Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum has held an "Art Communication Programs" showcase since 2023 to share its Art Communication Program activities with a wider audience. This year marks the fourth edition, coinciding with the museum's 100th anniversary. The showcase turns the spotlight on an experience the Art Communication Program has always valued: seeing artwork together and spending time together with someone else at the museum. Through archival footage, artwork displays, and dialogue with Art Communicators, visitors are invited to experience it for themselves.
In the exhibition, video artist Yasuhiro Moriuchi, who has filmed and edited many of these program records, presents a video installation built from re-edited archive footage. It captures people of different ages and backgrounds meeting at the museum, watching artwork together, and gradually building new discoveries and relationships, letting visitors feel that atmosphere directly.
The showcase also draws on "Geidai Student Interviews," content from the Tobira Project website in which Art Communicators visit the studios of Tokyo University of the Arts students to see how their work comes together. Graduation and related pieces by two students are on display, and Art Communicators will be on hand at the venue to welcome visitors and share the experience of viewing the works together.
Revisiting the museum's 2012 mission of serving as "an entry point to art open to everyone," the exhibition invites visitors to think together about what the museum of the future could be.
Planning cooperation and video production: Yasuhiro Moriuchi (Rakuda Studio)
Exhibiting artists: Fuya Seki, Kaede Takeishi (Tokyo University of the Arts)
What Is the "Art Communication Program"?
Launched alongside the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum's 2012 renewal, the Art Communication Program was created to put the museum's new mission into practice. Beyond researching and displaying art and cultural artifacts, the museum works alongside the public so it can also be a place that connects people with artworks and with each other, generating creative time together.
What Is an "Art Communicator"?
Art Communicators (nicknamed "Tobira-ra") are based at the museum and work to nurture new value among people through art. Even after completing their three-year terms, many continue their activities in various settings, drawing on the network and experience they built through the Tobira Project.
Zutobi Viewing Session (2023, Photo: Yusuke Nakajima)
Art Mirunder (2025)
Museum Pose (2019, Photo: Ayano So)
Highlights
1. A video installation that lets visitors experience "seeing together, spending time together" at the museum
Video artist Yasuhiro Moriuchi (Rakuda Studio) re-edited footage recorded across four Art Communication Program events into a video installation. It offers a simulated experience of what it feels like to see together and spend time together at the museum.
2. Works selected from the Tobira Project's "Geidai Student Interviews"
Works by Fuya Seki (Sculpture) and Kaede Takeishi (Japanese Painting), who graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts' Faculty of Fine Arts in the 2025 academic year, are displayed alongside interview records by the Tobira-ra. Visitors can share a rich experience of seeing together with the Tobira-ra and other visitors through the artwork.
3. Art Communicators on hand to support visitors
Art Communicators (nicknamed "Tobira-ra") active in the "Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum x Tokyo University of the Arts Tobira Project," the foundation of the Art Communication Program, along with Tobira-ra who have completed their three-year terms, will welcome visitors at the venue.
Group photo of the Tobira-ra (2026)
Exhibition Overview
- Exhibition Name: 100th Anniversary of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum: Welcome to Art Communication Programs – Showcase 2026: Spending Time Together, Experiencing Art, Sharing Our Thoughts
- Dates: July 31 (Fri) to August 10 (Mon), 2026
- Closed: August 3 (Mon)
- Hours: 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM (last entry 30 minutes before closing)
- Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Lobby Floor, Gallery 3 (Public Exhibition Room)
- Organizer: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)
- Official website: https://tobira-project.info/ac-ten/
- Admission: Free
