"YAU WEEKS" is an event where you can encounter art that is open to the city, set in Otemachi, Marunouchi, and Yurakucho.
Yurakucho Art Urbanism YAU has been hosting "YAU WEEKS," an open program since October 2026, which introduces YAU's activities, related projects, and art displayed throughout the city.
Up until now, YAU has used the Marunouchi-Otemachi-Yurakucho area as a field of practice where various people, including Artist, companies, and workers, can meet and create works, conduct research, exhibit, and engage in dialogue. "YAU WEEKS" is an initiative that introduces these daily activities and the practices of Artist in a way that allows people to encounter them while walking around the city.
In December, the event will feature exhibitions set on the exterior walls of buildings and underground passages, as well as Shops to observe the city's natural environment and programs that allow participants to experience the city through physical activity.
Why not discover a different side of the city as an extension of your usual commute or outing?
01. Art you encounter in the city
Building exterior transformed into art exhibition space | YAU WALL #02 KENTA COBAYASHI《Vector Débris》
"YAU WALL" is a program in which YAU views various locations around the city as exhibition walls, opening up Artist' perspectives to urban spaces.
For this second installment, we are exhibiting "Vector Débris" by Artist Kenta Kobayashi on the exterior wall of Tokyo Sankei Bldg..
This work, spanning approximately 15 meters in length, explores the relationship between shared aesthetic sensibilities in contemporary society and the urban environment. By layering a new expression from Artist 's perspective onto the landscape of Otemachi, lined with office buildings, it aims to provide an opportunity to view everyday cityscapes from a different angle.
- Period
- October 14, 2026 Wed- End of March 2027 (tentative)
- Venue
- Exterior wall of Tokyo Sankei Bldg. (1-1-7 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
- plan
- TOKYO PHOTOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
Observing the overlapping of different time periods in cities and nature | Planning Institute's "Weathering Project"
The urban greening efforts undertaken by Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. are not only about improving the environment and landscape, but also an attempt to create new ways of experiencing the city by fostering people's stays and interactions. In this exhibition, we welcome the art collective Koso Keikaku-sho (Kojiro Kobayashi, Takeshi Mita, Tomohiko Maeno) to re-examine the cycle in the city from the perspective of "greening." Appearing in the windows of the underground passage in front of Tokyo Station are plants, cities, and rocks—things that each possess different timelines. The time of plants lost as wilderness was cleared, leveled, people settled, and cities expanded. The time of cities that change their appearance over decades due to redevelopment. And the time of rocks that continue to decay in the name of weathering at a speed imperceptible to humans.
In the exhibition "Weathering Project," these three time periods will be brought to life in the window of Gyoko-dori Underground Gallery. By visualizing the relationship between plants, cities, and rocks, we will redefine "greening" not merely as improving the environment with plants, but as a process of creating unknown environments.
- Period
- Fri, November 6, 2026 -Fri December 25, 2026
- Venue
- Gyoko-dori Underground Gallery Tokyo Station side
*Viewing is not possible between 24:30 and 4:00 due to the shutters being closed.
02. A program to observe and experience the city.
Daimaru-Yu Shizen no Kopan Shops: "Seeing the creatures that live in this garden - Creating an imaginary biographical record from observation"
We will be holding a Shops that focuses on the familiar nature in the Marunouchi/Otemachi/Yurakucho area, where participants will observe and imagine the creatures that might be living there.
The event will welcome the art collective Koso Keikakujo, Gyoko-dori Underground Gallery, as a guest. Participants will observe the details of the gardens, plants, soil, stones, and landscapes in the city, imagining "what lives in this garden." By carefully observing the nature within the city that is usually overlooked and creating an imaginary biographical record from it, the event will provide time to consider the relationship between the city and nature, and non-human beings.
- Date and time
- Sat December 12, 2026 14:00-15:30
- The meeting place
- In front of "Horiguchi Coffee" on the 1st floor of Otemachi One
- subject
- Ages 5 and up (children under elementary school age must be accompanied by a guardian)
- Capacity
- 15 groups (first-come, first-served basis; advance registration required)
- Entry fee
- 500 yen per person (materials included)
- application
- https://copain202612.peatix.com/
A participatory program exploring the city through dance | Aokid dances to "Dreaming and Today (Tokyo) as the Wind Blows Through"!
As part of the "YAU Urban Open Call Program," which aims to open up new possibilities for cities through art, we will be hosting a participatory program led by dancer Aokid. Using the city as a stage, Aokid will direct and choreograph Shops combining running and dance.
By exploring the bustling business district, where many people pass through daily, while engaging in physical activity, we can gain a new perspective on our relationship with the familiar cityscape and spaces.
- Date and time
- Wed, November 18, 2026, Tue, November 24, Wed, December 2, Thu, December 10, Wed, December 17 Thu 2026
Each day from 18:00 to 20:00 - Venue
- Otemachi Area
