3-Day Global Art Event to be Held Around Tokyo’s Shibuya Station; Includes Video Art on Large Screens at Scramble Crossing

Photo by Casey Kelbaugh / Courtesy of FriendsWithYou
An artistic parade featuring creations by FriendsWithYou is held in New York in 2018.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:13 JST, January 11, 2024

The “Dig Shibuya” event, scheduled to be held from Friday through Sunday, will allow visitors to interact with global art and state-of-the-art technology around Shibuya Station.

Presented by the Shibuya Ward government and other organizations, the event will feature an art parade and the screening of video art on large screens installed at the scramble crossing in front of Shibuya Station, marking a first for the area.

Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the latest cultural creations over the course of three days.

About 100 individuals and groups will present their artwork, including digital art, across 17 venues around Shibuya Station. One highlight will be the Los Angeles-based artistic duo FriendsWithYou. Their signature work, a cute cloud-shaped character, will be hung from rows of zelkova trees in Yoyogi Park.

At noon on Saturday, a parade featuring costumed characters will take place along Shibuya Koen Dori avenue, which will be closed to vehicles for the procession.

Four large screens installed at the scramble crossing in front of Shibuya Station will display video art created by more than 30 individual artists and groups from Japan and overseas between midnight and 1:00 a.m. on each day.

“We hope people will enjoy and immerse themselves in cutting-edge culture as they walk around Shibuya during the three-day event,” said the manager of Shibuya Ward’s industrial tourism and culture department.