The Mori Art Museum's director, David Elliott, will leave his post at the end of October to take a position as the new director of the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art in Turkey. The news was announced Wednesday at a press conference at Roppongi Hills, where Elliott spoke of his five years in Tokyo working as the first foreign director of a major museum in Japan, focusing especially on the three years since the Mori's opening in October 2003.
Located on the 53rd floor of the Mori Tower in Roppongi district, the museum, backed by powerful real-estate tycoon Minoru Mori, is the largest privately owned and endowed art institution in Japan.
British-born Elliott, 57, has led efforts since the museum's opening to invigorate the fine arts scene in the city, focusing on Asian, and particularly Japanese, contemporary art. He has also put on a string of slick, thematic exhibitions such as the Mori's 2003 debut,"Happiness"; "Tokyo/Berlin-Berlin/Tokyo," a look at the creative ties between the German and Japanese capitals; and this summer's "Africa Remix," which offered a unique survey of new art from the continent.
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