June 2017 events in Tokyo

Colombian-born artist Daniel Silva likes to incorporate natural spaces and environments into his art, and specialises in 'cohesive art interventions [which] take place across diverse settings'. Alrighty. The first segment of his series We are experiencing some turbulence – please stow away your electronic devices is entitled HND, and is the result of a residency at Onomichi in Hiroshima prefecture. After being presented there, it will move to Sumida's Outpost-81 for a week-long showing sponsored by the Colombian embassy.

Best known for his noise-making antics as Violent Onsen Geisha and Hair Stylistics, Masaya Nakahara is also a prolific film critic, cultural commentator and artist. The multi-talented provocateur will be exhibiting his artwork at Ebisu's Waitingroom, where you can see everything from collage works and paintings to video and sound pieces. There's an opening reception between 6pm and 9pm on May 27.

Kitakyushu-born street artist, skateboarder and tattoo artist Babu has spent most of his life on the road, travelling the country in search of inspiration and new forms of expression. His art – mainly all sorts of objects equipped with wheels and turned into skateboards – reflects this free-spirited conviction and can be viewed now at Shinjuku's Beams Japan gallery, where you'll also find a selection of 3D collage works and other artists' paintings customised by Babu.

76 years old and claiming to have 'one foot in the grave already', boss photographer Nobuyoshi Araki nonetheless appears to have plenty left to say. In addition to the large-scale 'Tombeau Tokyo' exhibition at Ginza's Nexus Hall, this summer sees Araki show off new photos at Shinjuku's Epson gallery, where you can admire shots of flowers and dolls arranged and decorated by the snapper himself. The photographs are printed on washi paper, making for a soft touch that differs quite drastically from Araki's signature monochromes.

Abraham Cruzvillegas is best known for his massive, architectural ‘Autoconstrucción’ installations, which draw on the chaotic cityscape of Mexico City, where many residents construct their own houses from whatever materials they can get their hands on. After a highly regarded recent show at London's Tate Modern and earlier exhibitions at the Venice Biennale and the German Documenta festival, the Mexican conceptualist now takes on Ginza with pieces inspired by Metabolist architecture and the furniture of Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi.

A Polish-French graphic designer, Roman Cieślewicz (1930-1996) drew on the traditions of Bauhaus and Russian Constructivism is his early poster work, but veered off in a more experimental, photomontage-focused direction after moving to France in the early 1960s. As art director for Elle and Vogue, Cieślewicz contributed to changing how the public viewed the fashion press, introducing a strong current of satire, irony and criticism that outlived his tenure. This retrospective, realised in collaboration with the Polish National Museum in Poznań, displays around 200 Cieślewicz pieces, including posters, collage works and magazine layouts.

Italian conceptual artist and photographer Luigi Ghirri's work represents the European analogue to the 1970s colour-film experimentation by such American fine-art photographers as William Eggleston. Ghirri's approach to picture taking, however, was much more formal in nature, as it often commented ironically on the conventions and technical nature of the medium itself. This show at the Taka Ishii Gallery zooms in on his ’70s work, much of which was first published in 1978 monograph 'Kodachrome'.

The fourth exhibition in a series that seeks to explore the relationship between modernist design and art, this show at Taro Nasu in Bakurocho sees pieces of furniture co-designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret take centre stage, while works from the dawn of modernism by Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand will also be on display. Contemporary artists such as minimalist Donald Judd and Liam Gillick, who served as the artistic director of 2016's Okayama Art Summit, will be introduced as well. The mix of older modernist pieces and newer works that centre around the idea of space should make for a tantalising exhibition.

Discover the beauty in factories. No, really. You may not think industrial zones such as the Keihin sprawl just south of Tokyo would warrant any attention, but come night-time, the cranes, power plants and factories are illuminated like a castle of lights. 'Night view factory cruises', which see your boat weave through the plants and down mysterious, narrow canals, have become a significant tourism business in the past few years, with amateur photographers especially eager participants – for obvious reasons. This photo exhibition involves 13 artists and displays some 250 of their best shots, and is also noteworthy for its inclusive focus: all the snaps are of places that are open to the public, so you can try to shoot your own version after checking out the display. Access information and other useful details are listed next to the images – in Japanese only, natch.

It seems an irony that Saul Leiter (1923-2013) always considered himself more a painter than a photographer. Firstly, because it was the latter that made his name. Secondly, because he wasn't really that good at the former. Leiter moved to New York in the 1940s, soaked up the abstract expressionist scene, and occasionally showed his twitchy, garish, overworked paintings in galleries in the East Village. Fortunately, alongside the art exhibitions, he also visited a show of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photography in 1947. Soon after, he bought a Leica, started taking pictures on the city’s streets and, as they say, the rest is history. Whether it was shooting fashion snaps for Elle and Vogue or conjuring up photographic poetry with neon-filled pictures of kissing couples and stooped men in raincoats, Leiter captured the spirit of the Big Apple like noone else. Realised in collaboration with the Saul Leiter Foundation, this extensive retrospective consists of around 200 pieces – from classic monochrome images to paintings – and will coincide with a programme of three New York-themed films at Bunkamura's Le Cinema.

Having fascinated visitors in European cities including Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris, this exhibition focused on modern Japanese homes is finally making its way to our shores. A French quartet, namely photographer Jérémie Souteyrat and architects Véronique Hours, Fabien Mauduit and Manuel Tardits (of Mikan architecture firm fame), are behind it all, with the latter three being particularly well versed in all things Japanese architecture. The exhibition sees photographs, videos, drawings, sketches and models displayed at the Shiodome Museum, with the around 70 subjects ranging from famous historical dwellings to far more modern housing renditions. Up-and-coming local architect Kyohei Sakaguchi will also be dropping by as a guest artist to present drawings of his cutting-edge designs.

The mastermind behind interior design firm Wonderwall, specialists in commercial spaces and office showrooms unique in design and explicit in function, Masamichi Katayama has given form to everything from Uniqlo's Ginza flagship to the definition-defying Intersect by Lexus showroom in Aoyama and French pastry magician Pierre Hermé's new Aoyama store. Also a collector of antiques, furniture (Jean Prouvé and Charlotte Perriand are among his favs) and contemporary art by the likes of Takashi Murakami and Ryan Gander, Katayama now shows off his trove at the Opera City gallery. Celebrating 25 years in the business of making things and places look and work better, the globetrotting Okayama native invites viewers to both appreciate an eclectic mixture of art and peek into his own creative process.