About
Jinny Street Gallery is a contemporary art gallery with no walls, no doors and no opening hours. It lives in the small display cases built into 42 streetlamps across Jingumae 2-chome, the neighborhood locals call “Jinni”. It is free, it is outdoors, and it is open more or less around the clock.
Manifesto
A pedestrian walks through the city with a purely functional purpose. Usually, they keep their eyes fixed on the ground, caring only for car drivers and other surroundings. But there are times when they turn their eyes up to the facades. They can lose themselves in steps where they discover another world, and even their usual path now suddenly overflows with mysteries and adventures. In that precise moment, the urban walker becomes a flâneur, able to deconstruct the principle of rationality and functionality that rules the city’s urban structure. They rethink the streets as a place for delightful walking experiences and discoveries rather than purely means to reach the destination. As a result, the city transforms from an obstacle to a meaningful end — a place full of experiences. The flâneur is the artist of the city, a detective scrutinizing by-passers and the details and atmosphere of the streets. They are not looking for a criminal but for traces of life, scenes that will move or cheer them — the happenings to tell or remember. The clues they seek have no use other than enchanting the moment.
A gallery to walk in
Shibuya is overcrowded with people — avidly crossing its roads, marching to their destination. The city gets walked over with ferocity. The red light at the crossing in front of the station seems never to turn green. Time is never enough for people with no patience.
Jinny sits in the heart of Jinni, just a whiff away from the city’s hustle, with its little showcases scattered through all the streets. Jinny is for stroll lovers who care less about the destination than about the joy of getting there. Jinny is for urban flâneurs who take time to love the city in all its shapes and colors. It is home to all who do not feel like going anywhere, but only want to walk and enjoy our exhibitions.
You can follow a show from lamp to lamp or stumble across a single case on the way to somewhere else. Both count. Yellow flags and markers on the poles point the way.
How it started
Shibuya City built display cases into the streetlamps of the neighborhood, and most of them sat there empty. Toto Tvalavadze and Lorenzo Menghi each noticed them on their own walks, each wondered what they could hold, and were eventually introduced by a mutual friend who knew they were asking the same question.
In spring 2022 Toto tried it out with Walk With Me, 59 of his street photographs spread across all 42 lamps. On 15 January 2023 the gallery opened properly with its first exhibition, Tokyo Flâneur.
Made with the neighborhood
Jinny only works because the street lets it. We work with the people who live and run shops here, with the Jingumae 2-chome Shopping Association and its director Sawabe Kin, and with partners who help each exhibition happen.
Beyond the exhibitions, the program now includes open calls for artists, workshops, the Creators’ Club, walks led by artists, and Jinny Lemon Sour. See what’s on in Exhibitions.
Founders
Italian photographer in Shibuya. Always pursuing the Showa aesthetic through his work, he mainly shoots at night.
Software engineer turned walker, photographer, and book maker, living in Tokyo.
Director of the Jingumae 2-chome Shopping Association and owner of Pot Shuppan Publishing.
Press
- Mar 2025 Magazine · In Japanese · PDF Cover and interview with Lorenzo Menghi and Toto Tvalavadze (opens in a new tab) andJ, the Jingumae neighborhood magazine, no. 6
- Jun 2023 TV Creative curation: Breathing new life into Tokyo's streets (opens in a new tab) NHK WORLD-JAPAN News
- Mar 2023 Video Voice of Tokyo, Episode 5: Jinny Street Gallery (opens in a new tab) Tokyo Weekender
Works by our artists, exhibition catalogues and Jinny goods are in our store, and we are always glad to hear from you. Jinny Street Gallery is managed and curated by the J2SG Group.