The Graduate School of Transdisciplinary Arts held an exhibition featuring the graduation projects of the Course of Transdisciplinary Arts Class of 2022.
The Graduate School of Transdisciplinary Arts will hold an exhibition featuring the graduation projects of the Course of Transdisciplinary Arts Class of 2022. In the Course of Transdisciplinary Arts, we students bring our varied viewpoints, experiences and specialties into a common curriculum, allowing us to further develop our own expertise as we share our knowledge with our peers. By venturing outside our usual fields of study, we gained new perspectives and methodologies which took us beyond traditional cultural and artistic contexts.
The Class of 2022 has spent our 2 years of study at AUA witnessing the changes in global society brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the anxiety and strain of living alongside a new and invisible virus, we also had to deal with restrictions on group activities and the use of university facilities, which presented major handicaps to our studies. However, our earnest desire to create something out of this lack led us each to take up anew the fundamental question of “what is expression?” in our individual research. We feel strongly that, through an accumulation of interactions, we were able to create a stronger transdisciplinary practice, even if we were unable to recreate the group dynamic we would have found in the Course of Transdisciplinary Arts in normal times. We invite you to view the results of our research, which we offer as our responses to these uncertain times.
(From the Class of 2022)
[Date/Time]
February 16 (Wed.) – February 20 (Sun.), 2022
10:00-18:00 (last admission at 17:30)
● Opening time for Feb. 16 is 13:00.
● Closing time for Feb. 20 is 17:00 (last admission at 16:30)
[Entry fee]
Free of charge
[Venue]
Akita City Cultural Creation Centre, Studio B (2nd floor)
〒010-0875 Senshumeitokumachi 3-16, Akita City, Akita Prefecture
[Access]
By train: 10 minutes’ walk from Akita Station West Exit
By bus: 5 minutes’ walk from “Senshu Kouen Iriguchi” (千秋公園入口) stop
By car: 10 minutes’ drive from “Akita Chuo IC” of the Akita Expressway
*The Akita City Cultural Creation Center does not offer any parking. There are several paid parking areas nearby.
Akita City Cultural Creation Centre
【Event information】
(All events will be conducted in Japanese)
■ Opening Ceremony
Date/Time: February 16 (Wed.) 13:00-13:30
Venue: Akita City Cultural Creation Centre, Community Space (1st floor)
■ Talk Event
Date/Time: February 19 (Sat.) 15:30-17:00
Format: Online (ZOOM)
* Please register by Feb. 13 (Sun.) using the form (in Japanese) below to participate
Registration form
Contents: Art critic Ren Fukuzumi and AUA Professor Shigeaki Iwai will use the graduation exhibition as a starting point for a wider discussion on “transdisciplinary art.”
【Event Information for AUA students/staff/faculty】
(All events will be conducted in Japanese)
■ “Hints for Performance”
Date/Time: February 17 (Thur.) 13:00-15:00
For: AUA students, staff and faculty
Format: Online (ZOOM)
*Please register by Feb. 13 (Sun.) using the form (in Japanese) below to participate
Registration form
Guest: Aruma TOYAMA
Host: Akita University of Art Graduation Exhibition 2022
Planning: Mukousangen-ryodonari
Contact: mukousangenryodonari@gmail.com
Event Overview
In recent years, it has become common to see performance art at museums and galleries. While it remains highly ambiguous, when and how did our current understanding of the term “performance art” develop? Using past works as guideposts, we introduce a logical framework for concepts such as the performer/spectator relationship, recurrence/repeatability, and gender performativity, providing a useful lens through which to view and create future performance works.
Guest Profile
Aruma TOYAMA (Curator)
Assistant curator, Towada Art Center (Aomori). After graduating from Goldsmiths, University of London with a degree in Contemporary Art Theory, Toyama worked as a curatorial assistant at KENPOKU ART (Ibaraki), and as a coordinator for ARKUS Project (Ibaraki) before joining Towada Art Center in 2021.
■ “Entanglement, accident and hybridity: Reflections on what makes art possible”
Date/Time: February 17 (Thur.) 15:30-16:20 (lecture), 16:30-18:00 (workshop)
For: AUA students, staff and faculty
Format: Online (ZOOM)
*Please register by Feb. 13 (Sun.) using the form (in Japanese) below to participate
Registration form
*The workshop has a limit of 10 participants. Workshop participants should read the assignment in advance. There is no limit for lecture participants.
Guest: Riku IIOKA
Host: Akita University of Art Graduation Exhibition 2022
Planning: Mukousangen-ryodonari
Contact: mukousangenryodonari@gmail.com
Event Overview
The creation of artwork does not exist independently, but must be based on a variety of cultural backgrounds, art-historical influences and physical limits. How can we think about this “entanglement” of factors in the modern era? We will consider this question in a short lecture and optional workshop.
Those who wish to participate in the workshop must complete the assignment (diagram) and submit it to mukousangenryodonari@gmail.com by February 13 (Sun.)
Assignment: google.docs
Guest Profile
Riku IIOKA (Curator, Mori Art Museum (Tokyo))
Born in 1992. Recent curated exhibitions include: “New Rube Goldberg machine” (KAYOKOYUKI/Kogame Soko (Tokyo), 2016); “Yohei Watanabe: Texture of cat, clouds reversed in retina” (Kogame Soko (Tokyo), 2016); “Frozen window: Life and art” (CAGE GALLERY (Tokyo), 2019) ; “Sento, rasento: 6 artists and 4 curators” (500m Museum (Hokkaido), 2021). Selected recent publications include the 2020/2021 exhibition reviews for the magazine Bijutsu Techo (web version), and the short essay “‘Care’ as criticism” for Bijutsu Techo’s February 2022 special issue.
■ “Life advice center for creators”
Date/Time: February 17 (Thur.) 13:30-18:00; February 18 (Fri.) 13:30-18:00
For: AUA students, staff and faculty
Format: Online (ZOOM)
* Please register by Feb. 7 (Mon.) using the form (in Japanese) below to participate
Registration form
* Same-day registration is possible
Guests: Arata HASEGAWA, Min NISHIHARA
Host: Akita University of Art Graduation Exhibition 2022
Planning: Mukousangen-ryodonari
Contact: mukousangenryodonari@gmail.com
Event Overview
What kind of work does an “independent curator” do? Do they plan exhibitions? Do they select artists to show? Do they write commentary? Do they judge artwork? The relationship between curator and artist goes far beyond merely inviting/being invited to an exhibition. There are many things that a curator can do both in front of and behind the scenes of an exhibition, such as working with artists to make seemingly unfeasible projects concrete, or taking time to refine the initial premises for their expression. This is an opportunity to ask any questions you may have about the work of an independent curator.
Guest Profiles
Arata HASEGAWA (Independent curator)
Born in 1988. Graduated from the Faculty of Integrated Human Studies, Kyoto University. Recent curated exhibitions include: “On the desert islands: Sculptures, 3D works, and installations in the 1980s” (2014); “Palais de Kyoto: Nothing but sounds” (2015); “Chronicle, chronicle!” (2016-17); “Impurity/Immunity” (2017-18); “STAYTUNE/D” (2019); “Grand reverse” (2019-); “Halfway happy” (2020-21). He is a joint researcher at the National Museum of Ethnology (Osaka), a lecturer at the Nippon Photography Institute, and guest curator at PARADISE AIR (Chiba).
Min NISHIHARA (Independent curator)
Min Nishihara is the artist name of Hiromi SONE. After working as a writer, critic and curator, she moved to the United States in 1990, where, in addition to art management, she worked as a therapist and social worker in Los Angeles. Besides providing general therapy including cognitive-behavioral therapy, crisis intervention, family therapy, art therapy, and play therapy for individuals and groups, she planned and implemented art projects as social work in low-income housing, domestic violence shelters, senior homes, and community centers. Since 2021 she has been a professor at Akita University of Art. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist in the State of California.
■ “Critiques of projects by Ren Fukuzumi”
Date/Time: February 19 (Sat.) 13:00-14:30
For: AUA students, staff and faculty
Format: Online (ZOOM)
* Please register by Feb. 13 (Sun.) using the form (in Japanese) below to participate
Registration form
Guest: Ren FUKUZUMI
Interviewer: Shigeaki IWAI
Host: Akita University of Art Graduation Exhibition 2022
Event Overview
Art critic Ren Fukuzumi will critique the final projects of the Graduate School of Transdisciplinary Arts class of 2022.
[Hosts]
Executive Committee of the Akita University of Art Graduation Exhibition 2022
Akita University of Art
[With support from]
Akita City
Akita Sakigake Shimpo
NHK Akita
Akita Broadcasting System
Akita Television
Akita Asahi Broadcasting
Cable Networks Akita
Akibinet
[Contact]
Student Affairs Division, Akita University of Art
TEL: 018-888-8105 (business hours are weekdays 08:30-17:15)
[Information for visitors]
1) Please wear a mask inside the venue, and disinfect your hands at the entrance.
2) The contents of this exhibition and related events may be changed depending on the state of COVID-19 spread in Akita.
3) Entry may be restricted to avoid overcrowding inside the venue.
Opening Ceremony Images
Exhibition Images
Talk Event Images
