Simple Forms: Contemplating Beauty

Re-opening after four months of renovations, Roppongi's Mori Museum makes a splash on the spring art scene with this contemplation of simplicity, produced by France's Centre Pompidou-Metz and the Fondation d'entreprise Hermès. Divvied up into nine sections, the exhibit takes up themes like the pursuit of minimalist forms in early 20th-century European thought, the similarities between these ideas and the Zen-influenced views permeating Japanese arts and crafts, and the contemporary need for simplicity from sustainability and coexistence standpoints. Pieces on display range from folk crafts like tea ceremony utensils to large-scale installations and works of industrial design, giving visitors comprehensive tools to debate the pros and cons of the bare-bones aesthetic.