How is the value of art created?

A series exploring the relationship between Japanese art and business, economics, and marketing from an advertising agency's perspective, along with its future. In the first installment, Hiroshi Onishi of Tokyo University of Science, specializing in marketing, and Takuma Uehara of Dentsu Inc. introduced the potential of art using case studies. This time, a roundtable discussion was held with Yuko Shiomi of Arts Initiative Tokyo (AIT), an NPO active at the forefront of Japan's art world, and Hiroyasu Wakabayashi and Takuma Uehara of Dentsu Inc., who manage the art marketing project "Bijutsu Kōro" (Art Circuit).

※Session 1: " Can Art Be Marketed?"

AIT: Creating Accessible Spaces for Contemporary Art

Uehara: AIT, which now has strong connections both domestically and internationally, began its activities in the early 2000s. I believe it is an organization that has grown alongside the maturation of the Japanese art market. First, Ms. Shiomi, could you tell us about the activities AIT has undertaken so far?

Shiomi: AIT was founded in 2001 by curators and art managers, becoming an NPO the following year. While many artist collectives operate as groups, it was still rare at the time for people with specialized expertise to establish an NPO like AIT.

Also, 2001 was the year the first Yokohama Triennale was held, and we could really feel the growing social interest in contemporary art. We heard voices from audiences reacting to the works saying, "We want to know more about art!" and hundreds of volunteers participated, supporting the day-to-day operations of the Triennale.

Uehara: So it was a time when people who wanted to be directly involved with art began to emerge.

Shiomi: Yes. But on the other hand, there were almost no places for audiences who weren't working in art to learn about it. While universities taught art management, I felt something was missing: there were hardly any places in Japan where you could study art with an international or critical perspective on the content (the works) you were managing, and use that knowledge to invigorate the field. Contemporary art, in particular, is deeply connected to economics, society, and history. It's also an intellectual field built on ongoing discussions grounded in these areas. Creating a school for those discussions was one of the reasons AIT was founded.

Uehara: That's the contemporary art lecture series "MAD" (Making Art Different) hosted by AIT.

Shiomi: Yes. After 15 or 16 years, MAD graduates have built careers in the art world and are now involved in important projects.

Uehara: Beyond education, AIT is also involved in artist-in-residence programs, right?

Shiomi: Yes. Artist-in-Residence programs involve artists staying in a foreign country for a set period, engaging in international cultural exchange through artwork creation and research. They became active mainly in Europe from the 1960s-70s. In Japan, facilities started being built in regional cities from the 90s, but there were almost none in Tokyo. Creating an institutionalized Artist-in-Residence program in Tokyo was one of the motivations for establishing AIT.

Scene from a workshop by a residency artist. Photo by Yukiko Koshima

Wakabayashi: Nowadays, places like Tokyo Wonder Site (TWS) have become established as residences.

Shiomi: TWS also started its activities in 2001, the same year as AIT (though the residency opened in 2006). I think we shared the same concern back then: "Tokyo should be an international city economically and culturally, yet it lacks a place to welcome artists."

With limited capital, we started our residency program in 2003, based out of a small apartment in Mukojima. Today, while education (MAD) and residencies remain our core activities, we also advise on and manage corporate-led cultural programs for companies like Mercedes-Benz, Monex Securities, and Nissan.

Wakabayashi: Starting initiatives like education and residencies from scratch must have been incredibly challenging, right?

Shiomi: Yes, it was. But we knew the need existed, and we believed starting small and gradually expanding was the way to go. AIT's first partner institution was IASPIS, a Swedish government-affiliated foundation. Other overseas cultural institutions with bases in Japan, like those from France, the UK, and Germany, also shared a frustration: they were welcoming many Japanese artists to their countries for cultural exchange, yet when sending their own artists to Japan, they often found no suitable host institutions.

In terms of challenges, while residency programs typically focus on studio-based creation at the host location, maintaining studios was financially difficult for AIT. That's why we wanted to create a residency that leveraged Tokyo's unique characteristics and stood out from others. Precisely because Tokyo is this unique place where massive amounts of information and people move at incredible speed, there are things we can offer artists. For example, they can gain new and stimulating information, meet people with specialized knowledge, or view the residency as an opportunity for research and development.

Uehara: Alongside introducing international artists to Japan, you also play a vital role in the art circuit beyond just financial value—cultivating audiences and nurturing talent for the art industry.

Shiomi: In 2008, we organized an auction featuring works by artists from our residency program, aimed at fundraising and charity. We want to maintain this awareness of creating markets.

Wakabayashi: AIT was also involved in last year's " Nissan Art Award 2015." It seems corporate support for art has become more prominent recently. What's the background behind this?

Shiomi: Actually, corporate support for arts and culture began much earlier. The "Corporate Art Patronage Council" was established in 1990 to connect companies engaged in cultural support activities and promote their growth. What stands out particularly since around 2000 is how fashion and music have increasingly linked with art, gaining global exposure through media.

Fashion and art seem highly compatible for various reasons. Regarding Nissan, there's also the perspective of design and art. I understand that Chairman Carlos Ghosn believes one reason for Nissan's business success in Japan is "the presence of cultural resources." He appreciates the creators of Japanese culture, recognizing how this influences areas like car design. This appreciation led to the creation of the contemporary art award.

Nissan Art Award 2015 Grand Prix: Yuko Mouri, "More More: Given Waterfall #1–3," 2015. Photo: Keizo Kioku. Photo Courtesy: Nissan Art Award

"Nissan Art Award 2015" Guided Tour Scene Photo: Yukiko Koshima

How is Japanese art evaluated globally?

Shiomi: By the way, I hear you like contemporary art, Wakabayashi-san.

Wakabayashi: Yes. Actually, at Dentsu Inc., besides me, there are others who moonlight as artists, or who launch their own art projects—there are quite a few art enthusiasts.

Uehara: Your passion even led you to write a thesis on art marketing, right?

Wakabayashi: That's right. Around 2010 when I wrote this paper, I was really into the photographer Daido Moriyama. He's been active since the 1960s. My question was why his value had skyrocketed now, and that sparked the paper. I wrote it to examine the process and phenomenon of art value appreciation from a bird's-eye view.

Shioi: I see. What exactly does that entail?

Wakabayashi: Shoji Yamagishi, who was the editor-in-chief of Camera Mainichi magazine from the 1960s to the 1970s, energetically featured up-and-coming Japanese photographers, including Mr. Moriyama. In 1974, he was involved in planning the "New Japanese Photography" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, which introduced 15 Japanese photographers.

More recently, photographer and photo historian Martin Parr has been reevaluating the high quality of Japanese photo books from that period in London. In this way, various players involved in the art world, such as the media, galleries, and museums, have continuously enhanced the value of the artist Daido Moriyama throughout each era, steadily building his reputation.

Shiomi: In Europe and the United States, various players work together to create value in this way.

Wakabayashi: Applying this to Japan, while Japanese people are said to be the world's most frequent museum visitors, indicating strong interest in art, elevating its value remains a challenge for the future.

Uehara: We refer to this ecosystem as the "Art Circuit." How do you view this market formation process, Mr. Shiomi?

Shiomi: As Mr. Wakabayashi said, it is true that Japanese art is being reevaluated through exhibitions planned by foreign curators. For example, in 1994, Alexander Monroe, a curator knowledgeable about contemporary Asian art, planned an exhibition titled "Postwar Japanese Art" at the Yokohama Museum of Art, which then traveled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. More recently, in 2013, the Guggenheim Museum in New York featured the Gutai Art Association, representative of the postwar Japanese avant-garde art movement, in its exhibition "Gutai: Splendid Playground," and in 2012, MoMA focused on postwar Japanese art and design in its exhibition "Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde. " Among galleries, it's still fresh in our memory that Bram & Po, which has a branch in Japan, prominently featured the Mono-ha movement, which was highly active from the late 1960s to the 1970s. However, since this exhibition is curated by a Japanese curator, it's creating a different trajectory from previous ones.

Wakabayashi: The value of works by groups like Gutai and Mono-ha has risen largely due to Western influence.

What is true art that navigates the art circuit?

Wakabayashi: I think the art circuit is moving even more dynamically now than it was in 2010 when I wrote my thesis.

Shiomi: On the other hand, the pace has accelerated excessively, and it's also become overcrowded. I think this resonates with contemporary economic activity. The value formation of someone like Daido Moriyama is long-term, but perhaps taking an extreme view, if you follow a year's worth of events in the art world, you can glimpse a part of that value formation.

For example, in Asia, Hong Kong hosts an art fair in March, alongside auctions and exhibitions featuring works from collectors' holdings. In May and June, following the "Venice Biennale" – often called the Olympics of contemporary art – the world-renowned "Art Basel" fair takes place in Switzerland, showcasing a vast array of works by artists featured in Venice that are available for purchase (※See: Part 1 "Can Art Be Marketed? ").

Shiomi: Major auction houses hold contemporary art sales in New York and London during spring and fall. Then, in December, avoiding the northern hemisphere's winter, another art fair takes place in the height of summer in Miami. In between, galleries and museums also organize major solo exhibitions by artists featured in these shows. This creates a system where works valued at international exhibitions are immediately reflected in the market, and auctions held during art fairs help ensure price legitimacy and mutually elevate evaluations.

Wakabayashi: It's becoming even more strategic. That's precisely why it's crucial to revisit and reevaluate art history, and to continuously support art from the perspective of cultural institutions, as AIT is doing. I believe this is what truly supports artists who deserve to be remembered in history.

Uehara: It really feels like we're at a crucial turning point right now.

Wakabayashi: Yes. Another defining change is how the market itself has become more accepting of the diverse forms of contemporary art. I really love the work of Koki Tanaka, who represents this shift perfectly, but collecting his work takes a bit of courage. It's hard to make the decision to buy a video or a concept as a work of art... (laughs).

Shiomi: So, it means we also need to change our concept of "buying and owning," right? But that's also the interesting part—just when you think, "Finally, I've grasped the essence of art!" and clench your fist, the moment you open your hand to check, what you thought you understood slips away, and you notice a different way of thinking. Using art's evolution as a mirror, our consciousness and values change—this process repeats itself.

Wakabayashi: That's the polar opposite of the marketing world. Perhaps true art is something that weaves through existing values.

Shiomi: That's precisely where the difficulty of marketing art lies. You might be able to market it to a certain extent. But when you consider the essence of art, it inevitably starts to feel off. In every era, artists are the ones who try to slip through, leap over, or transform conventions to find a different path. And there, I believe, there are always questions about the world and answers without definitive solutions.

What do you see when you buy art?

Uehara: Finally, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the act of purchasing a work.

Wakabayashi: Speaking from a collector's perspective, the excitement is far greater before the purchase than after. Since art doesn't serve a functional purpose like food or clothing, buying it seems like a high hurdle, right? But that's precisely why it's so captivating.

As you read articles and critiques about the artist, research their past work, and gradually deepen your understanding of their practice and concepts, you become intensely eager to own something by that point. Then, when you finally acquire it... all that's left is regret (laughs). You wonder, "Why did I buy it?" But as time passes, it becomes irreplaceable to you.

Uehara: So, is that process itself part of experiencing the work?

Wakabayashi: Exactly. Like I said earlier, as I search for reference materials, delve into the artists who influenced them, or explore the philosophical background, I get completely hooked.

It's also true that things accumulate within me—things you can't see, like hints for how to live or art literacy.

Shiomi: So committing to a work means committing to yourself, right? That's also committing to the artist, and being able to interact with the creator is one of the true joys of collecting.

Photo Credit: SUNDAY http://sunday-cafe.jp/

Editor's Note

Mr. Shiomi, who has contributed to the development of Japanese contemporary art for over 15 years, offered many insights into the process of forming art's value. Particularly in Japan, as seen in the recent reappraisal of groups like Gutai and Mono-ha, art has gained value through being featured in Western exhibitions and simultaneously traded. Mr. Shiomi pointed out that this cycle (the art circuit) is "becoming increasingly short-term globally, now measured in just a few years," which I found fascinating.

As artists continue to create new art that challenges "our consciousness and existing values" through diverse forms of expression, the question arises: how can we enhance their value through marketing and ensure their legacy for future generations? I believe Japan's challenge moving forward lies in valuing art and sustaining it. At the same time, another point emerged: that true art is precisely that which cannot always be captured by existing values or marketing. What exactly is this art that, the moment its value is defined, escapes that definition and seeks out new value?

In the next installment, AIT's Mr. Shiomi interviews Mr. Tomio Koyama of the Tomio Koyama Gallery—which has launched artists like Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami onto the global stage—about the relationship and history between individuals, corporations, and art, as well as the latest developments in the art market. (Uehara)

Contact: Bijutsu Circuit   kairo@dentsu.co.jp