Vol. 1: What Exactly is a "Rat Hole"?

© DAIDO MORIYAMA

What, precisely, is a “rat hole”? It’s probably best to start there. The “rat hole,” or “Rat Hole Gallery & Books,” is a space in the basement of the HYSTERIC GLAMOUR Aoyama store, which opened this July, dedicated to galleries and vintage books.

In this series, we plan to share various stories surrounding Rat Hole, focusing on introducing the events held at the Rat Hole Gallery, the participating artists, the works on display, and perhaps our encounters with them.

For this inaugural installment, I’ll explain why I decided to open a gallery in the basement of the Aoyama store in the first place.

The Aoyama Store,
A Store Built with the Next 5 to 10 Years in Mind

Thanks to you all, HYSTERIC GLAMOUR is now in its 23rd year since its founding. This year, we opened new stores in Roppongi in March and Aoyama in July. The Roppongi store can be described as a culmination, created as a retrospective of our past 20 years.

On the other hand, when considering the future of HYSTERIC GLAMOUR, I envisioned the Aoyama store to occupy this kind of position. As for why Aoyama, I felt it was the most high-end location in Japan today, and the best place for a cultural approach that extends beyond just clothing.

Not a Gallery That's Passed Through a Clothing Store,
A More Authentic Gallery

The Aoyama store currently occupies the first and second floors for HYSTERIC, but while searching for the property, I discovered there was an additional space in the basement.

As you may know, HYSTERIC GLAMOUR has been involved in publishing, primarily photo books, separately from clothing since 1987. I thought, could we utilize this extra space to further expand our activities in that field?

And so, the Rat Hole Gallery, the main subject of this content, was born. The reason for not naming it HYSTERIC was my desire to make it a more authentic gallery, one capable of activities distinct from the HYSTERIC image, rather than simply a gallery that had passed through a clothing store.

The grand opening is on the 13th of this month, and our first event will be the "Daido Moriyama Photo Exhibition it." We plan to exhibit about 50 previously unreleased works from Mr. Moriyama’s past to the present, so please look forward to it.

HYSTERIC GLAMOUR Official: http://www.hystericglamour.jp
Daido Moriyama Official: http://www.moriyamadaido.com
Bueno! Books: http://www.buenobooks.com

To commemorate the exhibition, a "DAIDO MORIYAMA × RAT HOLE GALLERY × HYSTERIC GLAMOUR" T-shirt is also available for ¥10,290 (tax included).

■ Daido Moriyama Exhibition "DAIDO MORIYAMA it"

Dates: October 13, 2006 (Fri) – November 19, 2006 (Sun)
Hours: 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Closed Mondays)
Venue: RAT HOLE GALLERY
5-5-3 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, HYSTERIC GLAMOUR Aoyama Store B1F
TEL: 03-6419-3581

● Talk Show
Saturday, October 21st, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Capacity: 80)
Daido Moriyama x Nobuhiko Kitamura @ RAT HOLE GALLERY

● Daido Moriyama Signing Session
Saturday, November 4th, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
For details, please visit www.ratholegallery.com starting October 13th.