The "Design Ah!" exhibition, directed by Taku Sato, Yugo Nakamura, and Keigo Oyamada, is running through Sunday, June 2nd at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT in Tokyo Midtown Garden. This exhibition is an adaptation of the educational program "Design Ah!", broadcast on NHK Educational TV. It aims to foster a design mindset among adults and young people as well as educate children about design, making it a program enjoyable for all ages. The first section is "Everyone's Ah." At the start of the exhibition, works submitted to the program are on display. The venue also features a work desk and submission box for submissions, and selected works will be exhibited in the future. Behind it is the play section, the "Moving Ah." When you move, "Ah" begins to dance along with your body, and after a while, photos of you and "Ah" are projected onto the screen. Gallery 1 is the "Room of Objects, Sounds, and Images." Images of various objects and lights are projected onto the walls in sync with the numbers 1 through 10, creating a "song" section from the program that fills the entire room. Furthermore, Gallery 2 offers hands-on experiences like making furoshiki bottle and bag wrappings and six types of origami paper to go with the video. Visitors can also observe designs under five themes: "Sushi," "Books," "Tableware," "Money," and "School." Each theme is further divided into three viewing exhibits, including one that breaks down the design into its elements and another that collects and compares various items, as well as a single exhibit where visitors can actually touch and play, such as sushi building blocks. There's also a corner where moving 3D packaging seems to predict future packaging design, and a corner where images appear when you look through glasses hung on the wall at a blank white display. Photography is also permitted at this event. By posting photos on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag "#design_ah," the photos will be posted on the special website.

At the press preview, exhibition director Taku Sato commented, "When I ask people what they think of design, many say they don't really know, and they think that design is only cool, wonderful, or special. We started this program with the hope of inspiring people to become interested in design by realizing that there are various ingenious ideas and trial and error in design in our everyday lives. With this exhibition, I want visitors to engage all their senses and experience design."

Yugo Nakamura added, "This time, children will be able to run around screaming and yelling, fighting for space, and more. This is a lively exhibition unlike any we've seen at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT before. I hope it will be a fun experience, somewhere between an exhibition and a playground."


[Exhibition Information]
Period: Friday, February 8th to Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
Venue: 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT
Address: Tokyo Midtown Garden, 9-7-6 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Closed: Tuesdays (open on April 30th)
Opening hours: 11:00 to 20:00 (last admission at 19:30)
*Opening hours will be extended until midnight on March 23rd to coincide with Roppongi Art Night (last admission at 23:30)
Admission fee: 1,000 yen for adults, 800 yen for university students, 500 yen for junior and senior high school students, free for elementary school students and younger