Art for Breakfast 2020: Eri Takane
"Behind the Art Scene"
Asia Society Japan Center
Friday, 27 February 2020
Asia Society Art for Breakfast
Eri Takane
Art Consultant
“Behind the Art Scene”
Ms. Takane has a one-of-a-kind role in the art world, establishing connections among artists, collectors and institutions. She works with both artists and collectors, sometimes as a manager for artists, and sometimes as a curator of art shows or as a consultant for collectors and corporations. In her work as a manager for artists she not only represents artists but also coordinates studio residential programs for them. As a consultant for art collectors and corporations she helps collectors look for art pieces, listening closely to their preferences She introduces them to galleries and occasionally takes them to international art festivals. She prefers sharing the enthusiasm and joy of finding a piece that a collector is passionate about to working with investment-oriented collectors, although she admits it was exciting to see an artwork that she had helped acquire from the Mary Boone Gallery increase tenfold in its value.
Another face Ms. Takane has is as curator and project manager to connect art /culture to technology. She has helped institutions digitalize collections and shed light on the many pieces that are in storage. In other initiatives, with use of AI, they have developed an application that allows users to wander in a museum far away, visit exhibits and zoom in/out of artworks. These functions create accessibility and are educational, but tries to add some fun in the process.
To promote Japanese culture, Ms Takane has coordinated a site on Japanese food culture seeking to promote local food outside Tokyo. The site covers a wide range of Japanese culture and food. Ms. Takane has interviewed many people in the food industry, including people in Shinjuku’s Golden-Gai to learn in depth about the area’s history and the people who gather there. The site also introduces what people ate in the Edo period and how they enjoyed seasonal food through ukiyo-e paintings. Other coverage includes the relationship between manga and food and using chopsticks.
Following her initial comments, Ms. Takane offered her thoughts regarding the difficulty that overseas collectors face in meeting or connecting with Japanese artists, how museums are convinced or motivated to cooperate in digitizing their collections, how emerging artists can be brought to the art scene, the possibilities of providing children and the physically challenge more access to art using applications, and potential collaboration with Asia Society Japan Center.