Keio Museum Commons: A Creative "Vacant Lot" on the Mita Campus

2020/03/09

In April 2019, Keio University established the "Keio Museum Commons" (commonly known as KeMCov). KeMCov is a new organization whose primary mission is the storage and exhibition of academic materials owned by Keio University, as well as the educational and research activities that utilize them. As a facility to serve as the core of its activities, an 11-story new building (with KeMCov-related facilities from the 1st to the 9th floor) is currently under construction on the site of the former East Annex of the Mita Campus, with an opening scheduled for the spring of 2021. Below, I will explain the background leading to the establishment of the "Keio Museum Commons," as well as the concept and activities of this new organization.

Over its history of more than 150 years, Keio University has accumulated various cultural properties and academic materials. These are stored in various facilities within the university; small exhibitions featuring cultural properties from the Keio collection are often held at the Art Space of the Keio University Art Center (KUAC) and the exhibition room of the Mita Media Center (Keio University Library). At the Yukichi Fukuzawa Museum of the Keio Yokohama Elementary School, there is a small but permanent exhibition on Juku history for those within Keio. Furthermore, precious works of art and craft are displayed throughout the campus, such as at the Shachu-Kokan Banraisha and the Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration). In addition to the Old University Library and the Enzetsukan (Public Speaking Hall), which are Important Cultural Properties, there are also many historical buildings such as the Ex Noguchi Room and the Kitasato Memorial Medical Library in Shinanomachi. In other words, Keio University itself is already a single museum, but because the cultural properties are dispersed across multiple campuses, it is difficult to grasp the overall picture, and it is also true that the university has not previously had a full-scale storage and exhibition facility dedicated to artworks.

In the history of Keio University, proposals to build a museum on the Mita Campus to store such cultural properties in an appropriate environment and open them to the public on a permanent basis have surfaced several times. Although these did not materialize for various reasons in the past, thanks to the donation of materials and funds from the Century Cultural Foundation, it was decided to construct Keio University's first facility specialized in the storage and exhibition of academic materials.

In 2009, Keio University had already received a deposit of 1,740 art materials, mainly calligraphic and painting materials, from the Century Cultural Foundation, along with a donation for their utilization. The "Century Cultural Foundation Akao Memorial Fund" was established, and these materials have been stored at the Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko), a university-affiliated research institute, where exhibitions and research activities have been conducted regularly. Furthermore, in fiscal year 2017, an agreement was reached with the Century Cultural Foundation for Keio University to accept a total of 2,325 art materials, mainly Japanese calligraphic and painting materials (adding 585 new items to the existing deposits), and to construct a new facility to store and exhibit these artworks collectively. For Keio University, it was necessary to construct the new facility by the end of fiscal year 2020 due to an agreement with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the site was decided to be the former East Annex of the Mita Campus. Additionally, an additional donation totaling 3 billion yen is expected from the Century Cultural Foundation toward the completion of the new facility. Meanwhile, the Century Cultural Foundation will close the Century Museum in Waseda Tsurumaki-cho once the donation is complete, after which Keio University will take over the management and exhibition of the artworks, as well as the linguistic research previously conducted by the foundation.

In 2017, a working group was organized to consider the nature of the exhibition facility for academic materials, with then Vice-President Akira Haseyama serving as the chair. The members consisted of representatives from various departments involved in the research and management of cultural properties at Keio University: the Keio University Art Center (KUAC), the Research Institute for Digital Media and Content (DMC), the Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko), the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies, the Faculty of Letters Major in Archaeology and Ethnology and Major in Aesthetics and Science of Arts, and the Office of Facilities and Property Management.

The working group first brainstormed to realize an innovative and attractive facility under the adverse conditions of a short preparation period until completion and the narrowness of the planned construction site facing Sakurada-dori. Many major universities across the country already have university museums in some form, and as a latecomer, Keio University had to propose a facility based on a groundbreaking concept, even if the area was small. During the deliberation process, Yoko Watanabe, a committee member from the Keio University Art Center (KUAC), presented the unprecedented and innovative idea of a "Museum Commons" (described later), and it was decided to specifically envision the new facility centered on this concept. It was also confirmed that the new facility would store cultural properties centered on archaeological materials and artworks owned by the Juku, in addition to the artworks donated by the Century Foundation. Furthermore, the basic plan was formulated to view the entire Mita Campus as a single "dispersed museum"—with the main exhibition spaces being the Juku history exhibition room planned for the Old University Library, the Art Space of the Keio University Art Center (KUAC), and the exhibition room in the Mita Media Center (Keio University Library)—and for the new organization to be a place that manages cultural property information and supports exhibition and educational activities as the core of this "dispersed museum." Additionally, by utilizing digital expertise researched at the Research Institute for Digital Media and Content, the Faculty of Science and Technology, and the Graduate School of Media Design (KMD), it was agreed to aim for the realization of a digital-analog hybrid exhibition and research environment that can further expand and develop the precious cultural properties owned by Keio University in a digital environment. These are the core guidelines of the Keio Museum Commons, as explained below.

In January 2018, the working group became a formal Preparatory Office (Director: Takami Matsuda), and in the same month, a press release announced the donation from the Century Cultural Foundation and the opening of an academic material exhibition facility by the end of fiscal year 2020. The Preparatory Office established small working groups in charge of architecture, exhibition programs, registration and management of collections, and the development of the digital environment to work on specific preparations. For example, to maximize the use of effective space, discussions were held to adjust the ceiling height of each floor in 10-centimeter increments. To secure storage space most efficiently, detailed studies were conducted thoroughly several times a week, such as simulating the feasibility of storage by repeatedly changing the combinations of measurements taken for individual collection items.

In April last year, the Keio Museum Commons was formally launched, taking over the preparations for the opening of the new exhibition facility from the Preparatory Office. The new organization consists of the Director (Takami Matsuda, Professor at the Faculty of Letters), the Deputy Director (Yoko Watanabe, Professor at the Keio University Art Center (KUAC)), and two full-time staff members (Tomomi Homma, Senior Assistant Professor; Fumi Matsutani, Senior Assistant Professor (Non-tenured)), as well as several concurrent staff members belonging to various faculties and departments within the Juku. Regarding the exhibition facility, it was decided that Mitsubishi Jisho Design would be in charge of the design and Tokyu Construction would handle the construction. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on April 17, 2019, and construction is progressing toward completion in August 2020. After completion, following a necessary "seasoning period" to remove substances harmful to cultural properties emitted from new building materials, the facility is scheduled to open in the spring of 2021. The following outlines its activities and the overview of the new facility.

Universities in Europe and the United States traditionally have "common rooms." A common room is a membership-based shared lounge space designed to promote interaction among members. It was Yukichi Fukuzawa himself who introduced this concept to Japan; the Kojunsha, formed in 1880, derives its name from "exchanging knowledge and consulting on worldly affairs" and is the first example of a common room in Japan. In the Juku, this materialized as the Banraisha and later the Noguchi Room, which still function as places for interaction among the Keio Gijuku Shachu today. Furthermore, in the 21st century, the name and concept of "commons" are used to indicate new educational environments in universities, such as learning commons. As active learning, which centers on students' proactive initiatives, has gained attention as a learning model in educational settings, learning commons serve as learning spaces outside the classroom that support independent and collaborative learning through library services and digital environments, and they exist in many universities in Japan.

With these concepts of commons as a foundation, Keio University's unique Museum Commons is the world's first attempt to realize, to borrow Yukichi Fukuzawa's expression, "jinkan kosai (society)" through education, research, and community activities centered on cultural properties, going beyond mere exhibition and storage.

Rendering (Sakurada-dori side (left), Campus side)

The 11-story new building currently under construction is the Juku's first facility dedicated to cultural properties, storing and exhibiting cultural properties owned by Keio University, including Japanese artworks across various genres such as sculpture, painting, calligraphy, and metalwork donated by the Century Cultural Foundation. The facility will exhibit masterpieces of Japanese art donated by the Century Cultural Foundation and conduct various special exhibitions targeting a wide range of the Juku's cultural properties. By introducing a next-generation visible storage system in the temperature- and humidity-controlled art storage rooms, where visitors can see into the storage anteroom, the traditional barriers between exhibition and storage will be removed, finding new possibilities for exhibition activities and research in their continuity.

The storage and exhibition of cultural properties is only one aspect of the Museum Commons concept. While organizing, disseminating, exhibiting, and researching cultural properties are important missions of the Keio Museum Commons, KeMCov's activity policy is to function as a place that generates interaction starting from cultural properties, going beyond the functions of a conventional museum. Historically, the concept of the commons dates back to "iriai-chi" (commons), such as groves and pastures that village residents could use jointly, referring to shared "vacant lots" not designated for a specific purpose in advance. KeMCov is a "vacant lot" where people can freely bring various things and ideas to appreciate, learn, or research together, leading to new discoveries and ideas, and promoting interaction among those involved. Within the building, spaces that can function as such open spaces, though small, are prepared in various forms.

By conducting various special exhibitions in exhibition rooms where the barriers with storage have been removed through visible storage, and by using the gaps created within the building's design as spaces for installations, the entire building becomes a place for interaction through art. The building will also be equipped with classrooms capable of hosting practical training and workshop-style classes targeting cultural properties, as well as a fab lab ("I/O Room") to give virtual or physical form to ideas, as described later.

By utilizing such spaces and equipment, KeMCov allows students, researchers, and alumni to interact with each other through a single cultural property, creating new contexts for appreciation and research around that object.

KeMCov's role is not only to provide a place for creative interaction surrounding art but also to function as the center and hub for education and research activities targeting cultural properties at Keio University, including KeMCov itself, and to serve as a portal to advanced activities.

On the Mita Campus, an exhibition room related to Juku history (Fukuzawa Yukichi Memorial Keio History Museum) is also being prepared in the Old University Library, where seismic retrofitting was completed in June 2019. As a result, in 2021 when KeMCov opens, Mita will have four locations equipped with spaces for permanent or special exhibitions, along with the Art Space and the library exhibition room. These will accept a wide range of visitors from both inside and outside the Juku as a loosely linked "dispersed museum" of the Mita Campus. KeMCov will function as its hub, planning collaborative exhibitions and providing support such as advice for exhibitions and other events planned and operated independently by each organization.

The function as a hub for art will be developed in several forms. Although the artworks and cultural properties owned by the Juku are stored and managed in various locations throughout Keio University, there is still no database integrating information on all cultural properties, nor an archive to record and preserve various activities and research surrounding art. At KeMCov, in cooperation with the Juku's Art Management and Operation Committee and various departments that own cultural properties, we will develop (1) a database to accumulate information on cultural properties owned by Keio University, (2) a database to accumulate information on art-related events as needed, and (3) a repository to store and manage examples of educational and research utilization and the tools and content for them in the future. By linking these, we will build a museum system to manage and disseminate Keio University's art in an integrated manner.

Furthermore, based on this system, we will create an open digital exhibition environment. In the exhibition rooms, we will provide a context for appreciation by digitally deploying various related information as if to envelop individual exhibits. At the same time, by virtually expanding the web of associations to other cultural properties owned by the Juku and even to exhibits around the world, we will create an environment for appreciating and researching cultural properties from diverse perspectives. Since individual visitors can take such contexts home via their own devices, KeMCov will expand further outside the Juku, centered on the personal experiences of visitors.

At KeMCov, we plan to actively engage diverse learners by developing educational activities at various levels, targeting not only the training of museum professionals but also university students, students of affiliated schools, and working adults. In addition to launching the KeMCov course "Museums and Commons" for university students of all faculties from fiscal year 2020, we are considering field-work-style activities for students of affiliated schools, centered on visiting KeMCov. This will not be completed only within the building; using KeMCov as a hub, the entire Keio University campus will be utilized as an open museum to realize experiential education in the history and culture of the university and the region.

As a research institution, KeMCov will develop advanced practical research regarding its collection of cultural properties and the concept of university museums. We consider it a particularly important mission to disseminate these results internationally and promote international exchange through research and museum activities. In September 2019, KeMCov already co-hosted the "International Council of Museums, Committee for University Museums and Collections (ICOM-UMAC) Tokyo International Seminar" titled "University Museums as Cultural Commons" with the Keio University Art Center (KUAC), receiving high praise and acclaim from university museum experts from 17 participating countries. We plan to continue actively hosting international conferences and joint workshops utilizing the facilities within the building. Furthermore, we plan to build a database that accumulates and connects information on materials in the Juku collection and link it with overseas museum databases, establishing a mechanism to constantly share and exchange information within an international network.

KeMCov places the fusion of digital and analog at the foundation of its activities. The activities of exhibiting, utilizing for education, and researching the diverse cultural properties (analog) owned by the Juku are always supported by advanced digital infrastructure. In the preparations for the establishment of KeMCov, not only researchers who study cultural properties but also researchers in information engineering from the Research Institute for Digital Media and Content (DMC) and other departments have participated. From the beginning of the conception, we have aimed for a fusion of the humanities and sciences in both methodology and concept, keeping in mind the development of an integrated research environment that is only possible at a comprehensive university.

To realize this, we have organized the "Digital-Analog Fusion Project Working Group" led by Hiroshi Shigeno, Professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology (Director of the Research Institute for Digital Media and Content), to develop the digital environment within the building and design the "I/O (input/output) Room," which features functions for the digitization of cultural properties and digital fabrication. The "I/O Room" is a place where experimental tools can be easily tried out with the aim of seamlessly linking analog cultural properties with the digital environment. It is a workshop equipped with a studio environment for digitization that also supports 3D, as well as 3D printers, tools, and software for physically creating digital content. There are no other institutions in the world that possess such a facility integrated with a museum and utilize it for public use. In the "I/O Room," individuals can not only digitally add and expand their own new contexts to cultural properties but also attempt digital creation in forms such as derivative works. By providing an environment to move freely between digital and analog, the "I/O Room" offers opportunities for learning and interaction starting from works, as well as the research of cultural properties.

In July 2019, a media kit summarizing KeMCov's activity policy, the new facility, and the overview of the planned collection was distributed to all faculty members, and a pre-site for the opening of the new facility has also opened . On the pre-site, progress information on opening preparations and exhibition information related to Keio University's cultural properties are distributed as appropriate via SNS, and fixed-point photography images from webcams are also released from time to time. A pre-opening project for KeMCov is planned for October this year after the completion of the new facility. At the same time, a collaborative exhibition (tentative title: Keio University's "jinkan kosai (society)") is being prepared in cooperation with the "Fukuzawa Yukichi Memorial Keio History Museum" in the Old University Library, the Art Space of the Keio University Art Center (KUAC), and the exhibition room in the Keio University Library (New Building), all of which are scheduled for completion around the same time.

After the opening in the spring of 2021, the facility will first be used for regular permanent exhibitions and special exhibitions targeting artworks donated by the Century Cultural Foundation and cultural properties of Keio University, as well as for seminar-style classes and experiential classes for affiliated schools. Furthermore, we will actively plan joint research projects utilizing the "I/O Room" and international workshops in the conference room.

KeMCov is a creative vacant lot for the Keio University campus and the local community of Mita. By effectively conceiving its limited space with a reversal of thinking that treats narrowness as an advantage, original attempts that would be difficult to conceive in a spacious exhibition and storage space with few constraints become possible. To become a hub for activities surrounding cultural properties at Keio University and a portal for innovative attempts, close cooperation and collaboration with Keio University alumni are indispensable. We ask for your broad support for the activities of the world's first Museum Commons.