Arts Initiative Tokyo
Encyclopedia
Arts Initiative Tokyo a not-for-profit independent collective of curator
s and art
administrator
s based in Tokyo
, Japan
. It is especially concerned with contemporary art
.
It was founded in 2001 by six curators and arts administrators: Yuko Ozawa (Director), Yoko Miyahara (Mori Art Museum
), Keisuke Ozawa (independent curator, Associate Director Art Fair Tokyo, lecturer Joshibi), Yasu Nakamori (Curator, Lecturer, Houston), Fumihiko Sumitomo (independent curator) and Roger McDonald (independent curator, lecturer Meiji University
, Joshibi).
AIT was registered as a non profit organisation (NPO) by the City of Tokyo in 2002.
Its main initiatives are: Tokyo's first systematic artist in residence program partnering with organisations such as IASPIS
, Asialink
and FRAME, and an independent contemporary art school called MAD.
The artist in residence program has hosted many artists and curators from around the world. Most stay in AIT's refurbished traditional Japanese store-house in Yukigaya, Tokyo. Most residencies is for three months, although curators tend to come for one month. The residency program is not an open application one, instead operating on a partnership model, with various international arts organisations and Japanese Foundations.
MAD is an acronym for Making Art Different. It offered the first course in curatorial studies in Japan in 2001. In 2011 MAD ceased offering courses and instead initiated a flexible, self-selecting system in which students purchase numbers of lectures to create their own course of study. 111 lectures are offered in 2011.
AIT does not hold a permanent exhibition space, rather working out of an office/ classroom in the area Daikanyama
of Tokyo.
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
s and art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
administrator
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
s based in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It is especially concerned with contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
.
It was founded in 2001 by six curators and arts administrators: Yuko Ozawa (Director), Yoko Miyahara (Mori Art Museum
Mori Art Museum
The Mori Art Museum is a contemporary art museum founded by the real estate developer Minoru Mori in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in the Roppongi Hills complex both of which he built in Tokyo, Japan....
), Keisuke Ozawa (independent curator, Associate Director Art Fair Tokyo, lecturer Joshibi), Yasu Nakamori (Curator, Lecturer, Houston), Fumihiko Sumitomo (independent curator) and Roger McDonald (independent curator, lecturer Meiji University
Meiji University
is a private university in Tokyo and Kawasaki, founded in 1881 by three lawyers of the Meiji era, Kishimoto Tatsuo, Miyagi Kōzō, and Yashiro Misao. It is one of the largest and most prestigious Japanese universities in Tokyo, Japan....
, Joshibi).
AIT was registered as a non profit organisation (NPO) by the City of Tokyo in 2002.
Its main initiatives are: Tokyo's first systematic artist in residence program partnering with organisations such as IASPIS
IASPIS
IASPIS, The International Artists Studio Program in Stockholm, is an exchange program financed by the Swedish Government.IASPIS facilitates a creative dialogue between visual artists in Sweden and other countries...
, Asialink
Asialink
Asialink works together with business, government, philanthropic and cultural partners to encourage relationships between Asia and Australia. Founded in 1990 in a joint collaboration with the Australian Government's Commission for the Future and the Myer Foundation, Asialink continues in its...
and FRAME, and an independent contemporary art school called MAD.
The artist in residence program has hosted many artists and curators from around the world. Most stay in AIT's refurbished traditional Japanese store-house in Yukigaya, Tokyo. Most residencies is for three months, although curators tend to come for one month. The residency program is not an open application one, instead operating on a partnership model, with various international arts organisations and Japanese Foundations.
MAD is an acronym for Making Art Different. It offered the first course in curatorial studies in Japan in 2001. In 2011 MAD ceased offering courses and instead initiated a flexible, self-selecting system in which students purchase numbers of lectures to create their own course of study. 111 lectures are offered in 2011.
AIT does not hold a permanent exhibition space, rather working out of an office/ classroom in the area Daikanyama
Daikanyama
, or simply , is a place in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.The Japanese Postal Code of Daikanyama is 150-0034.-Geography:Daikanyama contains luxury boutiques and upscale pastry shops. In many respects, Aoyama, Omotesando, and Daikanyama all share things in common—they are in central Tokyo and have small...
of Tokyo.