The Mori Art Museum, an integral part of the Mori Arts Center, occupies space on the top five floors of the 53-story Roppongi Hills Tower, Tokyo. The Mori aim is to have the new Mori Art Museum "become a major feature in the cultural landscapes of Tokyo, Japan, Asia and the world." Over the last 18 months, several events as preopening projects were staged at the museum. A public program was inaugurated, presenting "a dynamic and unique range of educational activities designed to give children, students, local residents and the broader community the chance to discover, enjoy and discuss art. It plays a key role in realizing the museum's mission of bringing together art and life." Today the museum officially opens with its first major exhibition, "Happiness," cocurated by David Elliott and Pier Luigi Tazzi, which will continue until Jan. 18.
To Elliott, who became the founding director of the museum two years ago, belongs credit for all these initiatives. He draws on his experience in exhibition organizing, teaching, lecturing, broadcasting, editing and writing at the museum, which in its newness does not have its own permanent collection. He is the first non-Japanese director of an art museum in Japan. With impressive credentials, he was invited to come to Tokyo to develop and implement plans for policy, staffing, organization and programming. The scale of his undertaking would be daunting to anyone less well equipped. Serenely equal to formidable requirements, Elliott said: "It's great to work on these things. I've been doing this kind of work since I was 27."
Native to Prestbury in England, Elliott entered Durham University, where he took his first degree in modern history. He specialized his interest by going on to study the history of art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. For 20 years he worked as director of The Museum of Modern Art in Oxford. His application there was rewarded with an honorary doctorate of arts from Oxford Brookes University. For five following years he worked as director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Stockholm, Sweden.