On Thursday, 11 May 2006, the fifth talk of the ArtTalk series entitled 'On top of a Skyscraper in an Earthquake Zone: The Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, its position, policy and funding' was given by David Elliott, Director of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo . In this talk Elliott discussed the policy of and financial model for the new Mori Art Museum in Tokyo - a privately funded institution that has a wide-ranging public purpose. Located atop a skyscraper, the Mori Art Museum is part of the urban development enterprise, Roppongi Hills. With a vision of showing contemporary art in a new way , the museum sets the standard for a new kind of public institution. As Hong Kong is contemplating a sustainable model of designing, financing and managing an unprecedented cultural project in West Kowloon , Elliott’s sharing of his experience were of critical interest to art and culture policy-makers, art professionals, cultural journalists and anyone who cares about new modes of museum development. Elliott also showed examples of past exhibitions as well as some future plans to illustrate the talk.

About the speaker
David Elliott became the first Director of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo in November 2001, and was intensively involved in the preparations for its opening in October 2003. He now leads a staff of about fifty people working on exhibition and education programs about modern and contemporary art, design and architecture. He is the first non-Japanese director of an art museum in Japan. Elliott was previously the Director of The Museum of Modern Art in Oxford , England (1976-96), and Director of Moderna Museet ( the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art ) , Stockholm, Sweden (1996-2001). He has worked as curator, cultural historian, lecturer and writer on art and culture. He was also President of CIMAM (International Committee of ICOM for Museums and Collections of Modern Art) from 1998 to 2004. Throughout his career, Elliott has focused on contemporary art and the relationship between art and culture and particularly on the Avant-garde art, photography and film of Germany, Russia and the Soviet Union. He was also one of the first curators in the west to regularly incorporate non-western art into a program of contemporary art. He has written many books and catalogues on these subjects as well as about the present day role of modern art museums.

 

This was the fifth in a series of six talks organised by the International Association of Art Critics Hong Kong (AICA /HK ), supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. The ArtTalk series aims to encourage intelligent topical debate about current art and cultural issues of interest to both specialist art and cultural workers and to the general public.

Supported by: 
Hong Kong Arts Development Council

With special thanks to : 
Hong Kong Independent Curators Association, JIA boutique hotel