Surrealism Beyond Borders<\/a><\/em>, which challenges the established narrative of the movement as focused on 1920s Paris, taking a wider view on surrealism around the world. The Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational, which Singh works with, supported the research that undergirds this exhibition.<\/p>\nOne of the aims of this research center is to redefine the Tate collection, shifting the narrative away from the traditional focus on Western Europe and North America by highlighting new perspectives on global art histories. For its annual conference in 2020, the center collaborated with the Mori Art Museum and Sophia University to present \u201cFrom Alexandria to Tokyo: Art, Colonialism and Entangled History,\u201d an attempt to address the perspectives of art, non-European colonialism, and experiences of domination. As an institution engaging with the legacy of British imperialism, it is crucial for the museum to incorporate the perspectives of the dominated, and it brings together curators from different fields, regions, and specializations for this purpose. The Tate currently has 13 curators, as well as adjunct curators based in various cities and curators specializing in diasporic and indigenous art.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking transnationally, as a UK national institution in London, relates to what we do, to who we are, as well as to whom we speak to. The diversity of our audiences, in terms not only of who they are, but what their expectations are for the museum, is very much at the forefront of what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Austria: Jasper Sharp (Director of Phileas)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Founded in 2014, Phileas seeks to strengthen the voice of Austrian and Austrian-based artists on the international landscape. According to founder Jasper Sharp, the reasons the organization was set up were that many artists who work in Vienna felt they were missing contact with the rest of the world, and that Austria\u2019s public funding system for the arts is passive, waiting for applications rather than actively seeking opportunities for artists. Phileas reaches out to the world to help make international exhibition opportunities possible for artists, who in Austria are already receiving sufficient public support and have opportunities to exhibit their work domestically.<\/p>\n
A rarity in Austria, Phileas is a private organization funded by philanthropists based both within and outside the country. They not only provide funding, but are also welcomed as collaborators into the production of various projects and activities. For example, were Phileas to produce an exhibition for the Gwangju Biennale, the funders would help select the project to be funded, visit the studio of the artist, and travel to the opening of the project.<\/p>\n
Phileas supports artists in many ways, including during the process of creating artworks for museums and\/or international exhibitions. They contact arts institutions around the world directly, propose to collaborate, and respond to concepts with artist portfolios. They then organize studio visits in the hope that curators will find something to include in their exhibitions. So far, Phileas has collaborated three times with the Venice Biennale and four times with the Liverpool Biennial, and has also sent Austrian artists to the Lyon and Sydney Biennales. Finally, they seek to donate the works produced to museums around the world. Phileas grants are almost always made jointly with the Austrian Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture at a near 50-50 ratio. This allows the government to direct its funding toward a higher quality of support that is more in line with the realities on the ground.<\/p>\n
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Annual activities<\/strong><\/p>\nPhileas\u2019s activities include a year-round visitor program, which involves arranging for curators from abroad to visit artists\u2019 studios, galleries, and other spaces for research. They have also initiated a program to invite art critics to Austria, and are officially beginning to invite museum groups as well. And in an effort to help up-and-coming artists, they publish a series called \u201cFirst Monographs,\u201d the fruits of which can be sent out to people around the world to promote the artist.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Phileas will be opening its own exhibition space in the center of Vienna, which will serve as a venue for events including exhibitions and projects, talks and performances, and film screenings. It will also be a research center for international curators visiting Austria. Additionally, Phileas is preparing to offer opportunities for curators working in Austria to spend time abroad and is looking into providing an internship program\u2014all with a staff of six people.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur activities resemble filling in the missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle,\u201d says Sharp, who holds that Phileas\u2019s activities have helped double the presence of Austrian artists abroad compared to five or six years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re having an ongoing conversation about how we can tie the activities of government, artists, curators, and philanthropists together in a way that joins the dots in the most fruitful manner.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Singapore: Horikawa Lisa (Director (Curatorial & Collections), National Gallery Singapore)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The National Gallery Singapore was established in November 2015 after a decade-long renovation of the two colonial-era buildings that house the institution: the former Supreme Court building and the City Hall, both located in the heart of Singapore. The museum holds the world\u2019s largest collection of modern and contemporary art from Singapore and Southeast Asia, a collection that reflects the significance of diversity and inclusiveness in the multicultural, multi-ethnic society that is Singapore. The National Gallery interprets Southeast Asian art history in the context of global art history and conducts research and programming activities aimed at presenting the art of the region to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
According to Horikawa, the institution views history not as something static, but as the subject of ongoing investigation, questioning, and rewriting. Interestingly, this view is similar to that presented by Devika Singh of the UK\u2019s Tate, a museum in the country that formerly ruled Singapore.<\/p>\n
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The distinctive evolution of Southeast Asian museums<\/strong><\/p>\nMany museums in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries have their origins in colonial-era museums. As such, the way in which they collect and categorize art and artifacts and write history has been inextricably tied with the colonial period. After independence, many of these countries immediately sought to reclaim their identity by redefining their history, including by building museums to showcase their own collections and stories. Singapore, too, established the National Museum Art Gallery in\u00a01976, followed by the Singapore Art Museum in 1996 and the National Gallery Singapore in 2015. Collections from the 19th and 20th centuries are now managed by\u00a0the National Gallery Singapore, while works of contemporary art mainly from the past two decades are the domain of the Singapore Art Museum\u00a0(how to differentiate the two institutions\u2019 collections from each other is a matter of ongoing consideration). Unlike collections in other Southeast Asian countries that concentrate on each country\u2019s own art history, the\u00a0National Gallery Singapore\u2019s collection takes as its focus the entire Southeast Asian region: the 8,000-plus works cover the\u00a0Malay Peninsula and the wider region, and are\u00a0organized around three main themes: Singapore, Southeast Asia, and ink art.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Forming, managing, and storing collections in an organized manner:\u00a0Singapore\u2019s cultural policy<\/strong><\/p>\nThe national art museum of Singapore comprises three public institutions, the National Gallery Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, and STPI (Singapore Tyler Print Institute), which form a private entity called the Visual Arts Cluster. This semi-public, semi-private structure allows for flexibility in museum operations, as well as shared use of personnel and facilities.<\/p>\n
A feature of Singapore\u2019s cultural policy is that the entire national collection is managed and administered by the National Heritage Board (NHB), which has a section tasked with the conservation and restoration of artworks. Works not on display are kept at the Heritage Conservation Center and managed by specialist registrars and conservators. Having the national collection under one umbrella facilitates cross-museum collection access and information sharing on curatorial research and collection management. This also contributes to the utilization of cultural assets in cooperation with art education initiatives and schools. In addition to each museum\u2019s acquisition review committee, a National Collection Advisory Panel has been established to prevent conflicts of interest and to ensure a unified approach to collection strategy.<\/p>\n
The National Gallery Singapore is committed to working with both local and international stakeholders and partners on joint research for traveling exhibitions and programs. Rather than creating pre-packaged traveling exhibitions, the institution seeks to jointly produce exhibitions that connect various topics and explore regional narratives. It also organizes workshops and discussions that bring together experts from across Asia.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the National Gallery Singapore, which aims to reimagine art from a postcolonial\u00a0perspective, regional collaboration and cooperation is an invaluable process,\u201d says Horikawa.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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\u201dCentury of Light,\u201d an exhibition co-presented with the Mus\u00e9e d’Orsay and the Art Gallery of South Australia, 2018.<\/p>\n
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Session 3: Discussion\/Q&A \u2013 \u201cThe Roles and the Mission of Japan\u2019s New Art Communication Center (tentative name)\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Panelists:<\/strong><\/p>\nHosaka Kenjiro (Director of the Shiga Museum of Art (SMoA))<\/strong><\/p>\nKoike Ai (Representative of THE CREATIVE FUND, LLP)<\/strong><\/p>\nShiomi Yuko (Director of the Arts Initiative Tokyo (AIT))<\/strong><\/p>\nTsubaki Noboru (Contemporary Artist)<\/strong><\/p>\nUematsu Yuka (Vice Chair of the Contemporary Art Committee Japan, Chief Curator of the National Museum of Art, Osaka)<\/strong><\/p>\nModerator: Kataoka Mami<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Following the presentations of the three international case studies, the symposium panelists, who are involved in the contemporary Japanese art scene in a variety of ways, debated the roles of the new Art Communication Center.<\/p>\n
Hosaka Kenjiro, director of the Shiga Museum of Art, reflected on his experiences during his tenure at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, arguing that it is time to rethink Japanese museum collections\u2014which are usually thought of on a museum-by-museum basis\u2014in order for them to keep pace with the momentum of museums elsewhere in the world. He said that the Tate\u2019s \u201cone collection\u201d approach is very illuminating, and that the challenge for the future is how to make use of the social advantages inherent in a national collection. Hosaka also touched on special exhibitions that tour from one country to the other, holding that the Art Communication Center has great potential to play a role in this area.<\/p>\n
Koike Ai, who has a close relationship with many collectors, was intrigued by the structure of the Tate\u2019s eight acquisition committees. For collectors, the opportunity to be involved in shaping museum collections is very attractive. She emphasized how it is desirable for art experts and collectors to work together to push Japanese art out into the world, and expressed hope that the government would support collectors through legislation such as tax breaks for the donation of artworks, and that art professionals would become more interested in the business side of things.<\/p>\n
Shiomi Yuko of AIT, which works with corporations to support artists, drew attention to the efforts of the Hyundai Tate Research Center. She noted the center\u2019s transnational perspective and its relationship with Hyundai, a corporation, and said that the keywords \u201clinkage\u201d and \u201ccirculation\u201d came to mind. Shiomi also mentioned the global climate crisis and its challenges for art, and expressed hope that the new Art Communication Center will play a leading role in this area, which has not yet seen sufficient attention in Japan.<\/p>\n
As an artist and educator, Tsubaki Noboru has been working in the field of education to create a platform that would help produce new artists. For him, the problem of universities not being able to update themselves is indicative of an issue common to all Japanese organizations. He pointed out that the success of the proposed Art Communication Center depends entirely on the organization\u2019s ability to repeatedly \u201cupgrade\u201d itself.<\/p>\n
Uematsu Yuka, curator at the National Museum of Art, Osaka and a member of the Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan, noted that with 70 years having passed since the establishment of Japan\u2019s first national museum, the time is ripe for a change in the roles of the country\u2019s national museums. However, she argued that careful consideration is needed to determine what sort of \u201cupdate\u201d should be implemented in Japan, where the situation differs from that of the Tate and Singapore in terms of both budgets and scale.<\/p>\n
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The importance of a transnational perspective<\/strong><\/p>\nKataoka Mami touched on the importance of putting forth transnational value while taking into account both the state of domestic cultural affairs and overseas trends. On that note, Hosaka brought up two exhibitions: \u201cSunshower: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now,\u201d held jointly by the Mori Art Museum and The Art Center, Tokyo in 2017; and the following year\u2019s \u201cAwakenings: Arts in Society in Asia 1960s-1990s\u201d at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. While both exhibitions sought to reinterpret Japanese art in the context of Asian art, they were unable to present this as a possible future policy for the Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art as a whole. He pointed out the need for a comprehensive strategy, including in terms of PR, to communicate developments in Japan.<\/p>\n
As Koike pointed out by saying that \u201cContemporary art cannot be discussed only in Japanese terms while ignoring the global context,\u201d cross-border collaboration is becoming increasingly important in our unstable world. Shiomi chimed in by saying that \u201cArtists are already acting transnationally, and I think it\u2019s important to take their knowledge onboard.\u201d Tsubaki, meanwhile, expressed hope that government would \u201ccatch up\u201d with what artists are doing on the ground. \u201cWe need to update the current situation by increasing the number of intermediaries and having curators and administrators become multi-players and work together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tate Modern\u2019s attempt to reinterpret the history of the British Empire by developing its collection transnationally; Phileas\u2019s practical activities, in which the public and private sectors join hands to create win-win relationships that have an immediate effect; and Singapore\u2019s cultural policy, under which the National Heritage Board coordinates between multiple national museums to administer and manage the national collection.\u00a0 All three cases contained many instructive lessons for Japan\u2019s concept of an Art Communication Center, but at the end of the non-stop two-hour symposium, the role expected of the new center felt endlessly vast.<\/p>\n
In conclusion, Uematsu warned that \u201cIf we expect the Center to take responsibility for everything, the picture of the institution may become hazy. Going forward, we ought to think about what it is that should be done and what will be needed, all while listening to a wide variety of voices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concrete discussion concerning the Art Communication Center is still in its early stages. As the new institution builds on the achievements of the Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan from the past five years, I look forward to seeing a diligent approach to the issues at hand and steady implementation\u2014as if fitting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together one by one.<\/p>\n
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Translated by Ilmari Saarinen<\/small><\/p>\n
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As of March 28, 2023, the Art Communication Center (tentative name) was established as the “National Center for Art Research (NCAR)” (Director: Mami Kataoka). <\/small><\/p>\n
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