The “Contemporary Art Museum” in Japan: A Study …api-fellowships.org/body/international_ws_proceedings/10/P4-Aroon...The “Contemporary Art Museum” in Japan: A Study on the

151MULTIPLE IDENTITIES VIA SPIRITUALITY, HISTORIES AND CULTURAL RE-PRESENTATIONS

The Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows

The “Contemporary Art Museum” in Japan: A Study on the Role andFunction of this Cultural Institution in Today’s Urban Society

Aroon Puritat

Introduction

If art museums were considered a function existing inthe urban fabric in the same manner as markets, trainstations, theaters, parks, universities, offices, etc. are,one would see the constant adaptations andadjustments of these urban buildings and spaces overdifferent periods. It is inevitable for art museums toresist the changing course of time. Such changeseventually become significant evidences of Japan’shistory of art and culture, and of the progression of itssociety, economy and politics, including itsarchitectural developments.

Architect Arata Isozaki classifies the historical changesof museums into three generations. “The Pantheonstyle museums in the first generation focus mainly oncollection and preservation, while the secondgeneration art museums are modern museums wherewhite cubical space carries out main functionality inexhibiting different genre of art. Contemporarymuseums in the third generation are site-specific,which integrate artworks into the museum’sarchitectural space” (Fudo 2011, 2).

Yuko Hasegawa (2004, 78-79), chief curator of theMuseum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, divides theevolution of art museums into four differentgenerations. She wrote:

Art museums have changed with the times. InJapan, the first generation of museums built inthe postwar period up to the 1960s focused onthe function of preservation. The secondgeneration, in the 1960s and 1970s, emphasizeddisplay and presentation. In the 1980s and after,a third generation appeared with an emphasis onvisitor participation, learning experiences, andhospitality to visitors. Facilities were establishedfor workshops, concerts and performances.Amenities such as cafes, restaurant, and shopswere provided for the people who were spendingmore time in the museum, taking advantage ofthe many programs it offered. Since the 1990s, afourth generation of museums has appeared inresponse to the greater influence of information

in society, the trend toward globalization, andthe demand for lifetime education. They giveviewers a more active role and provide them withgreater opportunities for personal growth andself-realization.

It is noticeable how the architect Arata Isozakicategorizes the generations of art museums accordingto their architectural styles, while Yuko Hasegawaclassifies art museums by their functionalities andsocial roles. The researcher, meanwhile, incorporatesthe insights of the two experts in the classification ofart museums proposed in this research. This research isthe result of a one-year fieldtrip, during which theresearcher traveled to art museums in the differentcities of Japan to explore and analyze the urbancontexts surrounding the museums, theiradministration systems, as well as their architecturalaspects.

The methodology chosen for this research included in-depth interviews with artists, architects, curators, andart museum directors in Japan. The researcher alsoparticipated in several academic seminars including artand architectural exhibitions. The events wererecorded in the form of a digital video for further studyand analysis for this research.

The First Generation Art Museum

After the Second World War, Japan attempted toreconstruct the nation from the debris of destructionthrough the developments that looked toward severalWestern models, ranging from the education systemand industrial technology, to art museums, which werethen an emerging cultural unit inspired by the West. Itwas the era when the first generation of art museums inJapan was conceived with the main roles of collectingand preserving several genres of art.

Junzo Sakakura designed the Museum of Modern Artin Kamakura in 1951. The museum marks aprominent milestone in Japan’s modern architecturalhistory and is considered Japan’s first museum ofmodern art. The country’s first National Museum of

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Art was initially founded under the administration ofthe Ministry of Education. The Japanese Governmentback then bought the building from Nikkatsu

Corporation and assigned the architect KunioMaekawa to be responsible for the renovation.1

The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, architect Junzo Sakakura (1951). Photos taken by Aroon Puritat.

Not long after, Le Corbusier designed The NationalMuseum of Western Art in Tokyo, which opened in1959. Its spiral circulation plan resonates with LeCorbusier’s desire for the museum to be able to expandin the future when the collection grows larger. Theoriginal collection exhibited in the museum was KojiroMatsukata’s personal collection. Such contributionexemplifies the way art collectors transfer theirpersonal collections to public art organizations, apractice that later became more common in theJapanese art culture scene. The art pieces exhibited in

art museums during this period were mostly paintingsand sculptures.2

This was also the period when collections of westernart from different eras were gradually compiled indifferent art museums. For instance, the NationalMuseum of Western Art exhibited a collection ofartworks from the 14th to the 19th centuries, while theNational Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo mountedJapan’s notable artworks by both Japanese andinternational artists from the 20th century, or themodern era.

The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, architect Le Corbusier (1959). Photos by Aroon Puritat.

The Second Generation Art Museums (1970-1980)

The second-generation movement emphasizedexhibition and presentation more. During this time,art museums began to emerge in the differentprovinces of the country, instead of clustering inseveral venues in Tokyo.

It was during this period when the 1970 Expo inOsaka manifested the majesty and early developmentof Modern Japanese architecture that started to breakaway from the influence of Western architecture,particularly that of Le Corbusier. This era’s generationof architects, among them, Kunio Maekawa and JunzoSakakura, projected such differentiation distinctively.



In the early 70s, Arata Isozaki, the new generationarchitect of that time, became widely recognizedthrough many of his important architectural creationssuch as The Kitakyushu City Museum of Art,Fukuoka and The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma(finished in 1974). Kisho Kurokawa, anotherimportant architect from the same generation,designed the Saitama Prefectural Museum of ModernArt (finished in 1982).

The works produced during this period took the firststep into the realm of late Modernism where geometricforms were not distinctively visible. Instead, thearchitecture played with the diversity of form andspace, which seemed to allow the Japanese architects toconceptualize and crystallize their own architecturalnotion and identity.

The Third Generation Art Museum (1980-1990)

This decade marked the time when art museums grewsubstantially both in terms of size and function.Theaters, concert halls, and workshop areas were thepopular add-ons that allowed viewers to have a morecollective experience in museums. Since the venueswere getting bigger physically, areas such as a café and arestaurant were put in, mainly to accommodate theviewers so that they could spend more time in themuseums.

This period can, more or less, be considered as theRenaissance of art museum construction due to themassive financial injection art museums enjoyed from

the country’s bubble economy. Japan entered therealm of architectural transformation, stepping intothe third generation with the rise of influentialarchitects of the era, particularly the renownedprotégés of Kenzo Tange: Kisho Kurokawa, FumihikoMaki, Arata Isozaki, Yoshio Taniguchi, etc. Thesearchitects had had the chance to work on several artmuseum projects, both in and outside Japan, since theearly days of their profession back in the 70s. But it wasthe 80s that was considered the true golden era of thisgroup of architects.

In an interview, Professor Hiroyuki Suzuki (2010 ),3 aprominent architectural historian of JapaneseArchitecture, notably the Modern era, explained thenature of the social movements that were influencingJapanese architecture at the time. In 1969, universitystudents in Japan were actively participating in thepolitical movement that called for several changes inJapanese society then. Professor Suzuki was a studentat Tokyo University where the architecturalmovement emphasized the search for the manner bywhich to initiate massive residential projects, inresponse to the expansion of the urban fabric and theincreasing population. Nonetheless, when Japandeveloped into a country of better-quality living,which was the result of its post-war economic revivaland advanced technology, Japanese architecture veeredtoward a more individual direction. Such change canbe seen in the abundant births of architectureconceived in the 80s and the early 90s—the timeswhen Japan’s bubble economy reached its highestcapacity prior to the explosion that led the country toeconomic recession.

Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Architect Fumihiko Maki (1986). Photos by Aroon Puritat.

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Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Architect Kisho Kurokawa (1989). Photos by Aroon Puritat

It comes as no surprise to see renowned architects ofthe 80s create their own architectural theories and usethese to conceptualize their own designs. It was alsoduring this period when the Post-Modern Movementstarted to emerge, and many art museums were createdwithout sufficient supporting factors that couldenhance future sustainable operation, and address themuseum’s lack of a suitable architectural program andadministration strategy. Given that many art museumorganizations had to face massive maintenance costs,the art museum buildings were unable to function asproperly as expected. While the architects from thethird generation were swamped with large-scale publicbuilding projects, the fourth generation ones who hadnever studied under the Japanese or Westerneducation system, among them Tadao Ando and theTokyo University educated Toyo Ito, playedincreasingly significant parts. This group of architectswould later assume an important role in the localarchitectural scene, specifically from the post-90s untilthe present.

One of the interesting art museums built during thisperiod was the Marugame Genichiro-InokumaMuseum of Contemporary Art (1991) designed byYoshio Taniguchi, the modernist architect whoseworks were known for their rather simple, humble,and serene architectural expression. Interviews withseveral curators showed how most of them admiredand agreed that Yoshio Taniguchi’s design exemplifiesthe architectural program of a museum that is highlyflexible, making it very convenient to facilitatedifferent forms of installations and presentations.

The Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum ofContemporary Art (MIMOCA) is located in a smalltown of Magurame. The functionality of the buildingis designed to interestingly connect itself to the city

fabric. The huge staircase is at the side of the building,allowing viewers to access different areas of thebuilding, such as the restaurant and the library,without having to buy a ticket to enter the exhibitionarea of the museum. The distinctive development ofMIMOCA as an art museum is its ability toincorporate extra functionality, such as the publiclibrary, into the building. The large ground in front ofthe museum is mostly used for exhibiting sculpturepieces; however, the area also has opened public access.In 1991, wrote:

The main point of Taniguchi’s design is hiscreative intention to create a building thatenhances the viewer’s desire to go to themuseum, but in the meantime, the architecturemust not disturb or distract the viewer’s interestsfrom the artworks exhibiting inside of themuseum. This explains the simplicity of hisarchitecture, which is a simple looking box thatdoesn’t have any gaudy decorative architecturalcomposition or flashy building’s surface. 4

Architecturally speaking, Taniguchi’s design can beclassified as belonging to the Second Generation artmuseums, which basically have a white-cube spacesuitable for artworks from the Modern art era. Theaccessibility the architect creates for the general publicto use certain spaces in the museum without having tosee the exhibitions was developed from this generationof art museums. However, when considering theadministration system and time of construction,MIMOCA can be classified as a Third Generation artmuseum.



Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Marugame, architect Yoshio Taniguchi (1991). Photos by Aroon Puritat.

The early 90s was when Installation art andConceptual art became more influential, resulting inthe museum’s readjustment of exhibition space due tothe changing process of artistic creations. Artists did

not just work in their studios and install their works inmuseums anymore. On several occasions, they began toincorporate museums into their artistic projections.

Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, architect Kenzo Tange (1989), Photos by Aroon Puritat.

One of the interesting museum projects from the late80s is the Yokohama Museum of Art, which began tooperate in 1989. The museum was designed by masterarchitect Kenzo Tange. Globally renowned and one ofthe most influential architects in Japan, he was knownfor his work in stadiums and urban planning projectsin the 60s and the 70s.

The Yokohama Museum of Art can be classified as aSecond Generation art museum for its emphases on

the exhibition and preservation of artworks with astrong “institution” image. It projects a great deal ofcontrast with other museums conceived during thetime of transformation, when art museums werebeginning to adjust and adapt themselves. Severalmuseums had then opened up their spaces for morepublic access, connecting the museums to the cityfabric and communicating with a general public morethan they used to.

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Watari-Um Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, architect Mario Botta (1990). Photos by Aroon Puritat.

Opened in this particular period was the small artmuseum, the Watari-um Museum of ContemporaryArt, with Mario Botta as architect. This private,family-operated museum had the Watari family incharge of administration. Koichi Watari, the directorand second-generation successor of the museum,provides an interesting point of view. In an interviewon how the Watari-um is operated, he said, “I organizethe exhibitions that I find interesting, be it art orarchitecture. We don’t really mind whether thecontents we choose to exhibit are popular or not. Idiscuss what I want to do with my colleagues andfamily, and then we make the final decision”. Themuseum has hosted several art and architecturalexhibitions of many world-class artists and architectssuch as Joseph Beuys,Henry Darger, Jean Fabre,Federico Herrero, Mike Kelley, Barry McGee, andNam June Paik, to name a few.

Mario Botta designed the architecture of the Watari-um Museum of Contemporary Art by emphasizingsymmetrical forms, while the installation of surfacematerials and the structure were designed in responseto the symmetrical shape of the building. It was achallenging task, considering the triangular shape ofthe land that made it even harder for Botto to executehis signature symmetrical architecture.

The Watari-um Museum of Contemporary Art isconsidered another important piece of architecture ofthe Post-Modern Era. Designed by foreign architects,it is also a great example of how a small privateorganization can manage to operate and function as asuccessful art museum, without having to depend ongovernment support. Watari-um still organizesinteresting exhibitions of several artists and architectscontinually.5

The Fourth Generation Art Museums (1990-2000)

The Fourth Generation Art Museums wereconstructed during the age of information andglobalization. It was the period when viewers were ableto access information and began to extend their artisticunderstanding in the form of long-term studies.Through art, viewers became capable of understandingthemselves more under different social roles, be thispolitic, gender, or culture. For their part, art museumswere adapted and extended to encompass several otherforms and genres.

Despite the economic recession, the construction ofart museums in Japan continued. Some of the privateones had to close down after less than two decades ofoperation. In interviews, curators and directors ofseveral state-funded and provincially-funded artmuseums revealed that their budgets were cut down by10 percent for 10 consecutive years, while many artmuseums were required to prove to the general publicthat their organizations were spending the taxpayer’smoney properly and efficiently.

In the late 20th century, a distinctive example of an artmuseum conceived with a site-specific program inJapan was an art project initiated by the group calledBenesse Art Site Naoshima. This was originated bySoichiro Fujutake, the chairman of Benesse Holdings,Inc. and the Naoshima Fukutake Art MuseumFoundation. Soichiro Fujutake came up with the ideato build an art museum on Naoshima Island. His aimwas for the museum to function not only as a venue forexhibiting artworks, but also to serve as a tool thatwould expand the conventional frame of art museums,by taking the art out of the museum context. Theproject offered new alternatives and directions forartistic presentations, where nature, art, andarchitecture were integrated.



The Benesse Art project was founded in 1988, whilethe first museum of the island, the Benesse HouseMuseum, was finished in 1992 with Tadao Ando incharge of the architectural direction. The museum hashosted a personal collection of Soichiro Fukutake thatincluded the works of several internationallyrenowned artists ranging from Gerhard Richter,Donald Judd, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg,David Hockney, to Andy Warhol, etc. The interiorspace of the museum was specifically allocated for theinstallation of each artwork, while the balance betweenthe artworks and the architecture was creativelycontrolled. 6

The museum’s architectural style and the presentationof exhibitions are not entirely different from those ofother museums from the Second Generation.Nonetheless, the location and the hotel facility, whichhave been incorporated as part of the program,differentiate the Benesse House Museum from otherart museum projects. In the meantime, Tadao Ando’s

architecture does not exactly exhibit any distinctiveevidence of its attempt to create specific interactionsbetween the architecture and the artworks.

In 1998, the Benesse Art Site, Naoshima launched TheArt House Project in Honmura district by renovatingseveral old traditional houses that were to serve asexhibition venues for site-specific Installation artpieces. Tatsuo Miyajima was the first artist to ever jointhe project, which was followed by many other similarinstallation art projects. The project did not onlyintend to restore and preserve the old, traditionalJapanese wooded houses, but also interwove localhistory with the contemporariness of the artworks.Some of the works were installed next to the district’sreligious place, causing the artists to reinterpret theirartistic creations under an entirely new surroundingcontext and environment, quite different from theartistic process taking place in the conventional whitecube-like space in a museum properly designed by anarchitect.

Benesse House Museum, Architect Tadao Ando (1992). Photos by Aroon Puritat.

The Art House Project, Honmura district, Naoshima (1998). Photos by Aroon Puritat.

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In 2004, Tadao Ando designed the Chichu ArtMuseum that hosts the works of three legendaryartists: Claude Monet, James Turrell, and Walter DeMaria. The majority of the building is locatedunderground, beneath the grass hill. The architecturewas designed to emphasize each space where each artpiece is installed. For instance, the room where ClaudeMonet’s Water Lilies is exhibited is laid with smallwhite mosaic pieces that accentuate the painting, tomake it even more vivaciously distinctive.

Although concrete is the common material used inmost of Ando’s designs, the architect adjusted his ownarchitectural language to suit the presence of theartworks to the Chichu Art Museum. The circulation

is controlled by limiting the number of viewers foreach visiting round, while noise making is prohibitedwhen entering the exhibition space. These measuresprotect the art viewing atmosphere from anydisturbance. To illustrate, the museum allows only oneviewer at a time to see James Turrell’s works.

Viewers who walk into the museum go through a seriesof empty spaces in the different areas of the museumbefore reaching the artworks. The clash between theartworks and the architecture that takes place insidethe Chichu Art Museum rigorously draws out thecontemporariness of Claude Monet’s Impressionistpaintings.

Chichu Art Museum, Architect Tadao Ando (2004). Photos by Aroon Puritat.

In 2008, the Inujima Art Project Seirensho made itsdebut on the island of Inujima (Okayama Prefecture)with the Art Museum Seirensho as the first phase toopen for operation in April. The museum wasrenovated from the old copper refinery closed down in1929 after only 10 years of operation. The renovationof the old factory, which was a testament to Japan’sindustrial modernization, was creatively undertakenby the environmentalist architect, Hiroshi Sambuichi.

The specialty of this museum was the way the architectdesigned the building to embrace the sea breeze, so asto cool down the museum during summer. On theother hand, natural sunlight was incorporated into thebuilding to generate warmth during winter. Both endswere achieved without use of any electrical power.Wastewater in the museum, meanwhile, is put throughtreatment and later used to water plants.

The Art Museum Seirensho is another successfulexample of how the renovation of a deserted buildingcan result in an impressive architectural creation ofgreat aesthetic values and environmentally friendlyfunctionalities. Installed in the building are YukinoriYanagi’s artworks, in which the artist brings in doors,windows, and plug sockets from the house of thefamous Japanese writer Yukio Mishima and reinstallsthem within the space of the museum. Yukio Mishimais one of the most significant Japanese writers whocritiqued the changes that transpired in Japanesesociety during the modernization period.

Art Museum Seirensho interweaves thecontemporariness of the present to the days of Japan’sindustrial modernization by bringing back the oldfactory and the deceased writer to life, therebyallowing people of the later generations to appreciateand understand the presence of the past.



The Art Museum Seirensho, architect Hiroshi Sambuichi, artist Yukinori Yanagi (2008). Photos by Aroon Puritat.

Teshima Art Museum, architect Ryue Nishizawa (2010). Photos by Aroon Puritat

Not long after, in 2010, to be exact, the NaoshimaFukutake Art Museum Foundation opened theTeshima Art Museum. The museum that covers 2,334square meters is situated on the hill overlooking apanoramic sea view. This small museum only exhibitsthe works of the female artist Rei Naito, a naturalobserver who picks up on natural phenomena whatmost people tend to overlook, and visualizes them intointriguing artworks, among them her delicate, barelyvisible sculpture that transforms the “wind” into anintriguing visual perception.

The Teshima Art Museum is a collaboration of ReiNaito and the architect Ryue Nishizawa. The artist’sdecision to present water and different naturalphenomena involving water has resulted in the liquid-like shaped architecture. Reinforced concrete is notused to create a normal beam structure, but to form aconcrete shell structure. The construction process isbegun by piling up the earth to create massive curvyhill masses onto which the concrete is poured, coveringentire earth hills. After the concrete is set, the earth isdug out, creating massive voids, which become theinterior spaces of the museum.

Once at the museum, the viewers are guided to walkthrough the designated path before entering theexhibition space where Rei Naito’s works are installed.The exhibition area is filled with water droplets thatmove around in different directions as a result of thespecially coated floor. When rainwater comes down,the viewers are able to see the natural, real-timemovements of water and wind, Massive openingsarchitecturally and artistically enhance the building toembrace every natural presence—from the wind, therain, sunshine, and snow, to the birds and insects.

Several projects initiated by the Naoshima FukutakaArt Museum foundation manifest the attempts tocreate new programs in the art museums of the early21st century. Such attempts include the dispersion ofmuseums from the high-density urban fabric todifferent venues in the rural areas surrounded bybeautiful nature. They also include the design andconstruction of architecture that accommodate onlyone specific artistic creation. This has resulted in amore collaborative process between architecture andart, not to mention consideration for creatingenvironmentally friendly architecture. Art museums

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have become tourist attractions that aim for viewers tospend more time visiting them. That artworks arelocated in different parts of the island explains thepresence of additional facilities such as the BenesseHouse hotel, thereat.

Community wise, the arrival of artworks, architecture,and tourists on Naoshima Island enlivens the smallisland village and rejuvenates the spirits of its 3,307residents, who are mostly senior citizens. In themeantime, young people have increasingly begun tosettle on the island, starting tourism businesses thatrange from restaurants and hotels, to cafés. Statisticsalso show how the number of tourists visiting theisland has grown continually since 2005.

While all sorts of activities and projects thatincorporate the involvement of the local communityhave helped stimulate collective contributions and theparticipation of community members, the Foundationhas revived the activities that the islanders used toundertake by making them part of people’s everydaylives once more. For instance, starting 2006, theongoing Naoshima Rice-Growing Project resuscitatedthe rice-growing activity, which had been absent fromthe local community since the 70s. Another interestingproject was the Honmura Noren Project initiated in2001 by the artist Yuko Kano. The projectreintroduced the use of noren (short cloth curtainshung in the entrance to Japanese shops) after Kano,the dyeing expert, made noren for the 14 houses inHonmura district, thus leading to the birth of theHonmura Noren Project committee advocated byBenesse.

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art,Kanazawa

From 2004 to August 2011, the 21st Century Museumof Contemporary Art Kanazawa proved itsoverwhelming success, attracting over 10 milliontourists to the museum and the city of Kanazawa.Before it reached this glorious stage, the museum hadbeen the subject of comprehensive planning, a processthat took over nine years to accomplish. In 1995, theproject was initiated with the establishment of theUrban Core District Preparation Scheme Committee,a joint committee consisting of the IshikawaPrefecture and Kanazawa City. In 1996, the CitizensForum was held to discuss the art museum schemebefore the board of special advisors (17 members) andgeneral advisors (4 members), appointed to draft

general art museum plans in 1997. Another CitizensForum was held in July-August 1997. In 1999 KazuyoSejima and Associates + SANAA was selected as theproject’s architectural designer.

In 2000, the museum began its artwork collecting and,not long after, in May of the same year, the name “21st

Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa”was proposed to the General Standing Committee.The first official meeting of the 21st Century Museumof Contemporary Art, the Kanazawa SteeringCommittee, and the Preparatory Committee was heldin 2002. In 2003, the citizen’s observations of the 21st

Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawaconstruction site took place 10 times. In July 2004, thedesign of museum staff uniforms by Miyake DesignStudio was made public. The 21st Century Museum ofContemporary Art, Kanazawa finally opened foroperation in October 2004.

The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art,Kanazawa is situated in the center of Kanazawa City.Through its transparent glass walls, one can see theactivities going on inside the building, as well as thelinkage between the museum’s interior and exteriorspaces. The circular plan of the building creates a senseof connectedness between the architecture and thecity, for it embraces the cityscape from all directions,surrounded by the city’s three main roads.7

Under the collaboration of the architects, artists, andcurators, the exhibition area is divided into 14 galleries,resulting in the more flexible adjustment of space thatcan accommodate various forms of artworks, with themain corridor connecting all the galleries to eachother. This particular planning allows the viewers tostep out of the galleries if they want to rest their eyes,or to easily leave the exhibition areas should they wishto, for any reason whatsoever.

Here, the flow that museum visitors follow is differentfrom that in other museums, in general, for it allowsviewers to choose their own, without having to followparticular sequences, the way it is done in most artmuseums. Visitors can also walk around the museumwithout having to enter the exhibition areas if they donot want to. The architects came up with thisalternative to expose viewers to new art-viewingexperiences whenever they come over. Even aftervisiting hours when the exhibition area is closed, thepeople may use the exterior space of the museum until22.00, as this is accessible via the four entrances locatedalong the museum’s different ends.8



As for the administration, the museum has beenadvocating several educational programs that wouldurge museumgoers to have more interactive artisticexperiences. This has resulted in the birth of manyprojects, such as an art project with a one-yearexhibition duration, that sees qualified candidateshelping artists in the work and installation processes.By allowing viewers to be part of the artistic creationprocess, the project enhances the viewer’s interactiveexperience with the artists.

Akimoto Yuji, the former director of the Chichu ArtMuseum and the current director of the 21st CenturyMuseum of Contemporary Art, shares some of histhoughts on the budget issue pertaining to themuseum,

Despite having over one million visitors everyyear, our budget has been cut down by 10% everyyear, as well. The ticket sales of our museum donot generate that much income compared to theNaoshima Fukutaka Art Museum Foundationthat can generate six to seven times morerevenue from their ticket sales. Having said that,both museums cannot depend entirely onentrance fees to pay for all their expenses. Take a

look at a private museum like the Benesse ArtSite Naoshima: the project receives financialsupport from the Naoshima Fukutaka ArtMuseum Foundation. On the other hand, the21st Century Museum has the city of Kanazawaas its main supporter.

Akimoto discusses the issue concerning the generalpublic’s understanding and attitude towards“contemporary art”, and the common perception thatcontemporary art is “too incomprehensible”,

To understand contemporary art takes time. Butit is not that hard. What we are trying to do iscreate educational programs that focus mainlyon students. We work closely with severalelementary schools in Kanazawa that have over5,000 students under their responsibility; weoffer them the chance to come to our museum.These kids learn to be familiar with the veryfoundation of contemporary art and when theygrow up, they will become the people who have abasic understanding of contemporary art. It isthey who will become the viewers and importantsupporters of our museum in the future.9

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The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, architect Kazuyo Sejima and Associates + SANAA (2004). Photos by AroonPuritat.

Contemporary Art and Art Museums of the Early21st Century in Japan: The Overall Picture

Within the overlapping period from the late 20th

century to the early 21st century, several art museumsemerged in the different cities of Japan, while somemuseums incorporated the term “contemporary” intotheir names. Nonetheless, the understanding andappreciation of contemporary art remain limited to asmall group of people. Based on recorded statistics, theexhibitions with the highest number of viewers areoften those of famous Impressionist artists and otherartistic legends such as Picasso and Van Gogh. Forinstance, Claude Monet’s exhibition held at theNational Art Centre, Tokyo from April to July of2007 had viewers totaling 704,420, while othercontemporary art exhibitions held in the samemuseum averaged only 30,000. This was so despite thefact that the durations of both were the same: threemonths. Such phenomenon is evident in almost everyprincipal art museum in every big city of Japan.

In a 2010 interview, Minami Yusuke (2010), the ChiefCurator of the National Art Centre, shared heropinions on the matter,

Massive media corporations in Japan have a greatdeal of influence on big art museums. Theychoose popular artworks and promote theexhibitions through the media they have in theirhands, which explains the overwhelmingnumber of viewers. The media-sponsoredexhibitions often feature works from the Classicor Impressionist era, mostly because they areeasier to understand compared to works fromthe contemporary art genre, which require aconsiderable amount of interpretation andcomprehension from the viewers. In addition,the administration system for the organizationof this type of exhibition usually demands a greatdeal of preparation and investment, whichconsequentially costs a lot of money. Theseexhibitions bear a resemblance to concerttouring with a showing scheduled in big namemuseums around the country, while they realizeprofits from ticket sales”. 10

The exhibitions of artworks from the pre-Modernismera such as Impressionism in contemporary or modernart museums in Japan create a sense of obscurity, while

manifesting a gap in understanding among the generalpublic regarding the way “art” is still perceived in sucha limited manner. Further, they are sometimes limitedto only one specific artist or era. In the meantime, theway the museums, as governmental organizations, havethe duty to serve the public and the majority of thepopulation reflects the political structure of thecountry’s liberal democracy. As a result, recordedstatistics regarding the number of viewers remain thekey indicator of the museum’s performanceestimation.

Conclusion

Following the establishment of nation states in the19th century, various political and social institutionswere formed. One of the early forms of nation-stateoutputs was the art museum, a place used to store artand cultural history for the citizens to learn about theroots of the nation, consolidate the history of variousethnic groups, and thread them together into acompletely new story. The intentions of these artmuseums were to educate people about the history ofthe new nation and foster a shared ideal, politicalphilosophy. Thereafter, the new nations attempted togather every social element and citizen together as partof the state, hence, founding a politicaldecentralization system.

Japanese art museums were no exception to this newpolitical structure. A perusal of art museums foundedera by era since World War II reveals that the earlymuseums took to collecting both Japanese and foreignart pieces along with historical evidences, displayedthem in a coherent manner, and sought to explain theartistic influence that the outside world brought toJapan, and Japan to the outside world. Most artmuseums in Japan were founded by the government;therefore, the main art museums of the state werelocated in major cities such as Tokyo, Kyoto, andOsaka, where the country’s masterpiece collections ofeach era were stored.

Given Japan’s decentralized political system, theprefectural museums of art within each city received alocally allocated budget to maintain their sites. Duringthe 1980s and 1990s, a large number of these museumswere founded in each city. They focused onconstructing hardware or buildings, and purchasing



modern and contemporary art collections from thewestern world. Building these unique art collections ineach museum required a huge investment, while artpieces created by Japanese artists were largely ignoredor disregarded by the museum. Moreover, Japanese artcollectors did not pay much attention to modern andcontemporary Japanese art. As a result, many of theseworks were purchased and possessed by foreign artcollectors and museums. Once these Japanese artistsbecame famous, their works’ value appreciatedconsiderably in the global market.

But then in 1900s, Japan faced a tough financial crisis.After the bubble economy burst, the financialcapabilities of many Japanese art museums diminishedsuch that they could no longer afford to possess oracquire Japanese art pieces, whose prices were goingbeyond levels that the museum’s budgets allowed.

In addition, unlike their contemporaries in thewestern world, Japanese art museums do not have largefunds that can support long-term activities. Moreover,the government does not give any special incentive todonors or art and cultural organizations – a schemeput in place in the US and the UK, where a donatedamount is tax-deductible or entitles the donor to havethe collection named after him or her. Westerncountries likewise hold various systematic fundraisingprograms and engage the private sector in the arts, topromote their organizations.

This comparison clearly shows that Japan has notestablished systematic funding support, even ascapitalism and the art market are observed to havebecome inseparable in many parts of the world. It isevident, as well, that art galleries, artists, art collectors,and media in art museums have come to be regarded asbenefits that the government must provide its citizensas these are all funded by tax. But, in Japan, thegovernment has not established a system that cansustain the business of these art museums, an oversightthat has consequently crippled other sectors in theJapanese contemporary art industry. It has beenevident how some art museums have gone out ofbusiness because they did not have adequate funds tomanage and maintain their sites.

Several Japanese art museums founded in the early 21st

century have started to engage the general public,curators, architects, and specialists from different areassomehow involved in the process—from planning,designing and constructing the museums, to sourcingart collections which resulted in outstanding

architectural design and remarkable exhibitionprograms, aside from reflecting transparency in thework process. This was in keeping with the liberaldemocracy nature of Japan. Still, the funding used tomaintain the museums continues to be sourced fromlocal government bodies. The negative affect of thisarrangement will be palpable and inevitable once theeconomy falls.

Many private art museums in Japan have established afund to help in the long-term sustainable managementof the sites. But the limitations of this set-up remainevident. For example, the museums housing them aresmall scale and lack collection variety. To build a goodcollection takes time and consistency, along with thevision to see which collections will be of greathistorical value in the future. To achieve this statusagain requires time and effort on the part of curators,historians, and critics who design and plan collectionsthat reveal powerful histories.

Art museums are often connected to politics in manyways – through policy, the economy, society, andculture. It is therefore important to maintain a goodproportion of each element and fit them together withthe budget.

Currently, Japanese art museums are facing difficultiesfrom a tight budget, while experiencing the need toreview their role in presenting contemporary art in avery competitive global arena, and to simultaneouslyprovide more knowledge to society. Theseresponsibilities add up to a huge burden in the face oflimited manpower. We have yet to see how these artmuseums will adjust themselves and survive the toughcurrent in the future.

NOTES

1 Yamauchi, Maiko (Curator of The Museum of Modern Art,Kamakura). 2011. Interview by author, July 21.

2 Murakami, Hiroya. 2010. Interview by author. Tokyo.October 12.

3 Suzuki, Hiroyuki. 2010. Interview by author, October 29

4 Nakata, Koichi. 2011. Interview by author, June 26

5 Watari, Koichi. 2010. Interview by author. August 29

6 Akimoto, Yuji. 2011. Interview by author, June 7.

164 Panel 4


7 Fudo, Misato. 2011. Interview by author, June 7.

8 Hirayabashi, Megumi. 2011. Interview by author, June 7.

9 Akimoto, Yuji. 2011. Interview by author, June 7.

10 Minami, Yusuke. 2010. Interview by author, September 17.

REFERENCES

Baniotopoulou, Evdoxia. 2001. Art for whose sake? Modern artmuseums and their role in transforming societies: The case ofthe Guggenheim Bilbao. Journal of Conservation and MuseumStudies, 07: 1-15.

Fudo, Misato. 2007. The Museum as the Site of a QuietRevolution of the People / An Interview with TATEHATAAkira. A journal on contemporary art and culture. The 21st

Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 04: 9-15.

Fudo, Misato. 2011. Beginning of the Endless Dialogue of Post-Collection. The Collection Catalog of 21st Century Museum ofContemporary Art, Kanazawa. Bluemark Inc. 1-2.

Haseagawa, Yuko. 2004. What is 21st century art museum? In AMuseum of the New Century, The Vision and Innovation of the21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. BijutsuShuppan Ltd.

Mauhler, Marina Gizinic. 2002. Does Contemporary Art NeedMuseums anymore? A journal on contemporary art and culture.The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 01:10-15.

WEBSITES

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa,Museum Timeline http://www.kanazawa21.jp/data_list.php?g=50&d=1&lng=e

Benesse Art Site Naoshima, History

http://www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/about/history.html

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