The Museum as an Art Platform / Archive
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
Hattori Hiroyuki, Nakao Tomomichi

In Asia, there are surprisingly few art museums with a focus on Asian art.
Following on from the Asia-related activities of the Fukuoka Art Museum, theFukuoka Asian Art Museum opened in 1999 as an institution specializing in Asianart. These combined efforts for around forty years to build up a collection ofartworks and body of research into Asian art have become an important
cornerstone of art activities in the region. In this interview, Nakao Tomomichi ofthe Fukuoka Asian Art Museum shares his insights on the past, present, andfuture of the art museum within the context of art museums serving as art
platforms and archives.

Zoom Interview[Zoomインタビュー]アートプラットフォーム／アーカイブとしての美…

Guest: Nakao Tomomichi (Curator, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum)Interviewer: Hattori Hiroyuki
Date of interview: October 15, 2020

Re ecting on the interview
Nakao Tomomichi
What can be done only in Fukuoka? I think this question became a reference
point for the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum when over forty years ago, the Fukuoka
Art Museum decided to present an Asian art exhibition instead of a contemporary
American art exhibition for its opening commemorative exhibition.

At the 1st Asian Art Show, Fukuoka held at the Fukuoka Art Museum in 1980, theworks of 470 artists from thirteen countries were introduced. Since then, curators
specializing in Asian art have continued to travel to Asian countries and gain
firsthand knowledge of their art, and introduce artists and important artistic
movements that have never been shown in Japan before. This approach has also
been handed down to the five “Fukuoka Asian Art Triennales” held at the Fukuoka
Asian Art Museum, established in 1999.

Having said that, after entering into the 2000s we have seen a continuous streamof large-scaled international exhibitions in Japan and across Asia, and this has
gradually forced us to shi the focus of what can only be done in Fukuoka.

For one thing, we must streamline what we have accumulated through ourpioneering activities over the past forty years, namely, the many artworks andvarious archive-related materials that have entered our collection with eachexhibition, further our knowledge of these materials, and make them available foruse.

We must also expand and enrich the intersection between the everyday interestof the Japanese people and Asian art. While as a museum we have always placed
importance on the reconsideration of modernity and valued the perspective ofminority peoples, we must additionally access areas that are closer to oureveryday, for example, pop culture, environmental issues and global education.
The exchange and empathy we have fostered through our residence programs
will also surely continue to energize our museum.

Until now, we have generated a cycle of building networks among other Asianregions through periodic field work, organizing exhibitions and residence
programs, and collecting artwork. Although maintaining this cycle on our own has
become a greater challenge due to Covid-19, among other reasons, we believethat it is always possible to renew our network by exchanging information andpassion with our fellow Asian countries.

Related Keywords
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Singapore Art Museum andNational Gallery Singapore