‘I’m engaged in art-related work every day. As co-founder of the collection that I run with my father [Hiroshi Taguchi], I’m responsible for planning future exhibitions, registering works, managing databases, and the acquisition of new work, along with being involved in educational activities for elementary and junior high schools as well as university-related research.
‘But actually, I encountered music before art, when I joined my university orchestra and began studying the viola. I would often listen to classical music, go to chamber music concerts, and attend operas. It was through these experiences that I understood how art can be passed down through the ages and that emotions can be shared with people regardless of time and place. I’m fascinated by the process of weaving sound together and the richness of the results. I believe exhibition making follows the same path.
‘It was only after experiencing the first exhibition of my father’s collection, ‘Global New Art,’ at Sompo Museum of Art, Tokyo in 2011 that I started seeing art in earnest. Up to that point, I had studied social work and was a university faculty member. I’m still interested in the narratives of minorities coping with life’s obstacles, from illness and disability to social oppression. Engaging with organizations and social activities that can empower such groups is an ongoing interest of mine, and I believe music and social work are still important, underlying factors that influence our collection.
‘The first work I purchased for myself was Bunpei Kado’s Memory of the Wild -Brush- [2011], a small sculptural work of a hairbrush in which the tips of the bristles are sprouting buds. I find the beauty of this piece lies in the relationship between the human and the natural world in everyday life. The piece made me want to have it close to me. The first work I purchased for the Taguchi Art Collection was Raqib Shaw’s St. Sebastian of the Poppies [2012]. I was overwhelmed by the balance between technical expression and a bold concept and I wanted to create an opportunity for the people of Japan to appreciate this work too.
‘There are various kinds of collections and I think each has its own mission. Our aim is not to follow artists already established in the market, but to be among the first to show interesting works by young artists. Since the collection is based in Japan, our role is also to introduce emerging artists from overseas to Japan and vice versa. I follow my father’s policy of not having the usual brick-and-mortar style private museum, but rather of exhibiting all over Japan to give as many people as possible the opportunity to appreciate the artworks in our collection. We aspire to be open to the public, because excellent art should be enjoyed by everyone.
‘There’s no specific genre or theme to our collection, and that’s intentional. But I would say that we aim to include artworks from all over the world, each of which embodies a little piece of the world. The percentage of Japanese artists in the collection is 30 – 40%. Along with established artists such as Yoshitomo Nara, Yoko Ono, Tatsuo Miyajima, Makoto Aida, Oscar Oiwa, and Tadashi Kawamata, in recent years, we have acquired works by young artists such as Kei Imazu, Mari Katayama, Yu Nishimura, Chikako Yamashiro, Fuyuhiko Takata, and Sachiko Kazama, among others. Artworks by artists from non-Western regions have also increased. Currently in my home there are works by Rob Pruitt, Melike Kara, Adam McEwen, Djordje Ozbolt, Ryan McGinness, Candida Höfer, Janaina Tschäpe, Hiroshi Sugito, and Tomoko Sawada.
‘We may not own an exhibition space but I believe that through the collection we can do the same things museums are able to do. We launched the Artsplus Institute of Contemporary Arts as an affiliated organization of the Taguchi Art Collection in order to allow us to stage exhibitions, and also to engage in educational activities and share information with the public. We want to make our program accessible to people who enjoy and appreciate art as much as to those with a professional interest.
‘A particular dream of mine is to make art appreciation an integral part of children’s schooling. Seeing a lot of art in person can only increase a child’s understanding of it. I believe that developing such a sense at an early stage will help lay the foundations for creating our future generations of artists.
‘I have learned so much since I began engaging with art. It’s almost like reading a book. By learning about one artist and their work, I find the world expands a little. Being guided by a wealth of talented and experienced people, I have come to enjoy art in much greater depth and I would like to be able to offer similar experiences to a wider audience. The art news from around the world that you see on our website is part of this goal, as are the online discussions on the Biennale of Sydney we conducted in 2020, when it was difficult to visit Australia due to Covid-19. Such initiatives are still in the inception phase, but, moving forward, we are looking at collaborating with alternative art organizations that are active both in Japan and overseas, to develop the dialogue further.’
Miwa Taguchi is the co-founder of the Taguchi Art Collection, Executive Director of the Taguchi Art Foundation, and Representative Director of the Artsplus Institute of Contemporary Arts.
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Captions for full-bleed images and videos, from top to bottom: 1. Miwa Taguchi in front of Haroon Gunn-Salie's work Senzenina (2018). 2. Miwa Taguchi in the exhibition 'SMBC meets Contemporary Art “Come take a look!”', Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation East Building, Tokyo, February 2022. 3. Miwa Yaguchi glancing through the mirrors of Alicja Kwade's work Be-Hide (Semicircle) (2020). 4. Miwa Taguchi in front of SUPERFLEX's work It is Not the End of The World (2019). 5. Miwa Yaguchi interacting with Alicja Kwade's work Be-Hide (Semicircle) (2020). All works are currently on view in 'SMBC meets Contemporary Art “Come take a look!”', Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation East Building, Tokyo. All images and videos by Christoffer Rudquist for Art Basel.