【英語と教養】アートをもっと身近に - TATE -【ENG SUB】
テート美術館展 光
2023年7月12日、国立新美術館で『テート美術館展 光』が開幕しました。そして翌日13日、テート美術館のコレクションディレクターであるポリー・ステイプル氏による講演会を聞く貴重な機会がありました。
今回の講演会を経て、自分にとって美術館という存在が少し身近になったような、そんな感覚を得ることができたので、内容をご紹介させていただきます。
※引用コメントはポリー氏の言葉を文字起こししたもので聞き間違いなどがある可能性がございますが、ご容赦ください
テートとは
“Tate is responsible for the UK’s national of collection British art, spanning 500 years and international modern and contemporary art that reaches across all continents.”
テート（TATE）は英国美術コレクションを管理・所蔵する組織で、ロンドンのテート・ブリテン、テート・モダンと、テート・リバプール、テート・セント・アイヴスの4つの国立美術館を運営しています。過去500年に渡る英国美術と、世界中の近代・現代美術コレクションを所蔵しています。
テートのビジョンと巡回展を解き明かす
“Tate vision is artistically adventurous, culturally inclusive museum of the UK and the world.”
“Tate mission is to promote public knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of British, modern and contemporary art.”
ポリー氏は講演の中で度々 “inclusivity（包括性）”について述べていました。今回の巡回展が良い例で、イギリスに来られない方（もしくはあまり来たいと思わない方）もテートのコレクションを楽しみ、英国美術に関心を持つきっかけになる展示となっています。
また「Tate Digital」というデジタルコンテンツにも力を入れており、オンライン上も含め平等に、より多くの人がアートに触れられる機会を提供するという、テートのビジョンを理解することができました。
収集戦略（コレクションの多角化と環境への配慮）
“In 2021 we established the new five-year collection strategy that sets Tate’s ambitions: collect strategically, diversify the collection across multiple fields and to do this in a way that produces the environmental impact of our collection on its care.”
テートは2021年に新たな5ヶ年コレクション戦略を策定し、あらゆる分野にわたって多角的に収集を行うこと、そして収集における環境への影響を考慮しています。作品を保管するのに相当なスペースを取るのか、輸送するのが難しくないかなど20項目の検討事項をクリアする必要があります。
コレクションの多角化を象徴する２つの作品
“The painting is a landmark work that reflects on gender, race, religion and education in mid-19th century in London.“
こちらの絵画の作者、レベッカ・ソロモンは、イングランドで初めてプロの芸術家になったユダヤ人女性と言われています。
そしてこの絵画のモデルとなっている黒人女性、ファニー・イートンは、有名なmuse（芸術家のインスピレーションとなる人物）として19世紀半ばのいくつかの象徴的な作品で描かれています。
性別、人種、宗教、教育という観点における’diversity’と’inclusivity’を象徴する作品であるということなのでしょう。
こちらは、グアテマラ出身でマヤ・カクチケル族の芸術家、エドガー・カレルの作品です。
“Tate has entered in a memento shift from traditional concepts of ownership into a knowledge-sharing arrangement with Maya-Kaqchikel people.”
テートはこの作品をacquire（買収）しておらず、13年間のcustodian（管理者）になる契約をしています。契約終了後は新たに契約を結ぶか、他の機関に権利を受け渡すか、はたまた自然に戻すといった選択をすることになります。
これはテート美術館が、従来のように作品を「所有する」という考え方から「共有」という概念でコレクションを多角化していきたいという意図が読み取れます。
テート美術館と日本
UNIQLO Tate Play
“This project is led by the artist, Ei Arakawa and took place over the summer in the Turbine hall. It’s remarkable project because, although it’s for children and families, it’s actually for all of us, the arts that he was helping create, was very interesting and experimental.”
“People can come in and draw everywhere.”
“Rather than just the space to display art, the space itself became the site for people to make art.”
2021年、テート・モダンがユニクロとグローバルパートナーシップを締結し、「UNIQLO Tate Play」というイベントを開催しました。このイベントの指揮をとったのは荒川医（あらかわ えい）という福島県出身の日本人のアーティストで、美術館という空間を「誰もがアートを創造できる場所」として再構築しました。
“In 2012, Tate Modern staged the very important major show of Yayoi Kusama, its work which was curated by the director Frances Morris.”
“Kusama’s infinity rooms, which are on semi-permanent display at Tate Modern in London, are almost sold out, incredibly incredibly popular.”
今や世界的に有名なアーティストである草間彌生さん。テートでもこれまで彼女の展示会を開催しており、2021年から長期間に渡り展示されている「Infinity Mirror Rooms」は、チケットがほとんど完売となるほど人気を博しているようです。
またこれまで日本でも、テート美術館所蔵の作品を展示した「ヌード（2018年／横浜美術館）」や「ジョン・コンスタブル展（2021年／三菱一号館）」が開催されていたとを知り、より日本との繋がりを感じました。
終わりに - テート美術館展 光 を訪れて -
今回の展示は、昔から「光」というのはアーティストにとって一つの作品のテーマであり、時代とともにその表現方法は変化してきたということが理解できる内容でした。
また、ポリー氏の講演に参加したことで、これら美術作品を取り扱う美術館そのものに対する関心が湧いたというのも新たな気付きとなりました。
I’ll see you next time!
Tate Museum Exhibition ‘Light’
On July 12th 2023, a Tate Museum Exhibition ‘LIGHT’ began at the NACT. The following day, the 13th, I had the pleasure of attending a lecture presented by Polly Staple, Tate’s director of the collection of, British art.
This experience made me feel a closer connection to the art museum itself, so I’d love to share some thoughts about the lecture.
※Bear in mind, quoted Polly’s comments are transcriptions by myself, which might possibly be incorrect.
About Tate
“Tate is responsible for the UK’s national of collection British art, spanning 500 years and international modern and contemporary art that reaches across all continents.”
Tate is a network of four national art galleries: Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives, and is responsible for holding and managing the UK’s national collection of art. Tate houses British art spanning a period of 500 years, as well as international modern and contemporary art.
Illuminating Tate’s Vision and Touring Exhibitions
“Tate vision is artistically adventurous, culturally inclusive museum of the UK and the world.”
“Tate mission is to promote public knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of British, modern and contemporary art.”
Polly often mentioned ‘inclusivity’ throughout her presentation. This touring exhibition is a key example of this concept and enables Tate to show its collections to people who might not be able to travel to the UK or may not wish to so that many more people can enjoy the collections.
Furthermore, Tate has ever-evolving digital content, Tate Digital. It helped me understand Tate’s vision that they offer art equally for everyone, including on online platforms.
Tate's Collection Strategy (Diversify the Collection and the Environmental Concern)
“In 2021 we established the new five-year collection strategy that sets Tate’s ambitions: collect strategically, diversify the collection across multiple fields and to do this in a way that produces the environmental impact of our collection on its care.”
In 2021, Tate established the new five-year collecting strategy which aims to diversify the collection across multiple fields, and consider the environmental impact of these acquisitions. There are twenty considerations that any artwork must meet before possible acquisition, for example, “Would the work take up considerable room for storage, would it be difficult to transport or ship?”
Two Works that Illustrate the Diversity of the Collection
“The painting is a landmark work that reflects on gender, race, religion and education in mid-19th century in London.“
Rebecca Solomon is believed to be the first Jewish woman to become a professional artist in England.
In addition, the model for the painting is a Jamaican-born woman who became a prominent muse and is featured in some of the most iconic paintings of the mid-19th century.
I presume this work evokes these aspects of ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusivity’ through notions of gender, race, religion and education.
“Tate has entered in a memento shift from traditional concepts of ownership into a knowledge-sharing arrangement with Maya-Kaqchikel people.”
This is the work by Edgar Calel, who is a Maya-Kaqchikel artist from Guatemala.
As part of the acquisition agreement for this work, Tate cannot own the work but will be a custodian for 13 years. After that time, they will either renew custodianship, pass it to another institution or return the work back to the earth.
This gives us an indication that Tate will endeavour to diversify the collection by shifting from the traditional concept of ‘ownership' into 'knowledge-sharing.'
The Relationship Between Tate and Japan
UNIQLO Tate Play
“This project is led by the artist, Ei Arakawa and took place over the summer in the Turbine hall. It’s remarkable project because, although it’s for children and families, it’s actually for all of us, the arts that he was helping create, was very interesting and experimental.”
“People can come in and draw everywhere.”
“Rather than just the space to display art, the space itself became the site for people to make art.”
In 2021, Tate Modern made an agreement of global partnership with UNIQLO and staged the programme, ‘UNIQLO Tate Play’. This project was led by a Japanese artist, Ei Arakawa from Fukushima. He turned the art museum into a site for anyone to create art, which gave us new perspectives on art museums.
“In 2012, Tate Modern staged the very important major show of Yayoi Kusama, its work which was curated by the director Frances Morris.”
“Kusama’s infinity rooms, which are on semi-permanent display at Tate Modern in London, are almost sold out, incredibly incredibly popular.”
Tate has staged the exhibition of the world-renowned artist, Yayoi Kusama who’s works of ‘Infinity mirror rooms’, which are on semi-permanent display, are so popular that the tickets for the exhibition seem to be almost sold out.
Also, there were some exhibitions that were featured in Tate’s collection in Japan, including; ‘NUDE’ at Yokohama Museum in 2018 and ‘John Constable Exhibition’ at Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in 2021. I hadn’t before realised this, so it made me feel more connected to Tate.
Concluding
This exhibition illustrates that ‘Light’ has always been one of the themes of work for artists and the way of expressing light changed through the ages.
In addition, I gained an insight into art museums themselves by hearing the presentation by Polly, which was very inspiring.
I’ll see you next time!