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No.034　Creating a link between real-world activities and information on the internet
ART iT Editor: Tetsuya Ozaki
This time we hear a message for new artists from the editor of the website ART iT, Tetsuya Ozaki, who is working to spread information about art in the Asia-Pacific region.

The city of Tokyo and the way artworks are presented

I think Tokyo is a fascinating city. Like Paris for France and London for England, there is no doubt that Tokyo is front door of Japan. And considering this, I think that the significance of spreading information from Tokyo and the significance of spreading information from the countryside are different. I think that the way in which artists present their work is a matter of attitude, but it’s also true that it isn’t that hard to meet key people in the art industry. It’s easy to cover art across the whole country. Basically, artistic activities only take place in museums, galleries, alternative spaces and contemporary festivals, so there just aren’t that many people involved in art. I think it’s important to go to exhibitions. I go to about 20-30 exhibitions a month, and I do run into works that blow me away. I think that maybe sometimes we have blogged about artists after seeing their work in real life, thinking they were interesting, and researching them on Google, but I don’t think that it is enough to just post up the artist’s work on the internet and relax. It’s vital that a link be made between real-world activity and internet information by being active offline.

To new artists

I want new artists to study. Because this is a genre that requires study. For example, say you go to an exhibition made up of work gathered through a public call for artists. There is sure to be a lot of new artists there full of gusto, and a lot of different work on display. It’s wonderful to have energy for art, and occasionally you see work at one of these exhibitions that is very near complete thanks to the work the artist has put into to improve his/her technical skills through training. However, a lot of people will say that their work is original, despite the same expressions having been used by people in the far past. I want people to understand that ignorance is embarrassing. And I want people to look at the work of those who came before them and their contemporaries and think. This kind of accumulated comparison is important. Also, this has been said a number of places, but the art critic scene is really in pretty bad shape. There are many people trying hard to write critiques, but new critics are overwhelmingly bad. Not that I am very good at critique myself, but I would like to create media that fosters new critics.
Tetsuya Ozaki Tetsuya Ozaki

Born in Tokyo in 1955. Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual art web magazine ART iT. Winner of the Educational Product Award within the Package Category of the 1995 Multimedia Grand Prix and the Jury Special Prize in the 1996 Milia D’Or Awards for The Digital Encyclopedia of Kabuki. Was in charge of editorial direction for Sensorium, the Japan theme pavilion of the 1996 Internet Expo. Established REALTOKYO in 1999. Established ART iT in 2003, and moved the magazine onto the web in 2009.
 
Support for creative activities　Lists ateliers and training studios, as well as information on contests and sources of funding to support artists in their creative endeavors Link to Japanese-language page