The Art Tower Mito is a cultural complex centring on a 100-metre spiral tower of gleaming titanium panels designed by architect Arata Isozaki and completed in 1990. It contains a contemporary art gallery (ATM), a concert hall with excellent acoustics, and a theatre for dance and performance. The tower itself is a landmark visible from across the city.
The observation platform at the top of the tower offers wide views over Mito and on clear days across the Kanto plain toward the distant peaks of Nikko and Nasu. The art gallery has a consistently interesting programme of contemporary exhibitions, and the concert hall regularly hosts chamber music and jazz events. This is not a museum of traditional arts — ATM has always positioned itself at the experimental end of the cultural spectrum.