Hara Museum ARC

Is Hara Museum ARC not a work of temporal art?
In spring, flower petals dance and birds chirp. In early summer, plants sprout, rainbows arc across the eastern sky after a sudden shower and rays of sunlight burst through cloud breaks in the west. The museum designed by Arata Isozaki spreads its wings against a backdrop of ever-changing nature. In the galleries, one encounters richly individualistic artworks under natural light from skylights above. In the corridor, one catches sight of sheep grazing silently in the distance. Standing among the blooming white clover in the garden, outdoor artworks like Aiko Miyawaki’s UTSUROHI and Minami Tada’s Chiaroscuro No. 2 blend harmoniously with the environment. Is this museum called Hara Museum ARC, with each of its elements connecting at its own gentle pace with the time you spend here, not like a work of poetry or music? In other words, a work of temporal art?

In the spring of 2025, Hara Museum ARC will hold an exhibition entitled This Temporal Art Called Hara Museum ARC. In Part I, for a limited time only, a sound installation by Janet Cardiff, The 40 Part Motet, will be on display in Gallery A. This resurrection of a 40-part composition by Thomas Tallis (a 16th-century English composer and organist for the Royal Chapel) is an early representative work by Cardiff that has been shown throughout the world since its inception in 2001.

From 40 speakers arranged in an oval, 40 recorded voices can be heard, first individually, but then gradually merged, transforming the venue into an immersive space with all voices coming together in the moment. In terms of lyrics, there are only a few lines, but the experience of space sculpted by sound is an overwhelming reminder of the ineffable nature of art.

Gallery A at Hara Museum ARC, designed by Arata Isozaki, is illuminated by natural light from a 12-meter-high skylight supported by four cedar pillars, its intensity modulated by the passing clouds. Although the gallery has all the characteristics of a white cube for contemporary art, it is a space with the breath of nature, designed as an expression of “ma,” the spatial and temporal concept believed by Isozaki to be the essence of Japanese aesthetics. It serves as a unique venue for Cardiff’s sound installation The Forty Part Motet.
*Temporal arts refer to arts that are expressed or enjoyed over time, the main examples of which are music and literature.

Meanwhile, Galleries B and C will feature Exquisite Pain by Sophie Calle from the museum’s collection. It is an account through images and text of Calle’s countdown to “the worst day of her life” and the recovery she achieved through the exchange of her story of pain with those of others.

In Part II from May 16, Gallery A will feature works from the Hara Collection with a thematic connection to the passage of time, including Lee Ufan’s With Winds which appeared in his solo exhibition at the museum and works from Tadasu Yamamoto’s Falling Water series.

We hope you will enjoy the temporal art that is Hara Museum ARC where sights that can only be enjoyed here await you.

Special Exhibit: Janet Cardiff, The Forty Part Motet (A reworking of “Spem in Alium” by Thomas Tallis 1573)
Venue: Gallery A
Dates: Saturday, March 15 – Sunday, May 11, 2025

The Forty Part Motet is a reworking of Spem in Alium (1573) by Thomas Tallis (b. circa 1505/d. 1585), an English composer for the royal court and organist for the Chapel Royal. Forty separately recorded voices are played back through forty speakers placed in an oval in the space. The speakers are configured in eight separate choirs each consisting of five voices (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass).

Since the days of its predecessor, the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Shinagawa, Tokyo), the focus of Hara Museum ARC has been to provide viewers with unique spatial and temporal experiences that emerge from the confluence of the museum’s architecture, environment and art. Just as Olafur Eliasson’s Your light shadow, Elizabeth Peyton’s solo exhibition Still life and Lee Kit’s We used to be more sensitive resonated beautifully with the Hara Museum, so surely will The Forty Part Motet resonate with Gallery A to become a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle in the here and now.

Scheduled Works from the Hara Museum Collection
Gallery A (May 16 – September 7): Lee Ufan, With Winds / Tadasu Yamamoto, Falling Water and others
Gallery B & C: Sophie Calle, Exquisite Pain and others
Kankai Pavilion: Aiko Miyawaki, UTSUROHI / Shigeo Toya, Spirit Regions and others
Semi-permanent installations: Yayoi Kusama, Mirror Room (Pumpkin) / Tabaimo, Midnight Sea / Yoshitomo Nara, My Drawing Room and others
Outdoor installations: Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Tomato Soup / Olafur Eliasson, Sunspace for Shibukawa / Jean-Michel Othoniel, Kokoro / Yasuhiro Suzuki, Bench of the Japanese Archipelago and others

Press Releases
This Temporal Art Called Hara Museum ARC
Special Exhibit: Janet Cardiff – The Forty Part Motet

Related Event
“Meet the Artist: Janet Cardiff”
Date and Time: Sunday, March 23, 2025 14:30 -16:00
Location: Cafe d’Art, Hara Museum ARC
Capacity: 25 people
*Please click here for details.

Title

This Temporal Art Called Hara Museum ARC

Special Exhibit

Janet Cardiff – The Forty Part Motet (A reworking of “Spem in Alium” by Thomas Tallis 1573) *March 15 – May 11

Venue/Organized by

Hara Museum ARC

Special sponsorship

HERMÈS JAPON CO., LTD

Hours

9:30 am – 4:30 pm (last entry at 4:00 pm)

Closed

Thursdays (except on March 20 and May 1) and May 12 – 15

Admission

General 1,800 yen, Seniors (70 or above) 1,500 yen, Students 1,000 yen (high school and university) or 800 yen (elementary and junior high)
*Free for Hara Museum ARC members / Free for elementary, junior high and high school students in Gunma prefecture from 3/15 to 5/11. From 5/16 onward, free for elementary and junior high school students in Gunma prefecture on Saturdays when school is in session.
*For advance online tickets (date-specific), go to https://e-tix.jp/haramuseum_arc/

*The Forty Part Motet by Janet Cardiff was originally produced by Field Art Projects with the Arts Council of England, Canada House, the Salisbury Festival and Salisbury Cathedral Choir, BALTIC Gateshead, The New Art Gallery Walsall, and the NOW Festival Nottingham.