibility for final activities at old buildings, which would lead to creation of a flow of people and economic effects,” said an official at Tokyo Tatemono Co., which owns the building.

The art event runs through Jan. 28.