There are roles here that do not yet have names.
At the Shibuya Higashi Archives, what matters is not simply to exhibit works, but to keep them in a state in which they can meet someone again. We quietly await those who will look for that state with us.
Working with the Archives
For those who can stay silent a little longer before a work.
The Archives is a museum that appears on no map. There is, accordingly, no commute. What is required is the quiet concentration to be present at the moment an exhibition room opens.
What we handle: public-domain and CC0 high-resolution images released by museums around the world; the time left inside them; the traces of conservation; the presence of letters; and the possibilities of display that do not yet have names.
The Archives is not looking only for the immediately useful. Someone who does not rush to declare the puzzling understood. Someone whose posture straightens, just slightly, when handling something beautiful. Such encounters the Archives quietly awaits.
Open roles.
At present, we welcome anyone with an interest in the following areas.
01
Curatorial and research
Provenance research, artist documentation, verification of released data, and the study of exhibition themes. The task is not only to classify works, but to see how they have arrived at the present.
02
Conservation and image preparation
Correction, upscaling, color adjustment, and the ordering of archival data. Not to make works unnaturally new, but to bring them to a state in which they breathe easily in the viewing environments of the present.
03
Exhibition planning
The composition of permanent and special exhibitions, the design of the viewing experience, the relations of works, words, and space. Thinking through displays that neither explain too much nor let the visitor stray too far.
04
Design
The visual design of the website, the app, exhibition graphics, distributions, catalogues, and shop articles. A role responsible for margins, letterforms, the depth of black, and the silence of plaster casts.
05
Development
Technical development for the official exhibitions app, the website, the collection database, and the exhibition experience. Technically realistic; as an experience, set slightly apart from reality.
06
Communications and editing
Exhibition information, news, social media, press releases, and introductory texts. Conveying the Archives’ activities in words that are clear, but never too clear.
07
Distribution and museum shop
Planning, selling, and shipping catalogues, posters, cards, daily articles, and digital items. Selling, too, is a small form of display by which works and people meet.
Who We Welcome
Who we look for.
The Archives welcomes people such as the following.
- Those who love the air of museums, libraries, repositories, and archive rooms
- Those with an interest in the public domain and open cultural heritage
- Those capable of respect toward works and their makers
- Those careful in their handling of words, images, margins, and silences
- Those who can be serious for the sake of play
- Those who can turn seriousness into play rather than heaviness
- Those who do not answer too quickly when asked “What is this?”
- Those who, faced with an unexplained occurrence, begin by taking notes
Experience and titles are not required.
Not becoming careless before a work, however, is.
How we work.
The Archives is a museum that appears on no map. Work is therefore remote as a rule.
Meetings, production, review, exhibition preparation, the ordering of the collection, and the editing of texts take place online. When necessary, we may gather in a real-world café, a workshop, an exhibition space, or some other place that can be explained.
Hours, forms of involvement, remuneration, and contract terms are discussed individually, according to the area and the project.
Application
How to apply.
We have no standing openings at present. We do, however, welcome messages from those interested in the activities of the Archives.
When applying or inquiring, please include the following.
- Your name
- Contact information
- The area that interests you
- Something that shows your past work
- What you would like to do with the Archives
- A museum, archive room, or similar place you love
We cannot promise a prompt reply to every message.
Each is examined carefully within the stores, and we will be in touch in due course.
In Closing
The Shibuya Higashi Archives is not yet a finished museum. It hopes, rather, to remain quietly open precisely by never being quite finished.
There are no actual exhibition rooms here.
There is, however, the work of making them.
There is no fixed address here.
There is, however, a place for facing the works.
There are roles here that do not yet have names. The Archives quietly awaits those who will find them with us.