Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
In 1979, the Foundation Arc-en-Ciel, under the leadership of its chairman Toshio Hara, opened the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Shinagawa, Tokyo as a pioneering institution in Japan dedicated to contemporary art. In 1988, it opened Hara Museum ARC as an annex in Shibukawa, Gunma. With these two venues as a base, a wide variety of activities were carried out with the aim of making contemporary art a dynamic part of society and a medium of international exchange. In January 2021, the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, uniquely housed in a Western-style building that was originally built as a residence in 1938, closed its doors, having enjoyed great public support and popularity. This would be followed in April 2021 with the relaunching in Shibukawa, Gunma of a single consolidated venue named Hara Museum ARC, after the French word for “rainbow” and the name of the foundation that operates it. This name also signifies it as a center for the arts, a role that the new Hara Museum ARC is committed to continue fulfilling through activities that bring people together and by which new values are forged.
