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| Shunkan: Shinjuku | |||
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Stepping off the elevator, you might think you're walking in on a contemporary art exhibition. You enter a large, darkened space suffused with an unearthly blue glow. The color comes from three huge, amorphous blue blobs painted on glass panels and lit up by ultraviolet spotlights. Next you encounter a two-meter-high pyramid of tree branches arranged as if for a giant bonfire, set next to a huge granite boulder of similar proportions. This is Shunkan at the top of Shinjuku's My City department store - not an art gallery at all, but probably the artiest restaurant complex in Tokyo.
Stylish and entertaining designer restaurants have been popping up everywhere these days, so this is the next logical step - an entire two-story complex of shops straight out of an architecture magazine. The twenty restaurants here are all completely different and unique in their look, yet tied together by certain common visual themes. One is the use of transparent and semi-transparent walls throughout the two floors. Kitchens are open and ready for inspection, and "private" dining rooms are on full display behind glass panels - this is definitely not the place for a secret rendevous. Surface textures change from one storefront to the next - brick latticework gives way to metal latticework, followed by undulating glass walls and wooden blinds - with each surface providing a tantalizing glimpse of what lies beyond. Another unifying element is the artwork, especially the playful found-object sculptures on the 7th floor. One massive floor-to-ceiling piece is built entirely out of discarded electronics products - VCRs, computer keyboards, reel-to-reel tape recorders - all painted a uniform off-white. Another huge piece captures the essence of an industrial maintenance room, with fuse boxes, voltmeters, pipes and wiring. Other works in this series are assemblages of huge coils of wire, glass bottles, wood scraps and corrogated boxes. Besides admiring the artwork, people also come here to eat, and the food choices are more eclectic than one might find in the typical department store. If you're not in the mood for the usual tempura or sushi, you can opt for Okinawan, Thai or Cajun cooking. But even if you're not hungry, Shunkan is well worth a look next time you find yourself in Shinjuku station. by Bjorn Katz |
Shunkan
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