Roppongi Art Night, an all-night art event, took place in the Roppongi district from March 23rd to 24th. This year, the fourth event since its inception in 2009, featured over 100 participating artists and a record-breaking number of programs.

To create a unified feel for the event, an artistic director system was introduced. Artist Katsuhiko Hibino, who has previously created works and performances that bring out the power of "place" at events such as the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale and Niigata's Water and Land Art Festival, assumed the position of director, appointed several curators, and then selected the artists.

The event's theme was "TRIP: Witness Today Become Tomorrow." The colorful installations and performances scattered throughout the Roppongi area were likened to a vast "sea," and the "port" was designated as a "port." The direction was to have "boats" created by the artists travel between the Roppongi "sea" and the "port" where the artworks were located. The entire event was centered around Hibino's "Lighthouse," a light that burned charcoal made from cedar from Rikuzentakata City and continued to burn overnight at Roppongi Hills Arena.

The "Sea" was divided into four areas, A through D. Zone A (around the National Art Center, Tokyo) featured works such as Yusuke Asai's "Mixed Genealogy Maru," Takamasa Kuniyasu's "The Wandering Bird's Throne," Yu Iwai's "White Building Washing," and Yusuke Shibata's "Cleaning Disco." Shibata's work was a performance piece that transformed a long-established dry cleaning store into a one-night disco, but it was quickly canceled due to overwhelming attendance.

Zone B (Roppongi Hills) was the main venue for the main program. Various art installations were held throughout Roppongi Hills, including Funepro's "Roppongi Shipyard," Rhizomatiks x Fuyuki Yamakawa's "Synchro Maru," and Shinji Ohmaki's "Liminal Air Space-Time/Wave." In Synchromaru, Yamakawa controlled the speed and strength of his own heartbeat, transforming it into sound and light created by Rhizomatiks. It was a stunning performance in the cold, late-night weather. In Zone C (Tokyo Midtown), large crowds gathered for "Blanche Neige," produced and directed by Catherine Bay, "Apple Bear Maru" by Daisy Balloon, and G-Tokyo. Blanche Neige was an installation featuring Snow White and her friends practicing their training. It moved throughout Midtown. Zone D (Roppongi Crossing and Shopping Street) was a community-based installation. Works such as Jun Kitazawa's "Sun Self Hotel" and Keisuke Sagiyama's "White Paper Boat" were installed inside shops and buildings. "White Paper Boat" was exhibited in front of Suikei, the Fisheries Economics Newspaper Company located on Imoaraizaka Hill, which Hibino appointed as the "newspaper company" for Art Night. Suikei published a special event newsletter, "Imoaraizaka Shimbun."

In addition, with the aim of connecting Roppongi's shops with Art Night, a roundtable discussion called "Roppongi Yorakue" was held, in which members of the public who had been selected through advance applications sat around a table and enjoyed free talk in a "drinking party" style with two artists. 11 pairs of participants, including Inoko Toshiyuki x Hachiya Kazuhiko, Goto Shigeo x Suzuki Risaku, Tanaka Noriyuki x Tsumura Kosuke, and Aida Makoto x Omiya Ellie, interacted with fans at restaurants. The Aida and Omiya session, which started at 2am, had a relaxed atmosphere from start to finish and continued lively until the morning. Regarding this year's Art Night, Mori Building public relations officer Watanabe Shigekazu said, "Ever since the opening of Roppongi Hills in 2003, Mori Building has been promoting the development of Roppongi through the magnetic power of art. Since then, the National Art Center, Tokyo, Suntory Museum of Art, and 21_21 Design Site have opened. Several galleries have also opened, and Roppongi's image as an art town has strengthened. This year, G-Tokyo, Art Fair Tokyo, and Tokyo Fashion Week coincided on the same dates, so several events were held on the same weekend. We also set up an Art Night booth at the Singapore art fair, Art Stage Singapore, held in February, and are trying to attract visitors from overseas as well. As a result of these efforts, we are unable to release definite figures as it will take some time to tally them up, but we expect visitor numbers to exceed the 700,000 people seen last time."