Takumi Uchida, a master’s student in GAP, will release his first book, Futoko Quest, on October 2, published by Asuka Shinsha. This autobiographical essay chronicles his life growing up through homeschooling, detailing his journey from encountering music to becoming a composer. In a time when 460,000 school-aged children are not attending school and exploring diverse educational paths, this book serves as an archive of one possible way of living, offering a new perspective on navigating such challenges.
Otsuka Kenjiro International Exchange Program for the Faculty of Fine Arts 2024
Presentation for Research Workshop held in Uzbekistan
Tapchan (топчан) time together?
We are pleased to welcome you to a debriefing session on the research workshop held August 16-22, 2024, touring four cities in Uzbekistan (Tashkent, Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand) and the surrounding areas. In this session, seven participating students will take the lead and report on their experiences and what they gained from their research in their own ways.
[Messages from participating students]
During our seven-day stay in Uzbekistan, we visited four cities and traveled approximately 1,000 km. The journey was like running around with limited time, feeling the limits of our bodies (especially our intestines and stomachs), and we were overwhelmed by the culture and architecture of Uzbekistan, which has functioned as a crossroads of various cultures from ancient times to the Middle Ages, modern times, and today. As we traveled from town to town by microbus for five to seven hours, gazing out the windows of the bus, we became aware of the earth, sky, sun, and moon… and the fact that we were living on the earth.
Through the trip, we were also able to catch a glimpse of people’s daily lives. Families spreading out their carpets on the roadside are washing their carpets. People waiting by the roadside for cars heading in the same direction. Cars moving quickly signaled by lights and horns, and just in time to move into the lane next to them.
And then there is a large piece of furniture with wooden chairs and tables on the edge of the house, which we happened to encounter throughout our trip. It is called Tapchan. At Tapchan, people eat, drink tea, talk, and nap with family and friends. The Tapchan is a place where people can gather without any purpose or goal, helping to create an everyday moment, which is typical of Uzbekistan.
Because of our admiration for this way of spending time at Tapchan, we would like to extend the exchange that is created in Tapchan to this debriefing session. Although we could not bring a Tapchan from Uzbekistan, we’d like to invite you to the circle of conversation in each participant’s own style of Tapchan, and spend time leisurely sharing memories and research. Looking forward to spending time with you!
[Date]
October 21, Monday. 6pm to 8pm (O.K. to enter and exit anytime during the event)
[Venue]
Community Salon, 3rd floor of Taki Plaza. (Ueno Campus of Tokyo University of the Arts)
本授業では、彼女が現在構想中の長編映画および演劇プロジェクトの製作過程で生まれたレクチャーパフォーマンス『Homesick for another world』を特別に上演して頂きます。中国でのハード・ロックダウンの経験を出発点に、抑圧された記憶や消された歴史に、私的かつ詩的なアプローチでの接近を試みます。
Mei Liu is a filmmaker and artist from Shanghai, China, currently based in the Netherlands. She is gaining attention as a young artist who develops performances and video installations with a unique warmth and eye as an extension of the film medium.
In this class, she will give a special performance of her lecture performance “Homesick for Another World,” which was created in the process of making a feature-length docu-fiction film and theater project she is currently conceptualizing. Taking her experience of a hard lockdown in China as a starting point, the performance will attempt to approach repressed memories and erased histories with a personal and poetic approach.
This will be followed by a feedback session in dialogue with Mei Liu’s mentor, artist Lieko Shiga, and a discussion with the students.
Mei Liu is an artist and filmmaker from Shanghai who now lives in Amsterdam. She received her BFA in Film Production from NYU Tisch School of the Arts (New York, USA) and MA in Artistic Research in and through Cinema at the Netherlands Film Academy (Amsterdam, NL). She also participated in the Apichatpong Weerasethakul film lab in the Amazon jungle.
Her video installation works have been exhibited in Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (Indonesia); 前台OneStepForward (China); Keep an Eye Festival (Amsterdam). Her lecture performance was shown at the EYE Filmmuseum (Amsterdam) and Forecast Forum (Berlin). Her short films have been shown at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France), among others.
Mei strives to create new filmmaking spaces that disrupt existing hierarchies and interactions in society. She is developing a ‘film yoga’ practice to gain spiritual insights through mindful filmmaking. She co-founded Cenote (originally Cenote Workshop) — a collaborative art research and practice project centered around Mysticism and Spiritual Activism.
Born in Aichi in 1980, based in Miyagi, Japan. Graduated with an MA from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London Institute in 2004.
“As someone who grew up in a clean and safe environment that favored convenience, my affinity with camera equipment was an extremely violent one,” says Shiga, for whom the space-time of photography was a salvation and excitement greater than “death.” In 2008, Shiga moved to Miyagi Prefecture, where she became involved in the local community and continued producing works related to memories that span generations, thinking about life from imaginations of death, and the relationship between nature and human society. Her experiences in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which saw the breaking down of social functions along the coast and the unforgiving disposition of the laws of nature, link back to “recovery” efforts seen in postwar Japan, inciting an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Shiga, through her creative process and production, seeks the roots of the human spirit. Her works are intent on visualizing, through the medium of photography, what she calls “the eternal present,” a moment that is neither past nor future suspended in space-time. They are photographic spaces in which the viewer can see their own body and consciousness reflected back as if looking in a mirror.
Lecture Room 1, Central Building, Faculty of Fine Arts, Ueno Campus, Tokyo University of the Arts (No. 7 on the map below) *There will be no online streaming of this lecture.
https://www.geidai.ac.jp/access/ueno
対象 Eligibility:
本学の学生・教職員、学外一般 （先着順、定員150名）
GAP修士１年の学生は必修授業（GAPセミナー）の一環なので必ず履修すること。
TUA students, faculty, staff, public (first-come, first-served; capacity of 150)
使用言語 Language：
英語 English
参加無料・要予約（先着順）Admission and Booking:
Free of charge, reservations required (first-come, first-served)：
Why not join us in a playful dialogue with wild plants around us and see what words bloom from our connection with the land? Wild plants roam freely, crossing invisible borders like national and prefectural lines. Sometimes they’re shunned by humans, sometimes they heal us, but they always share a deep bond with us, transcending time and place. In this workshop, we’ll forage for wild plants, savour their aromas and flavours, and let them inspire us to craft the poetry that bridge the gap between us and the land.
We’ll kick off with Nagisa Mizuno, who will share her reflections on the boundary between her body and the land. Drawing from her year-long adventure gathering wild plants in Finland in 2023, she’ll tell the story of ‘Momo-iro no Tea (Peach-Coloured Tea),’ a short tale inspired by her experiences. Then, we’ll take a stroll through the neighbourhood to gather intriguing wild plants. Back at our gathering spot, we’ll brew wild plant tea, watch its colour change, inhale its scent, and put our feelings into words. The words we create from these wildflowers will blossom into poems full of unique emotions and perspectives.
Sharing and connecting with each other is a key part of the fun. Let’s enjoy this journey of tasting wild plants and playing with words together!
Date/日付 : 29 July 2024 14:00-17:00 Place/会場：Geidai Platform of Arts and Knowledge for the Future (2-14-3 Ueno Sakuragi, Taito-ku, Tokyo)東京藝術大学 芸術未来研究場 藝大部屋（旧日展新会館）：東京都台東区上野桜木２丁目１４−３
We will be holding “sawakai (tea party)” to discuss the documentation and memory of art and projects. The main topic is about Mizuno’s ‘Eco Emotional Footprint’, a performative archival project, through an exploration of ‘colours’, that ferments her relationship with a small Finnish village where she lived for a year in 2023. She will talk about the fading colours of natural dyes with plants, the ephemeral wild herbal tea rituals, and the changing memories, from the perspectives of recording/memory/folktale-making. 「アートとプロジェクトの記録と記憶を語る茶話会 vol.3」を開催します。水野が2023年に1年間暮らしたフィンランドのある小さな村で行っていた、「色」の探求を通した土地との関係性を発酵させるパフォーマティブなアーカイブプロジェクト「Eco Emotional Footprint」について、消えゆく草木で染めた色や野草茶、変化していく日々の記憶について、記録／記憶／民話づくりなどの観点からお話しします
The new compositions for mixed chorus (a cappella) composed by Takumi Uchida, a master’s student of GAP, will be premiered at the “Chamber Choir VOX GAUDIOSA 26th Annual Concert” on September 22.
Advance Ticket: 3,000 yen Student Ticket: 1,500 yen High School Students and Younger: 1,000 yen Web Streaming Ticket: 2,000 yen Same-Day Ticket: 3,500 yen
“The border is there, acting as a barrier, yet the artistic imagination and desire for peace in the DMZ will always be as borderless as birds, wind, water, and grass. Borderless DMZ. “
GAPでは、DMZでのアートプロジェクト「DMZ Art & Peace Platform 2021」のディレクター、チョン・ヨンシム氏の来日を捉え、DMZを現場とするアートによるアプローチについて、緊急トークを開催します。
チョン・ヨンシム氏がキュレーティングしたDMZ Art & Peace Platformは、DMZとその周辺の5カ所を会場とし、ナムジュン・パイクや坂茂、オラファー・エリアソンとセバスティアン・ベーマンによるStudio Other Spaceなど、国際的に高く評価される33人のアーティストが参加しました。DMZの過去、現在、未来の物語にスポットを当て、DMZを新たな「コンタクトゾーン」、つまり国境のない平和地帯へと変貌させるプロジェクトです。参加者は、南と北の国境に住む普通の人々や彼らの日常生活、ミレニアル世代やZ世代、朝鮮戦争を経験していない戦後世代に代表される避難民や戦争イメージの「先送りされた記憶」、精神を癒すために絶滅危惧種の名前を呼び起こすこと、パンデミックや気候危機の中で環境とテクノロジーの共存について考えるなど、多様な題材を取り上げ、アートをプラットフォームとして幅広い専門家が結集しました。
In today’s world, there is not a day that goes by without being reminded of the conflicts and wars happening around the globe, and the division and tragedies they bring to people. As people studying art, how can we engage with this situation? Even though our methods may differ, each of us is likely spending our days carrying some thoughts on how to cope with this.
The most continuous conflict close to Japan is at the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) on the Korean Peninsula. In South Korea, our neighboring country, there is a cultural and research-oriented approach using the DMZ as a platform to view the present through art, and reflect on the past and future, while considering ongoing political struggles.
In the GAP, we are seizing the opportunity of the visit by Ph.D. Chung Yeon shim, director of the DMZ art project “DMZ Art & Peace Platform 2021,” to hold an urgent talk on the approach to art at the DMZ.
The DMZ Art & Peace Platform, curated by Dr. Chung, used DMZ and its surrounding 5 locations as venues and featured 33 internationally acclaimed artists including Nam June Paik, Shigeru Ban, and the Studio Other Space by Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann. This project focused on the past, present, and future stories of the DMZ, transforming it into a new “contact zone,” a borderless peace area. Participants included a wide range of experts using art as a platform, covering diverse themes such as the everyday lives of ordinary people living on the border between North and South Korea, the “deferred memories” of refugees and post-war generations who did not experience the Korean War, invoking the names of endangered species to heal the spirit, and considering the coexistence of the environment and technology amid the pandemic and climate crisis.
Dr. Chung says, “The border is there, acting as a barrier, yet the artistic imagination and desire for peace in the DMZ will always be as borderless as birds, wind, water, and grass. Borderless DMZ. “
In this era of conflict, we invite many to participate and consider the power of art towards the future.
ゲスト：チョン・ヨンシム氏（Yeon Shim CHUNG） 弘益大学教授、DMZ Art & Peace Platform 2021ディレクター
執筆活動としては、2013年、戦後韓国美術における単色画の主要な提唱者である李逸（イ・イル）の評論集を編纂した（Mijinsa、2013年、英訳はLes Presses du réelより出版）。また、M+ Matters（香港）で単色画に関する複数の記事を執筆したほか、ナム・ジュン・パイク、パク・ヒョンギ、韓国の実験的前衛芸術家に関するモノグラフを執筆。アンソロジー『Visualizing Beauty（美の視覚化）』では本の章を執筆：また、『Installation Art in Contemporary Space』（A & C、2014年）と『Korean Installation Art』（2018年）という2冊の韓国語のモノグラフがある。1953年以降の韓国美術を執筆、共同編集：Collision, Innovation, Interaction』（Phaidon London、2020年）を執筆している。
Professor of Art History and Theory at Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea. She received her Ph.D. in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Dr Chung’s research interests encompass both modern and contemporary Western and East Asian art and culture. Before receiving tenure at Hongik, she was Assistant Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and a researcher for the exhibition The World of Nam June Paik at the Guggenheim Museum, New York in 1999. She has also co-curated several landmark exhibitions in New York and in Seoul since 2000, including Faultlines, an exhibition of “Imagined Border,” the 2018 Gwangju Biennale edition. In 2013, Chung compiled a Critical Anthology of Lee Yil, a major proponent of Dansaekhwa in post-war Korean art (Mijinsa, 2013; the English translation was published by Les Presses du réel). She also authored several articles on Dansaekhwa at M+ Matters (Hong Kong), and monographs on Nam June Paik, Park Hyun-Ki, and Korean experimental avant-garde artists. She published a book chapter in the anthology Visualizing Beauty: Gender and Ideology in Modern East Asia (Hong Kong University Press, 2012); and has two monographs in Korean, entitled Installation Art in Contemporary Space (A & C, 2014) and Korean Installation Art (2018). She authored and co-edited Korean Art from 1953: Collision, Innovation, Interaction (Phaidon London, 2020). As an artistic director she curated the 2021 DMZ Art & Peace Platform on the border of the DMZ. She was a visiting research professor at IFA, NYU in 2018-2019 as a Fulbright Fellow.
What is DMZ? The DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone) on the Korean Peninsula is the Military Demarcation Line established by the Korean War Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953. The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, and in South Korea, it is called “육이오 (pronounced “yook-ee-oh”, or six-two-five)” based on the pronunciation of the date. Within the context of the East-West Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union deeply engaged in the struggle for control over the Korean Peninsula, making it a prominent site of global geopolitical conflict. The distant cause of its occurrence includes Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula, marking it as the closest site of conflict and division to Japan. The Korean War remains in a state of armistice, having lasted for more than 70 years without a formal end to the war. The process by which one ethnic group has come to division and conflict is not only the outcome of actions by the parties directly involved but also a result of global political struggles, a structure that can be similarly observed in conflicts and wars frequently reported in the news today.
Theme: Beyond Barriers: Nature, Challenges, and Art in the DMZ
Date: June 28th, 2024 (Friday) 18:00-20:00
Venue: Lecture Room 1, Central Building, Faculty of Fine Arts, Ueno Campus, Tokyo University of the Arts (No. 7 on the map below) https://www.geidai.ac.jp/access/ueno *There will be no online streaming of the lecture.
Eligibility: TUAT students, faculty, staff, and the general public (first-come, first-served; capacity of 150) *GAP Unit Program (must be taken as it is part of the required coursework) for the first year of the Master’s degree in GAP.
Language: Japanese and English with consecutive interpretation (interpreter: Kyle Hogue)
Admission free/ Reservation not required (in order of arrival)
Credit: Planned and hosted by Professor Lee Mina (GAP) Organized by Global Art Practice (GAP), Tokyo University of the Arts
The film “Hana and Koto” with music by Takumi Uchida, a master’s student of GAP, has been nominated for the SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL 2024. It is scheduled to screen onsite and online on the following dates.
SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL 2024
Established in 2004 in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL was one of the first international competitive film festivals to exclusively feature digital cinema, which has now become the standard format for motion pictures. We remain committed to discovering and nurturing new talent, with the aim of helping these filmmakers seize new business opportunities that have arisen in the changing landscape of the film industry. In 2024, the 21st edition of the festival will be held.
The core programs of the festival are the International Competition and the Japanese Film Competition. The International Competition accepts submissions from all over the world. The Japanese Film Competition, which is divided into two sections, the Japanese Feature Film Competition and the Japanese Short Film Competition, accepts domestic submissions by emerging filmmakers. This year, we have received 1,201 submissions, from 102 countries and regions.
After preliminary judges select the first round of nominees, the official jury members, who are esteemed domestic and international industry professionals, will judge the films, and the awards including the Grand Prize will be given out on the last day of the festival. In addition, the SKIP CITY AWARD is given to a Japanese film which displays promising talent for feature filmmaking.
