1997年秋のある日、安田火災東郷青児美術館（現SOMPO 美術館）の会議室で本展初の全体会議が行われた。集ったのは、主催の文化庁2名・読売新聞社2名・美術館学芸部の3名と、当社3名。議題は、出品作家・スケジュール・広報・進行などの確認だったと記憶する。そしてその時、当時の美術館特命学芸部長の提案で、イタリア語で明日を意味する「DOMANI」にわかりやすく日本語の「明日」を組み合わせた「DOMANI・明日(あす)展」という展覧会名が決まった。そこに、副題にもある「未来を担う美術家たち」への期待が込められたのだ。この時、1年ごとに「洋画」「日本画」「版画・写真」「彫刻」というサイクルで開催していくという合意がなされた。しかしその時、誰が本展の今を予想できたであろう。

当社は、本展の事務局としてそれから24回実務を行うことになるのだが、もともと伊勢丹の社員・準社員で美術館担当だった3名が企画会社を始めようとした1997年夏頃、読売新聞文化事業部のデスクからその下で実働部隊として動くよう依頼されたのが発端である。伊勢丹美術館時代に同新聞社と関係が深く、本展発足に尽力された奥谷博先生ともご縁があったことから声がかかったようだ。

安田火災東郷青児美術館（2002年損保ジャパン東郷青児美術館に改称）では、その後2007年まで上述のジャンル別展と特別展を2巡し、10回を開催することになるが、2002年に国立新美術館が着工した頃から、いずれ会場がそこへ移ると聞く。しかし、その巨大な展示空間のことは実感できていなかった。

2008年から会場となった国立新美術館の企画展示室は、展示面積2,000平方メートル、天井高8メートルという大空間で、当然取り上げる作家の数も増え、以前のようなジャンル別展は困難で、時代に応じた様々な表現を扱うことで、それまでのDOMANI 展とは様相が一変した。どの作家からもその空間を意識した熱量あるプランを提案され、どう対応するか頭を悩ますことが多くなった。会場使用規約、正味3日という設営期間、予算等々を鑑みると、作家の希望どおりにはなかなか行かないが、話し合いを重ね現実的なプランにしていくということが大きな責務になったのだ。もちろん当社だけでできるはずもなく、調査官、美術館、会場施工会社、展示輸送会社とも協議を重ねて作り上げていく。また、現調査官の発案で第18回からはアートディレクター、第19回からはプロの編集者を迎えることで、広報・サイン関係、図録も一新し本展の総合力がアップすることになった。

本展では第11回から毎回来館者アンケートを行っているが、少なからず毎回のようにご来場いただくファンの存在は嬉しく、常に国内外からの来館者にわかりやすく楽しめる展覧会にしなくてはと思う。また参加した作家が本展を契機に新しいキャリアへ挑戦しているのを見聞きするのは何よりの喜びである。

今回、「すべての回の伴走者として」という本原稿依頼が来たとき、「伴走」という言葉が印象深く響いた。折しも東京パラリンピックの開催に伴い陸上競技の伴走者のドキュメンタリーに打たれ、本物の伴走者には及ぶべくもないと感じた。当社は確かにすべての開催に関わらせていただいたが、これも各回多くの方々が様々な面で支えてくれたおかげである。

最後にこの場を借りて今まで本展に関わってくださったすべての方に厚くお礼を申し上げたい。

One autumn day in 1997, the first “Domani: The Art of Tomorrow” general meeting was held at a conference room at the Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art. In attendance were two representatives from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, two from the Yomiuri Shimbun, three from the museum’s curatorial department and three from Art Venture Office Shou. It was at this meeting that, at the suggestion of the special head of the curatorial department, the name of the exhibition was decided by combining the Italian and Japanese words for “tomorrow.” The aim was to reflect the hopes we had for future generations of artists. At the same time, it was agreed that the exhibition would be held annually, cycling through the genres of painting, nihonga, printmaking/photography and sculpture. Who could have predicted that the exhibition would take on its current form?

Art Venture Office Shou would go on to handle the administrative work for 24 Domani exhibitions as the secretariat, but its origins go back to the summer of 1997, when three Isetan employees/quasi-employees in charge of the department store’s art museum who wanted to launch a planning company were asked by staff at the Yomiuri Shimbun’s Cultural Affairs Division to work under them as a work unit. Apparently we three were asked to take on this role because we had close links to the newspaper in the days of the Isetan Museum of Art and also had ties to Okutani Hiroshi, who devoted his energies to founding the exhibition.

Until 2007, the Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art (renamed the Sompo Japan Seiji Togo Memorial Museum of Art in 2002) hosted ten Domani exhibitions, comprising two shows in each of the genres and two special exhibitions, and though from around the time construction of the National Art Center, Tokyo, began in 2002, there was talk that it would eventually move to that museum, I was unable to get a real sense of the huge scale of the galleries there.

From 2008, Domani underwent a complete change, with the vast exhibition space at NACT, which boasted 2000 square meters of floor space and a ceiling height of eight meters, enabling us to not only increase the number of artists but also handle various kinds of expression in line with the times, something that was difficult with the old genre-specific exhibitions. All the artists proposed ambitious plans in response to the space, and we often racked our brains over how to respond to them. Bearing in mind the limitations on the use of the space, the three-day installation period and the budget, things rarely went according to the artists’ wishes, and it became one of our main duties to turn their imagined plans into realistic ones through repeated discussions. Of course, this was something our company could not do on its own; it involved ongoing discussions with the curators (ACA “researchers”), museum, exhibition installers, and logistics companies. At the suggestion of the researchers, we improved the overall strength of the exhibition by hiring an art director from the eighteenth exhibition on and a professional editor from the nineteenth, enabling us to upgrade our publicity, signage and catalogs.

At every exhibition since the eleventh, we have been surveying visitors, and while it is extremely pleasing that there are fans who come every year, I think we need to make Domani a show that is consistently accessible and enjoyable for visitors from throughout Japan and overseas. But nothing gives me more pleasure than to see artists who participated in the exhibition go on to pursue new careers.

When I was asked to contribute this piece as a “pacesetter” involved in every exhibition, I was struck in particular by the use of this term. I had just watched with interest a documentary about pacesetters in athletics that was broadcast to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics, and felt I did not deserve to be equated to them. It is true that Art Venture Office Shou has been involved in every exhibition, but this has only been possible due to the support of many people each time.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone involved in “Domani: The Art of Tomorrow” to date.