German film museum - anime art exhibit

morgan · Post by **morgan** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 4:58 pm

hi everyone -
I got an email from someone over at the German film museum regarding a touring show they are putting together on anime art. They seem to be interested in including some pieces from my gallery. Has anyone else gotten this? It seems like it could be a neat thing to be a part of yet the idea of just shipping off a bunch of A grade peices for an exhibit scares the crap out of me - and that's assuming its even legitimate! Anyone know anything about this or participated in this kind of thing in the past??

here is the whole letter if your interested...

Dear Morgan,

while doing research for an upcoming Anime exhibition in Germany, I
fortunately stumbled across your amazing website. While your cel
collection looks really amazing, I’d like to introduce or project to you
and invite you to take part on our exhibition with parts of your
collection.

Under the Title „Anime – High Art – Pop Culture“, the German Filmmuseum in
Frankfurt/ Main will present from February to May 2008 a large exhibition
(350-300 square meters)about producing, collecting, consuming and
refecting Japanese Animation and Anime culture. Otherwise as many other
exhibitions on this topic before, we emphasize up-to-dateness as well as
giving a representative overview on the many different facettes of this
intermedia genre. Therefore we will show a great bandwith of different
exhibits, reaching from High Art ( f.e. Amano Yoshitaka, Nara Yoshitomo)
over production materials to the vivid products of fanculture like
figurines and fanworks.

If you give me your e-mail adress, I’d send you our promotion folder and
exhibition concept (both pdf), so you can get a better view on what we’re
doing .

I could also give you a list of the items which would be of special
interest for our exhibition, so it’s easier for you to make your decision
(as for the first impression, I'd count them to 20 pieces in a whole).
Also, if you recommend items which aren’t on your site, please feel free
to suggest.

After finishing in Frankfurt, the exhibition will tour to the Oscar
Academy in L.A. and to the ACME in Melbourne, afterwards touring
throughout Europe again. Naturally, as a lender you are free to take your
items back between two stations, but naturally we hope, you not just lend
them to Frankfurt, but let them tour as well.

The exhibition will be attended by a over 300 pages comprising catalogue,
which not only includes many pictures of the exhibits and around 20
articles by well-known academics as Jaqueline Berndt, Thomas Lamarre,
Jasper Sharp and many other, but also greetings and scetches from
Animation Studios and Anime-/Manga artists.

There will also be a supporting program for children, youths and adults,
as well as lots of interactive exhibition elements like video games,
station where one can make their own fanart and fancels, competitions,
cinema shows and much more.

We emphasize to show just a few but excellent collections. Since you seem
to have an interesting collection of very high quality, I’d feel very
happy, if you could support our project with your magnificant pieces.
In our position as a museum, we are able to assure the secure and
proffessional handling and transport of all exhibits. Naturally, there
will be a detailed lending agreement, and we will take the whole costs for
ensurance and transportation.

I’m looking forward to your answer and hope to hear from you soon!

miz ducky · Post by **miz ducky** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:52 pm

Wow. That's interesting. I'd say it wouldn't hurt to get their information. But check and Double check the facts. If it's for real, that would be really neat.

irmgaard · Post by **irmgaard** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:15 am

Well, I haven’t worked with this particular museum, so I can only speak in generalities, but if the question is, “Do museums approach private collectors out-of-the-blue and ask for the loan of works for exhibits?” Then the answer is, yes. Usually when they are looking to fill a “gap” in their exhibit, such as obtaining works from a particular period or style of an artist’s oeuvre.

I’ve never heard of them finding them on the web, but it’s possible, usually its more “word of mouth” or looking through records. They are a legitimate museum, so you should call or fax someone there, and they are advertising an upcoming anime art exhibit. The Los Angeles museum (http://www.moviemuseum.org/index.html) mentioned as part of the tour the exhibit will be taking is not yet open (in fact, I think they are still hiring) but they are planning on opening in 2010, so that can be checked and could be legit, too.

The downside to loaning out works to international traveling exhibits is that they will be away from you for a long time…usually at least a year, often much more. So you’ll have to tell friends, “I’m sorry, I can’t show you my *** cel/genga...” Of course you’ll get to add, “…because it’s currently on loan to the Deutsches Filmmuseum.” Museums don’t pay collectors, but they cover all of the shipping costs and you should be able to get some glossy catalogues out of it, too. If your cel/genga is reproduced in it, you’ll have an attribution line “ from the collection of ‘your name’”, which also should be on the identifying placard at the exhibit.

The main upside may not apply to cels/genga (I don’t sell them, so I don’t know), but having a work in an exhibit, especially if it’s reproduced in the catalogue, can increase its value. You should always collect what you like, but it never hurts to have your taste validated…especially by a professional!

There is always the chance of your work being lost or damaged in shipping or (though rare) while on display. It’s small, but that’s why museums have insurance.

Zetsuai · Post by **Zetsuai** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:32 am

I got that email from the german filmmuseum 4 month ago too ... they asked me because they needed cels for their "pink corner" hentai/yuri/yaoi ... I asked for more information and got a "scientific program" with hundreds of orthographic and content-related mistakes ... it was horrible ... (-.-) ...

a shame for all germans ...

...

I don't think that I will send them one of my cels ... in addition: NO insurance will ever bring me back those unique pieces of art when something happens ...

...

Gonzai · Post by **Gonzai** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:54 am

Hi Morgan ^_^

I was wondering if you could contribute some of your
beautiful Samurai 7 Kyuuzo sketches to the Gonzai art
museum. I promise to display them proudly, and I will
definately give you credit for making me one happy
camper. I promise not to keep your artwork forever,
just for 10 to 20 years or so. I will even pay for shipping. ~_^
Thanks for your consideration.

Gonzai

irmgaard · Post by **irmgaard** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:53 am

Great pitch, Gonzai!

Actually, with what happened to Zetsuai it sounds even more like someone should contact them. I'm sure they would want to know if their name and upcoming exhibit is being used to commit fraud!

GuyvarIII · Post by **GuyvarIII** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:18 am

Their website has an awesome Akira cel (even if the BG isn’t matching).
http://www.deutschesfilmmuseum.de/pre/f ... img1&ass=1
http://www.deutschesfilmmuseum.de/pre/r ... anime.html

I hope the real exhibit makes it to the States.

Belldandy · Post by **Belldandy** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:42 am

The museum representive actually asked the AMRC-L mailing list about this back in April, and were referred to Rubber Slug and Beta. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/amrc-l/message/4438

morgan · Post by **morgan** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:54 pm

thanks for all the advice everyone! sorry it took me so long to respond but I was on vacation up in alaska and didn't have internet access. I'll definatly try getting a hold of the museum - I work with a couple of germans so I think I'll get one of them to call them up. It will be interesting to see what the deal is. I emailed them back for more info and havent heard anything yet.

Frosty · Post by **Frosty** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 6:44 pm

I was also asked to give a lend of cels and of course I double checked this, and I think this is trustworthy. I got a programm and I also got information about insurance of the cels, the handling of the cels (with gloves, careful framing from people who know what they do

, etc.) and of course they close a contract about the lending - this sounds professionally to me.

At the moment I am still waiting for more concrete information but I think that there is only one person concerned with, so maybe it take longer time.
If they still want cels from my collection, I will join in