avi of Audible Museum introduces the allure of art using platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. In the second half of the interview, we delve into behind-the-scenes of video production, tips for reaching a wider audience, and recommendations for museums in Japan and abroad.

The article series “Art Influencers” explores how individuals share the allure of art and the influence of what they introduce. This inaugural article features the account “Audible Museum,” which started its activities mainly on TikTok in 2021 and has garnered over 500,000 followers when combined with Instagram and YouTube (as of September 2024). The account is known for its short videos introducing exhibitions and artists with a calming voice. These videos are narrated by avi, who studied art education as a student, worked for a company, and, after leaving the job, took on part-time jobs before becoming a short video creator. In the first half of the interview, we asked her about her background and the process behind video production.

The term “public domain” refers to public intellectual property that is not copyrighted. There are art museums around the world that offer open online access to works in their collections. Here, we highlight works that have entered the public domain and redefine the appeal of such collections.

This series introduces collections from museums around the world that are made available online, each centered on a specific theme. Following the previous installment, this edition features Émile Gallé, a leading figure of Art Nouveau. The year 2024 marks the 120th anniversary of Émile Gallé’s death. In the second part, we will also discuss selected masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay collection, chosen by Ruriko Tsuchida, director of the Toyama Glass Art Museum.

From the 1890s onwards, Gallé’s artistry increasingly developed symbolism and paved the way for new expressions.

The term “public domain” refers to intellectual property that is not protected by copyright and is available for public use. There are museums around the world that offer open online access to works in their collections. Here, we highlight works that have entered the public domain and redefine the appeal of such collections.

This series, which introduces museum collections available online based on specific themes, focuses on Émile Gallé this time. The year 2024 marks the 120th anniversary of Gallé’s passing. He was an artisan who incorporated organic motifs like flowers and plants, as well as free-flowing curves, into a wide range of crafts, including glass, ceramics, and furniture.

The Musée d’Orsay in France is a museum specialized in 19th-century art, the era in which Gallé lived. A vast collection of Gallé’s sketches and key works from various periods are available on its website. In this two-part series, we present an analysis of “masterpieces that embody the essence of Gallé’s work,” selected by Ruriko Tsuchida, director of the Toyama Glass Art Museum.

This article series meets with people involved in audio guides, such as an audio guide producer, to dig deeper into how to enjoy “listening” to art. This time, we spoke with Aoi Yokode, who will be providing audio guide commentary for the July Program’s evening show at the Kabukiza Theatre in Higashi Ginza, Tokyo, and asked her about the simultaneous commentary earphone guide for Kabuki performances.

The Former Residence of Theodora Ozaki, the oldest Western-style house in Setagaya-ku, was originally built in 1888 (Meiji 21) and relocated to its current location in Gotokuji in 1933 (Showa 8). It was scheduled for demolition in 2020, but thanks to a preservation project led by manga artist Kazumi Yamashita, it was saved from demolition. After undergoing repairs, it was reborn in March 2024 as “a Western-style house with an attached gallery and tearoom.” Operated primarily by manga artists, it hosts exhibitions focusing on original manga artwork. We visited this unique venue.

Tokyo Museum Grutto Pass 2024 is a valuable QR code ticket that includes admission tickets and discount coupons for 103 art museums and other facilities in the Tokyo area. It is priced at 2,500 yen and can be used once per facility for two months from the first day of use.

This time, we have selected three art museums near train stations from Roppongi to Shinjuku, perfect for the rainy season and easily visited in one day. We will introduce this cost-effective course, which allows you to experience innovative expressions in different genres, in two parts.

The term “public domain” refers to public intellectual property that is not copyrighted. There are art museums around the world that offer open online access to works in their collections. Here, we highlight works that have entered the public domain and redefine the appeal of such collections.

In the “SDGs × Art” series, we introduce art and activities that contribute to the experiment of a sustainable world. This installment focuses on efforts to use “laser retinal projection technology” to make reading and art appreciation easier for people with visual impairments. The tools include the RETISSA ON HAND, a magnifying reader that allows people to read text by looking through it, and the DSC-HX99 RNV kit, a retinal projection camera kit that lets people take photos by looking through the viewfinder. We interviewed Hironori Miyauchi of QD Laser Inc., who is involved in business development, about the background of this development and the future using this technology.

In our series of columns Recommending Audio Guide Use, we interview audio guide producers and others to delve into the enjoyment of “listening” to art.

An exhibition titled “Art and Power: From Pharaohs to Daimyos, Masterworks from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,” which was once canceled due to the impact of the COVID-19, has finally opened after a two-year delay. In the summer of 2020, as all events were canceled due to the state of emergency, the audio guide for this exhibition was temporarily distributed via an app “Listening Art” and became a hot topic. In this series of columns, we talked to Natsumi Uemura of Acoustiguide Japan Ltd., who was in charge of planning and production, about the behind-the-scenes story.

Emergency Art Aid provides urgent assistance for distressed artists. Several legal professionals answer to a range of consulters each time. The law does not restrict your creative activities, and having the right knowledge can provide vital support.

This time, the consultation is “If a work of art is broken at a solo exhibition venue.” If an audience damages a work of art, how should compensation be considered?

At the age of 17, starting with a solo trip to India, Naoki Ishikawa embarked on a journey fueled by an insatiable curiosity to explore polar region, high peaks, and vast oceans around the world. Mr. Ishikawa documents these experiences through photographs and writings. Tokyo is the city where he was born and raised, and it continues to be a departure and arrival point for journeys. We will follow various places in Tokyo in chronological order of his memory.

Examining artists is a series of articles introducing the lives of painters and composers from all over the world in the past and present along with illustrations by Sora Toshima. This installment focuses on Yuzo Saeki (1898-1928), who celebrated the 125th anniversary of his birth in 2023. Saeki had painted landscapes and encounters as motifs while living in Osaka, Tokyo, and Paris. Why did he change his painting style so drastically during his short career? We will explore the drama that lay behind the change.

In this series of interviews, we engage with artists who are at the forefront of their fields, delving into the pivotal moments in their careers. Each artist will discuss how their perspectives and artworks have evolved from their youth to the present, while also sharing insights into their current creative endeavors. For the inaugural installment, we interviewed Atsushi Suwa, whose solo exhibition “Fire in the Medial Orbito-Frontal Cortex” was held at the Fuchu Art Museum from December 17, 2022-February 26, 2023.

（*The exhibition has ended.）

This is a series of visits to gardens in Tokyo featuring photographs by photographer Norihisa Kushibiki and commentary by Miho Tanaka, curator at the Edo-Tokyo Museum. This time, we visited the Kyu-Iwasaki-tei Gardens, a stylish Western-style building associated with the Meiji-Era industrialist Iwasaki family. For this occasion, we have invited Isamu Yoneyama, an architectural historian and researcher at the Edo-Tokyo Museum as a special guest, we will provide a wealth of highlights of the buildings as well as the gardens.

The term “public domain” refers to intellectual property that is not copyrighted and is freely available for public use. There are art museums around the world that provide open online access to works in their collections. In this article, we showcase works that have entered the public domain and explore the unique value of such collections.