The Case for Legislating the One Percent for Art Program
NISHIKAWA Megumi / Journalist
January 11, 2018
June 2017 saw the passage of the suprapartisan Revised Fundamental Law for the Promotion of Culture and the Arts. Casting culture and the arts as the foundation of society, the law calls for undertakings to turn Japan into a true leader in culture and the arts. The spirit is good. Several challenges must be met, however, for the law to work as intended.
There are three key points to the revisions, the first since the law’s enactment 16 years ago. One is a shift in cultural administration, which hitherto focused on the preservation of cultural properties, toward the utilization of culture. Another is an expanded definition of culture and the arts; culinary culture is now included alongside the three arts of tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and calligraphy that comprised the “lifestyle culture” category under the original law. The last is the promotion of public art—installing works of art in public buildings and other shared spaces.
Regarding the utilization of culture, the new law notes the importance of organically linking culture and the arts with measures in such areas as tourism, community building, international exchange, welfare, education, regional development, and industry. The idea is that culture and the arts should not wallow in its own vacuum but should be put to broad use in society. In recent years, the State Guest Houses in Tokyo and Kyoto have come to be opened to the public more widely than before; this, too, is part of an effort to make better use of cultural assets.
Washoku, or traditional Japanese dietary culture, was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013. Given its worldwide popularity and how it embodies the way of life of the Japanese people, it is no wonder that Japanese cuisine has been included in the law as part of Japan’s culture. The promotion of public art is aimed at enriching public facilities and spaces with more art, an area in which Japan has been lagging behind Western countries. The revised law stipulates only that efforts be made to install public art, rather than making it an obligation as it is in the West. Still, this is a step forward.
The newly revised law is headed in the right direction. But I would like to make two proposals in order that the spirit with which the law is imbued can prove effective. The first is to upgrade the Agency for Cultural Affairs to a ministry, and the second is to write the government’s One Percent for Art policy into law.
There are laws in the West requiring that a set percentage of the total cost of constructing public architecture be applied toward public art associated with the buildings. As that percentage is around one percent in many countries, these programs are often given the name One Percent for Art. In the United States, meanwhile, it is called the Percent for Art Program.
When Takenobu Igarashi, former president of Tama Art University, was based in Los Angeles, he proposed building concrete sculptures into the balustrades of an iron bridge that was being reconstructed after sustaining damage in a major earthquake. His plan was accepted. Through the Percent for Art Program, artists played a part in constructing the bridge, a process that normally involves only engineers. The outcome, moreover, was an aesthetically pleasing bridge.
“The volume of work for artists generated by the Percent for Art Program is on an entirely different scale from what museums can offer by purchasing their creations,” says Igarashi. “Young artists, in particular, gain opportunities and grow in this way. The program’s spillover effect is immeasurable.”
South Korea and Taiwan have introduced similar policies in recent years. The time is ripe for Japan to seriously consider legislating its own One Percent for Art program.
Megumi Nishikawa is Contributing Editor for the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
There are three key points to the revisions, the first since the law’s enactment 16 years ago. One is a shift in cultural administration, which hitherto focused on the preservation of cultural properties, toward the utilization of culture. Another is an expanded definition of culture and the arts; culinary culture is now included alongside the three arts of tea ceremony, flower arrangement, and calligraphy that comprised the “lifestyle culture” category under the original law. The last is the promotion of public art—installing works of art in public buildings and other shared spaces.
Regarding the utilization of culture, the new law notes the importance of organically linking culture and the arts with measures in such areas as tourism, community building, international exchange, welfare, education, regional development, and industry. The idea is that culture and the arts should not wallow in its own vacuum but should be put to broad use in society. In recent years, the State Guest Houses in Tokyo and Kyoto have come to be opened to the public more widely than before; this, too, is part of an effort to make better use of cultural assets.
Washoku, or traditional Japanese dietary culture, was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013. Given its worldwide popularity and how it embodies the way of life of the Japanese people, it is no wonder that Japanese cuisine has been included in the law as part of Japan’s culture. The promotion of public art is aimed at enriching public facilities and spaces with more art, an area in which Japan has been lagging behind Western countries. The revised law stipulates only that efforts be made to install public art, rather than making it an obligation as it is in the West. Still, this is a step forward.
The newly revised law is headed in the right direction. But I would like to make two proposals in order that the spirit with which the law is imbued can prove effective. The first is to upgrade the Agency for Cultural Affairs to a ministry, and the second is to write the government’s One Percent for Art policy into law.
There are laws in the West requiring that a set percentage of the total cost of constructing public architecture be applied toward public art associated with the buildings. As that percentage is around one percent in many countries, these programs are often given the name One Percent for Art. In the United States, meanwhile, it is called the Percent for Art Program.
When Takenobu Igarashi, former president of Tama Art University, was based in Los Angeles, he proposed building concrete sculptures into the balustrades of an iron bridge that was being reconstructed after sustaining damage in a major earthquake. His plan was accepted. Through the Percent for Art Program, artists played a part in constructing the bridge, a process that normally involves only engineers. The outcome, moreover, was an aesthetically pleasing bridge.
“The volume of work for artists generated by the Percent for Art Program is on an entirely different scale from what museums can offer by purchasing their creations,” says Igarashi. “Young artists, in particular, gain opportunities and grow in this way. The program’s spillover effect is immeasurable.”
South Korea and Taiwan have introduced similar policies in recent years. The time is ripe for Japan to seriously consider legislating its own One Percent for Art program.
Megumi Nishikawa is Contributing Editor for the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
The English-Speaking Union of Japan
「１％フォー・アート」の法制化を
西川恵 / ジャーナリスト
2018年 1月 11日
改正文化芸術基本法が６月に超党派で成立した。同法は、文化芸術を社会の基盤に据え、真の文化芸術立国を目指す取り組みを求める。理念は良い。ただこれを実効あるものにするためには課題が幾つかある。
16年ぶりに改正された同法の注目点は３つ。一つは、これまで「文化財保護」に偏っていた文化行政を、「文化の活用」にカジを切ったこと。二つ目は、文化芸術の範囲を広げ、旧法で生活文化として挙げていた茶道、華道、書道に加えて、食文化を加えた。三つ目は、公共の建物等に文化芸術作品を設置するパブリックアートの推奨だ。
文化の活用について新法は、文化芸術を観光、まちづくり、国際交流、福祉、教育、地域振興、産業などの施策と有機的に結びつける必要性を指摘する。文化芸術はそれ自体の上にあぐらをかいていてはダメで、広く社会の中で活かしていくことが重要との考えである。最近、東京や京都の迎賓館などが一般に公開されるようになったのも、文化の活用を意識した措置だ。
和食は２０１３年に国連教育科学文化機関〈ユネスコ〉の無形文化遺産に登録されており、和食の世界的人気や、和食が日本人の暮らしぶりを体現するものであることを考えれば、文化に加えられたのは当然である。パブリックアート設置の推奨は、公共の施設や空間をより芸術性豊かなものにするのが狙いで、欧米と比べ日本が立ち遅れていた分野だ。新法ではまだ「努力目標」で、欧米のように「必須」ではないが、前進である。
今回の文化芸術基本法の方向性は間違っていない。しかしここに盛られた理念を実あるものとするために２点提案したい。一つは文化庁の文化省への格上げ。もう一つは「１％フォー・アート」政策の法制化である。
米欧では公共建築物を建設する際、総事業費の一定割合をその建築物に関連するパブリックアートに充てることが法律で義務付けられている。多くの国が１％前後で、その数字をとって「１％フォー・アート」政策（米国では「アートのための％プログラム」）と呼ばれる。
五十嵐威暢・多摩美大前学長は米ロサンゼルスを拠点に活動していた時、大地震で壊れた橋の建て替え計画で、鉄の橋の欄干をコンクリートの彫刻で造る企画を提案し採用された。本来、橋はエンジニアだけで出来るが、「アートのための％プログラム」によってアーティストも橋造りに加わり、美観的にも素敵な橋が造られる。五十嵐氏は「『アートのための％プログラム』によって生まれる芸術家の仕事量は、美術館の買い上げなどとはまったく異なるレベルで、とくに若いアーティストたちがチャンスを得て育っていく。その波及効果は計り知れないものがあります」と語る。近年、韓国と台湾でもこの政策が導入されている。日本も法制化を考える時にある。
筆者は毎日新聞客員編集委員
16年ぶりに改正された同法の注目点は３つ。一つは、これまで「文化財保護」に偏っていた文化行政を、「文化の活用」にカジを切ったこと。二つ目は、文化芸術の範囲を広げ、旧法で生活文化として挙げていた茶道、華道、書道に加えて、食文化を加えた。三つ目は、公共の建物等に文化芸術作品を設置するパブリックアートの推奨だ。
文化の活用について新法は、文化芸術を観光、まちづくり、国際交流、福祉、教育、地域振興、産業などの施策と有機的に結びつける必要性を指摘する。文化芸術はそれ自体の上にあぐらをかいていてはダメで、広く社会の中で活かしていくことが重要との考えである。最近、東京や京都の迎賓館などが一般に公開されるようになったのも、文化の活用を意識した措置だ。
和食は２０１３年に国連教育科学文化機関〈ユネスコ〉の無形文化遺産に登録されており、和食の世界的人気や、和食が日本人の暮らしぶりを体現するものであることを考えれば、文化に加えられたのは当然である。パブリックアート設置の推奨は、公共の施設や空間をより芸術性豊かなものにするのが狙いで、欧米と比べ日本が立ち遅れていた分野だ。新法ではまだ「努力目標」で、欧米のように「必須」ではないが、前進である。
今回の文化芸術基本法の方向性は間違っていない。しかしここに盛られた理念を実あるものとするために２点提案したい。一つは文化庁の文化省への格上げ。もう一つは「１％フォー・アート」政策の法制化である。
米欧では公共建築物を建設する際、総事業費の一定割合をその建築物に関連するパブリックアートに充てることが法律で義務付けられている。多くの国が１％前後で、その数字をとって「１％フォー・アート」政策（米国では「アートのための％プログラム」）と呼ばれる。
五十嵐威暢・多摩美大前学長は米ロサンゼルスを拠点に活動していた時、大地震で壊れた橋の建て替え計画で、鉄の橋の欄干をコンクリートの彫刻で造る企画を提案し採用された。本来、橋はエンジニアだけで出来るが、「アートのための％プログラム」によってアーティストも橋造りに加わり、美観的にも素敵な橋が造られる。五十嵐氏は「『アートのための％プログラム』によって生まれる芸術家の仕事量は、美術館の買い上げなどとはまったく異なるレベルで、とくに若いアーティストたちがチャンスを得て育っていく。その波及効果は計り知れないものがあります」と語る。近年、韓国と台湾でもこの政策が導入されている。日本も法制化を考える時にある。
筆者は毎日新聞客員編集委員
一般社団法人 日本英語交流連盟