By Ines Min
Staff reporter
China, India and the Middle East are the next big regions to explore for upcoming Asian art, according to famed Japanese art director Fumio Nanjo.
Speaking at the Gyeonggi Creation Center Monday to a crowd of just under 100 students, artists and curators, the visiting director laid out his vision of the future of art in the East. Nanjo, who was here on a mentorship program for resident artists at the center, gave the public lecture for free before returning to Japan.
"The museum boom in Japan was actually in the 1970s through the 1990s," said Nanjo, the director of Mori Art Museum, but the art market has become increasingly stagnant since the late 1980s. "Now this boom is going to China. Their museums are like mushrooms," he said jokingly.
An increase in museum and gallery numbers in China was catalyzed with the transformation of the 798 Dashanzi District in Beijing, a once large factory area, from 2000. Abandoned spaces were transformed in a similar fashion afterward. However, the creation of the nearby Caochangdi Village changed the nature of the game, choosing instead to build an art community from scratch, and spurring others to follow. In Caochangdi, entire blocks of gray brick structures line the streets ― all windowless, as galleries have no need for them.
In the Middle East, Hussain Sharif was one of the first proponents of contemporary art in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar have since seen an influx of galleries, and Nanjo was even surprised to receive an invitation to a traditional gallery by Sheik Rashid in Bahrain.
Continuing the art fervor, Abu Dhabi is in the process of constructing an entire cultural zone on Saadiyat Island, which will include four major museums: the Abu Dhabi Louvre designed by Jean Nouvel, a new Guggenheim by Frank Gehry, a Maritime Museum by Tadao Ando and a Performing Arts Centre by Zaha Hadid.
"Asia has a huge diversity of culture, so a new society, country, is always coming into the field," Nanjo said. "These cultures are all exchanging their art with each other, and knowledge about each other. So there will be a huge cloud of common knowledge."
The intercultural exchange within the art field is evident even throughout the industry, he said. "If you go to an art fair in Asia, there will be a Taiwanese buyer of Indonesian art, and an Indonesian buying Thai art. Korean galleries are showing Japanese artists and Hong Kong showing Chinese."
Precisely because Asia is a "growing inspiration," Nanjo added, "It is quite important to use your own culture, vernacular and traditional culture, but also to look past the boundaries between countries."
Additionally, museums and galleries in Asia must veer away from the characteristics of the West to find their own style.
"What is a museum for Asia? In Japan, many museums try to be the Pompidou, Tate Modern or the MOMA, but none can succeed. All those museums are non-functioning, and only a handful of unique museums exist." Instead, look into "what kind of museum is possible, rather than which one to copy."
As for how to create a unique space for art, Nanjo recommended keeping a goal in mind. "A collection has to have a direction, it cannot cover everything," he said, admitting that the industry has grown more difficult for curators.
"It used to be an age of museums, but that's over now and it's the age of collectors." For example, he said, the British gallery White Cube was the star of last month's Hong Kong International Art Fair, with its Damien Hirst piece valued at $2.3 million. The item was bought by a private Taiwanese collector, but museums and galleries have no hope of spending so lavishly on a single piece.
"Museums have to use a different strategy...they cannot get work by major artists." However, by focusing on emerging and young artists, they can bring new offerings to the field. Just look for those with "a certain smell of edge."
"But don't ask me how to find it," Nanjo said with a laugh. "It's quite hard."