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TAMA ART UNIVERSITY MUSEUM

Kobayashi Hiromichi Concepts for the TAMA ART UNIVERSITY MUSEUM

The TAU MUSEUM was opened more than 10 years ago, initially as an art archive for the university.Since then, we have been exhibiting work regularly from our historical archives on art and have also gradually started to host exhibitions on special themes from various perspectives, with the intention of introducing a broader range of artistic activities. Based on the trend of a rapidly growing media society, we put stress on information gathering, analysis and simulations, as we foresee the transition in the concept of curating, accompanied with various technological innovations. In 1994 we started an information service for guests. This service covers not only our own exhibition programs but also the schedules and contents of events held by other museums or galleries and information on their publications. We also offer reference services for individual requests. We are planning to build a database of art work and documents, integrating features for editing and packaging and publishing the contents on the internet. The staff of the TAU MUSEUM share the understanding, that the museum is no longer a place to collect artwork alone, but must be an organization rendering communication services to guests using artwork and activities as information sources. As artistic expressions are evolving with social changes and technical innovations methodologies in museum- curating also need to develop. This may require far more than implementing computers as tools. We may need to break away from the concept of a museum as a place or building.The decision to use advanced information processing devices for the museum was based upon these perspectives, and not upon a casual idea triggered by the fashion or interest of this particular period in time. An ISDN telephone line is installed at the museum and we are able to connect to the internet. At the same time, we will begin with the installation of a pilot LAN on the campus for file and device sharing. We hope that our new concept and strategies in museum administration will be positively reflected by the @tamabi site.

museum@tamabi.ac.jp