Designing Society Through Art A Collaboration Between Citizens and Cultural Institutions Written by Sawako Inaniwa &Tatsuya Ito (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum) (Tokyo University of the Arts) Edited by Tobira Project Seigensha Art Publishing The Special Monday Course at Van Gogh and Gauguin: Reality and Imagination (2016) The second cohort of Tobira on their graduation day (2016) The “You too can be a Girl with a Pearl Earring” program (2012) Preface This book covers the six years of activities carried out as part of the Tobira Project, a social design project based in museums, the aim of which is to foster communities through art. The project comprises art communicators (called “Tobira”) from all walks of life, curators and university educators, and experts working on the front line; together, these participants harness the museums’ cultural resources and develop activities that bring people closer to artworks, venues, and other people. The Tobira Project began in 2012, when the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum reopened after renovations, launched by the museum and the neighboring Tokyo University of the Arts. The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum aims to become a “Doorway to Art,” where visitors of all ages – from babies to the elderly – come to the exhibitions, up-and-coming artists first show their work, and people with disabilities feel welcome. Meanwhile, Tokyo University of the Arts seeks to engage with not just the material works on which art is founded, but also with art as an enterprise. It endeavors to increase opportunities for people to participate in society through art and discover new values. We believe that in today’s Japan, which is said to be a mature society, we must henceforth tackle two societal issues: how to value diversity, and how to link those diverse elements together. Herein lies the mission we have set ourselves with the Tobira Project. A Tobira’s term lasts three years. In that time, the Tobira use art to devise spaces for dialogue in which everyone can participate on an equal footing, and come up with activities that bring together different kinds of people with diverse values. The Tobira consist of a variety of people aged eighteen or over: office workers, educators, students, freelancers, retirees, housewives, and so on. The Tobira are volunteers, but they are more than that. They are key players, working alongside experts like curators and university educators. After they have finished their terms, they remain active across society as art communicators. We hope that this book can be of help to all those who will continue to collaborate with citizens, confronting regional issues from their museums and other cultural institutions, with a view to creating new communities. Designing Society Through Art A Collaboration Between Citizens and Cultural Institutions Preface Introduction – From Education to Art Communication Chapter One – Forging Connections in Museums: The Tobira’s Activities Case 1: The Tobira as “Girls with Pearl Earrings”? A museum for all, created by a hundred people – Tatsuya Ito Case 2: “Go with the Tobira Board!” & “Tobi-Badge Project,” two Tobi-Labo enhancing the museum experience Born of their own accord: The structure of the Tobi-Labo – Tatsuya Ito Case 3: “The Scent of Botticelli,” a workshop created with the help of a deaf person Column: “A place where you can be like this” – Yoshiaki Nishimura Tobira Interview: “How to spend three valuable years of your life” – Shunichi Nagai (Tobira 2015–2018) Chapter Two – The Museum as a Community-building Hub Case 4: “Wonderful Discoveries in Ueno,” a collaboration between museums in Ueno Park Museum Start iUeno: A learning design project – Sawako Inaniwa Case 5: The “Special Monday Course,” a day for encountering real art Building a system of collaboration between children and adults – Sawako Inaniwa Case 6: “Museum Trips” connecting people from different backgrounds Column: “Where the Tobira Project is headed” – Katsuhiko Hibino Tobira Interview: “Something I might be able to do too” – Sakura Kajiura (Tobira 2017–2020) Chapter Three – Quality Communication That Opens Doors in Society Case 7: The Tobira after the Project, Part 1 – As a designer, as a curator Art communicators beyond the Tobira Project – Tatsuya Ito Case 8: The Tobira after the Project, Part 2 – “Installing” activities in society Art communicators and society – Sawako Inaniwa Column: “The innovations of the Art Communication Programs” – Tsukasa Mori Tobira Interview: “Somewhere to get something out of art” – Noriko Kondo (Tobira 2013–2016) Chapter Four – The Tobira Project’s Present and Future How the Tobira Project Works *This book introduces the activities of the collaborative project run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and Tokyo University of the Arts, partly through interviewing those involved. The numbers in brackets after people’s names indicate their age at the time of the publication of the Japanese edition (October 2018). Introduction – From Education to Art Communication What is the Tobira Project? There are art museums in many of Japan’s cities and towns, and their role is now starting to change significantly. In fact, it is fair to say that these museums are awakening a force that has always lain dormant within them. There are, however, few structures in place that help citizens to meet up and think about the possibilities that these museums, as public spaces, offer – or to play a proactive part in their activities. The Tobira Project began in 2012 as an attempt to make this happen. The Tobira Project is a collaborative social design project that brings together the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (a.k.a. “the Tobi”) and Tokyo University of the Arts (a.k.a. “Geidai”), both located in Tokyo’s Ueno Onshi Park (henceforth “Ueno Park”), and members of the public. Around forty new “art communicators” (nicknamed “Tobira”) join the project every year; they devise social activities based in museums, while sharing a learning space with museum curators and experts from the art university. With each Tobira serving a fixed three-year term, the 120-odd Tobira get to interact in all kinds of ways as they build the society of the future. The Tobira Project brings people of all ages and walks of life together to think about new ways to connect people with public spaces. This is why we describe it as a “social design project.” Tobira come from many different generations, ranging from eighteen to seventy years old. People in work – a demographic known as shakaijin – and between their late twenties and forties make up the biggest group, followed by housewives, and retirees in their sixties. Some 250 people apply each year, around five or six for each place. Throughout the year, the Tobira hold over three hundred meetings, or “Tobi-Labo,” on their own initiative, and they ping comments to each other every day via dedicated online channels. The Tobira, or “art communicators,” are at the heart of the Tobira Project – but what does their role consist of? The word “Tobira” is a nickname which refers to “Tobi,” a Japanese abbreviation of “Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum,” as well as the Japanese word tobira or “door,” as in “opening new doors.” The Tobira are volunteers, but they are more than that. They are key players, working alongside experts like curators and university educators. We are sometimes asked whether the Tobira Project should be seen as a souped-up museum volunteering scheme. Not at all, we reply. A big difference with this project is that the museum, the university, and members of the public work as a team, approaching social issues on an equal footing, like co-researchers. Moreover, the project envisions that each and every Tobira will remain an art communicator even after completing their three-year term, and continue to bring people together through art, wherever they might be. This is another significant difference. Another common question: “If the Tobira Project is not a volunteering scheme, is it an ‘art project’?” It is certainly a project that unfolds through art; yet it differs from the so-called art projects that began in the 1990s, whereby artists head to the provinces, unearth the region’s cultural resources, and work with the locals to create works and new values. The greatest difference is that the project does not revolve around artists. Of course, when it comes to the Tobira’s activities, artworks and cultural artifacts are among their most important resources. However, the Tobira are not there to support artists in their work. Rather, their purpose is to launch their own activities proactively by pooling their individual skills and ideas, and harnessing the works and artifacts exhibited in museums. Another difference is the fact that the Tobira’s activities are permanently based in museums. But this does not mean that they organize participatory projects around exhibitions devoted to artists. The Tobira Project runs parallel to museums’ exhibitions, its activities unfolding throughout the year as an independent project. All year round, the Tobira hold regular meetings in which, through trial and error, they devise their activities. As a result, the programs they come up with are not included in the calendars released by museums at the start of the year. For the Tobira work out both the number of projects and their dates as they go along. The evolving role of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, where the Tobira’s activities are based, was created in 1926 as the Tokyo Prefectural Art Museum – Japan’s first public art museum. It was established after Keitaro Sato, a wealthy coal merchant from Kyushu who dreamed of having a Western-style museum in Tokyo, the nation’s capital, donated one million yen (3.2 billion yen in today’s money) to the Tokyo government.