This series focuses on the people who work at the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, introducing their work and the people behind the scenes. We look at the work of Arts Council Tokyo TOKYO Smart Culture Project (hereafter referred to as "Smacul"). In the second part, we spoke to Fukui Kumiko, Kobayashi Manae, and Taguchi Minako about their careers and what they value in their work.
*Department names and titles are those at the time of the interview.
(Part 1 (Click here)
Using my experience as a curator. Aie Kobayashi
2023年度にスマカル担当になり、都立博物館・美術館の収蔵品データベース「ToMuCo（トムコ）東京都立博物館・美術館収蔵品検索サイト」の管理や、収蔵品の3Dデータ化やその利活用を担当する小林愛恵さん。江戸東京博物館の小判や印籠といった小さなものから、江戸東京たてもの園の銭湯「子宝湯」まで、さまざまな大きさ･形状の収蔵品の3Dデータ化を試みています。データは江戸東京博物館のスマートフォンアプリ「ハイパー江戸博」やオンライン展覧会「Meta Bath（メタバス）～デジタルで見る東京型銭湯～」にも活かされています。
Ms. Kobayashi has been a staff member of the Foundation for 10 years and has had a career as a curator even before joining the Foundation. She has experience as a part-time staff member and in managing a small number of facilities. After joining the Foundation, she was assigned to the department in charge of the permanent exhibition rooms at the Edo-Tokyo Museum, Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum of the Corona Disaster, and the department that manages the collections of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, where she has continued to struggle. Before coming to his current position, he was already involved in digital archiving at the Edo-Tokyo Museum, where he says, "I was engaged in a major move of the museum's collection in preparation for a large-scale renovation, cleaning up many rooms including the storage rooms managed by my department, and preparing for the full-scale digitization work at the same time.
Enchanted by art and precious materials, a new challenge. Mitsunako Taguchi
2024年に入団した田口充奈子さん。現在は東京文化会館、東京芸術劇場の資料のデジタル化やデータベース整備を主に担当しています。今年度新たに東京都庭園美術館でも取り組んでいる収蔵品の3Dデータ化に携わりながら、2023年度に開発・リリースされた江戸東京たてもの園のウェブアプリ「たてもの園ナビ」の改修も担当しています。
"I became interested in digital archiving because I was involved in the archiving of news footage at my former job at a broadcasting station and a news agency." Taguchi says. After that, he discovered the interest of art while working at a facility run by the foundation. In his next job, he worked on creating a database of valuable materials such as performance records and photographs related to traditional performing arts. I wanted to learn more about digital archives, so I applied for a position in charge of Sumakal.
"The time spent facing the materials is still fun. On the other hand, every job here is a new challenge. In the past, most of the work was completed by the library or department to which I belonged, but now nothing can progress without cooperation with each library." Taguchi says. He goes to the site as much as possible and tries to communicate.
from media art's encounter with digital archives. KUMIKO FUKUI
Kumiko Fukui joined Smacul in 2023 and is responsible for the overall progress and budget management of the organization, while also overseeing individual projects. She works with Tokyo Photographic Art Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo to migrate video works (transferring and converting data to different system environments), and from 2024 she will also be in charge of the music appreciation support program "Watch Music, Listen to Videos, Online Concerts" at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan.
Fukui studied media art at an art college and created works. Looking back on the starting point leading to the present, he says, "Then I got a job at a printing company and created a digital archive of a museum gallery. That was the beginning of my archival life.".
Later, while working in galleries and museums, I realized the importance of the materials that an artist keeps, such as preliminary sketches and manuscripts. He is still involved in archiving materials for writers as his life's work. "When dealing with a huge amount of data, it is important to look at it from a perspective. Therefore, it is necessary not to concentrate on one material, but to deal with several materials simultaneously." says Fukui. He is the perfect person for Sumakal, which deals with a wide range of materials including art, history, folklore, music and architecture.
Reporting and text by Nodoka Sakamoto Photo by Aya Hatakenaka
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