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126 Panel 33. Fukuoka Asian Art MuseumThe Fukuoka Art Museum (FAM) opened its doors in1979, and similar to the Singapore Art Museumlaunched its museum with an exhibition on Asian art.The interest in Asia was sustained so much so that, “InOctober 1980, the first exhibition in the world tocomprehensively introduce the contemporary art ofAsia was held at the Fukuoka Art Museum. The showwas the first, and probably the last of its kind in termsof scale. More than 450 artists from 13 countries, fromPakistan eastward to Japan, took part. 14 This latteraspect is similar to QAG/GOMA, as these earlyexhibitions led to acquisition of work into the FAMcollection. The first exhibition, called the Asian ArtShow, became an effort which was held every 5 years,resulting in four exhibitions from which more than500 works have been absorbed into the FAMcollection. By the mid-1990s, the situation was similarto that of QAG, and there was the political will tocreate a new museum; this became the Fukuoka AsianArt Museum (FAAM) which was to house the Asiancollection and create a program to support thisgrowing aspect of contemporary art in this area ofJapan.It was, too, in 1999 that the Fukuoka Triennale saw itsinception in this new home. The exhibition, whichmay be seen as a copycat move to the earlier APT, wasinstead a continuation of the Asian Art Shows framedwithin the growing modality of the Biennale/Triennale circuit. By this time, the acquisitionsprogram of FAAM was set in place, with it purchasingoutside of its large-scale exhibitions, but also acquiringthose that were part of it.Narratives from a CollectionIt is necessary to give a background to the collectingpractice of the other important institutions as this setsthe tone for the rest of the paper, which looks at theFukuoka Asian Art Museum, and from this weavespatterns of reading a particular collecting narrative aswell as the stories that arise from its collection. 151. FAAM Collecting PracticeWhat are the political, moral, artistic and philosophicalissues of the collection in the 21 st century? …Theintention of the collection is always to accumulate, protectand exhibit — to make visible and to explain. However,the distinction between the nature and the role ofmuseums has undergone significant evolution,compelling us to study anew how the question ofuniversality has been addressed in the past, and how it isaddressed today. 16Collecting has now become more than mereaccumulation of objects. Each collection, formed,supported and sustained, embodies particulardiscourses that maintain stakes expected of culturallydirected institutions. Raiji Kuroda, current SeniorCurator at FAAM states clearly that the push forartistic activity in Fukuoka was a policy developed bythe Fukuoka City government. 17 In many cases, theaspiration to promote a city becomes viable throughthe promotion of art. Politicians hover on the edges ofartistic entrepreneurship 18 and push for these to existso as to attract a variety of investors and audiences.Kuroda re-tells the moment when the officialexpectation of the new museum, FAAM, developedinto more than mere suggestion:“After examining possible locations for the newmuseum, the city government…chose the location inthe Hakata area…(where) a huge new building was tobe constructed…originally conceived for (sic) adepartment store…the biggest project to re-develop thearea…the museum got two floors”. 19It was therefore no surprise to the curators that “thenew museum was expected to work not only for art,but for the revitalization of the community”. 20 Beforeone reaches the museum, which is found on the 7 thand 8 th floor of the building, one has to cross and passalong the unabashed consumerist pulls of LouisVuitton, Gucci and YSL shops, an expensive wine andsake shop, an organic store and several other poshshops. An expensive restaurant is found on the groundfloor facing the river. Using the museum as an eventsvenue and as a cultured space allowing the Japanese tomeet artists, curators and performers, the revitalizationeffort pushes for global money (the stores are notJapanese) as museum guests crisscross the halls of theRiverain to arrive at the Fukuoka Asian ArtMuseum. 21The museum, its collection, programs, staff, etc. wereasked to look outside of Japan rather than in. ThenSenior Curator, Ushiroshoji Masahiro, then made thedecision to shift FAAM’s original directive to be morein line with the political move of the city government.This shift was to engage with art that was morepractice-driven rather than object-ended. Kurodaexplains that:The Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows