OTSU, Japan -- As Japanese cultural institutions look ahead to a time when they will be free from restrictive, pandemic-related protocols, dreams of packed concert halls, well-attended exhibitions, and theaters and cinemas filled with satisfied customers may be motivating some curators and arts administrators to develop new programs designed to draw in the crowds.
In Otsu, the capital of Japan's Shiga Prefecture, just east of Kyoto, the Shiga Museum of Art (formerly the Shiga Prefectural Museum of Modern Art) appears to be positioning itself for a meaningful, post-pandemic comeback. Last year, Kenjiro Hosaka became the museum's director, bringing with him a notably more contemporary sense of exhibition-making and an inquisitive newcomer's appreciation of the institution's history, collection holdings, and relevance to the community it serves. Hosaka was formerly a curator at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
