The Conception of Art Tower Mito

the late Mr. Kazunobu SAGAWA, mayor of Mito when ATM opened in 1990

Rural scenery, the sun and wind, and a broad expanse of water striking the eye -- this is the beautiful natural setting of the city of Mito, which also serves capital of the prefecture of Ibaraki. It also served as the site for seven years of deliberation in developing and refining the conception of the arts center that became Art Tower Mito, which opened on March 22, 1990.

Art Tower Mito combines and subsumes the functions of an art museum, concert hall, and theater, without acting solely as just one of them. The background to the decision to establish such a comprehensive institution involved various factors, described below.

First, it was suggested that we create an institution to stage plays -- as drama represents the esthetics of "language," the foundation of culture -- focusing mainly on Shakespeare. Meanwhile, the idea was raised to build a contemporary art gallery, from the standpoint of establishing synergy (in the sense of both tension and harmony) with Mito's other major museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki. Finally, given that Mito had no top-classconcert hall of appropriate scale, many residents of Mito pinned their hopes on making the city's new cultural facility a concert hall.

Under those circumstances, it was natural that we arrived at the concept of creating a "geijutsukan," which in Japanese stands for "center of arts." It was never our intention just to sew together separate entities into one institution, but to aim for the creation of a collective and integrated institution for artistic activities, while pursuing the essence of art as a technical and intellectual activity giving expression to the universal through the concrete and specific. In that respect, our institution differs in character from conventional cultural facilities.

Our plan for Art Tower Mito -- a place to create new artistic culture from an international perspective, with the collaboration of the people of Mito -- was a grand one, gathering the various frameworks of artistic culture.

Art Tower Mito was designed by the famous architect, Mr. Arata ISOZAKI, harbors the determination of the people of Mito to effect a rebirth of their city, and serves as a symbol of the changes made in Mito's appearance. It was some respects by the tower in the city of Siena in Italy.

The institution of Art Tower Mito has turned over a new leaf in the spiritual history of the people of Mito. Accordingly, I believe that it offers a valuable proposition concerning the situation of culture in Japan.

Translated by Paul T. Narum