Urban redevelopment under the banner of ‘diversity’ and ‘sustainability’ has led to the eviction of poor and homeless people from their places. However, among the people on the streets, there are various detailed relationships of mutual help based on corporeality that are being stretched out. This talk discusses examples of activities and art projects that resist urban cleaning and cultivate their own place in the city. Lecturer Misako Ichimura（Artist） Misako Ichimura is an artist and activist who has lived in a blue tent village in a park in Tokyo since 2003, and runs a barter café called “Enoir” with other residents of the tent village. In 2007, she founded Nora, …

It has been a long time since well-being emerged as a goal to be achieved by design. Why is it that the focus is not on mere function or convenience, but on the “goodness” of being itself? This lecture will introduce the basic concepts of the “ontological design” trend that has been attracting attention in recent years, and explore its possibilities. Lecturer Toru KOGA (Kyushu University)Nobuhiro MASUDA (Kyushu University) Date Dec 20th, 2022: Opens at 16:50 p.m, Seminar starts at 17:00 p.m. JST. Online *Instead of inviting an outside lecturer, the staff of the Center will talk about the content as clearly as possible and answer your questions. Review When …

In a rapidly changing world, there is a need to open design initiatives to society. In this lecture, we will interpret “DESIGN WITH” not as a mere title or methodology, but as a fundamental issue that lies AMONG various dimensions, such as the diversity of people, humans and non-humans, and reproduction and non-reproduction, and look forward to another way of design that has not received attention up to now. Lecturer Takahito KAMIHIRA (Professor of Senshu Univ.)Design researcher and professor at Senshu University, born in 1972 in Akune City, Kagoshima Prefecture, completed the Graduate School of Art and Design, University of Tsukuba in 1997. After working as a graphic designer, assistant …

The expressions known as Bio Art/Bio Design have several contact points with ‘design’ because of the experimental procedures involved in the work and the incorporation of living things as elements of the work. In this talk, we would like to discuss the various aspects of Bio Art/Bio Design works or displays regarding the procedures, plan and layout. Lecturer Shiho Hasegawa (KeMCo: Keio Museum Commons)She specializes in modern and contemporary art theory (art history, design studies). She is particularly interested in the intersection of post-modern artistic expression and technology/natural science, from the perspectives of visual culture (film, video), media art, and bioart/biodesign. The completed doctoral programme at the Graduate School of …

Design is an alien concept to traditional East Asian culture, and modern design has been discussed along with the importation of Western civilization. However, for the professional designers who emerged in East Asia in the 20th century, the acceptance of design was not only one-way transplantation of Western civilization, but also an attempt at cultural fusion that aspired to create their own culture, creativity, and social change based on the long history of Eastern culture. We will consider the birth of professional designers through CHEN Zhifo, who studied at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and established the first design office in China. Lecturer Dr. ZHANG Jing, Lecturer at China …

It would seem that design cannot escape from the structure of pre-defined purposes and conditions. In other words, it only by being within this structure that the true value and order of design can be shown. This is not the case. Then, what is the intelligence of us who is natural born in such a way that we deviate from all structures, or rather, design of deviation? Lecturer Dr. Yukio-Pegio Gunji Professor, Department of Intermedia, Art and Science, School of Fundamental Engineering, Waseda University.http://www.ypg.ias.sci.waseda.ac.jp/index.html Date Oct 29th, 2021: Opens at 17:20 p.m, performance starts at 17:30 p.m. in Japan Time. Venue Online Review What is Natural-Born Intelligence (NBI)? According to …

Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) play a critical role in helping us understand the past, present and are helping us contribute towards a sustainable future. IKS is also critical to helping us better understand and reframe sustainability issues as related to sustaining human existence, which is a human need. Traditional discourse on IKS and sustainability tends not to focus on human needs. Human needs are often identified as infinite, ever-changing, dependent on circumstance, culture, or time. However, Max-Neef (1992) suggested that this is not so — on the contrary, needs are finite and universal. He defined nine basic human needs subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity and freedom. When …

The idea is anyone can get a free meal ticket if he/she provides help to the owner for 50 minutes. The free meal tickets are attached to the wall of the canteen available for anyone to get their meal. The wish for users may be “I want to be of help for someone” or “I want you to have a warm meal, even when you are in trouble”. Yet, such an idea of goodwill sounds vulnerable. How can design change vulnerable relations to that of strength? We will discuss the many challenges MIRAI SHOKUDO is facing daily as a place that strives to serve meals everyday. Lecturer Sekai Kobayashi, CEO …

An Individual’s worldview depends on one’s position and living situation. Apparently, our society faces many exclusions caused by, for instance, poverty, labor environment, and disrespect for women. Yet, how seriously do we come to terms with these problems in reality? In this lecture, we would like to hear about the artist Ichimura, who literally lives in a “blue tent village” and sleeps in cardboard boxes, develops her keen insights towards these actual social issues, and will have an opportunity to look at society and reconsider art and design itself from her viewpoint. Lecturer Misako Ichimura, artist and activist Misako Ichimura is an artist and activist who has lived in a …

Whether because of its easy reproducibility or because of the fluidity of its medium, “literature” has been considered as an immaterial art form essentially different from other forms of art at least since the modern period. Recent trends in literary studies, including Japanese literature, however, point towards new and fruitful approaches to literary compositions as physical objects. Taking my cue from these approaches, in this lecture I will examine the shifting aesthetic appreciations, ancient and modern, of one such category of “objects,” the literary compositions of Heian courtier Sugawara no Michizane (845-903). Lecturer Niels van der Salm (Japanese language instructor at Leiden University) Niels van der Salm, from the Netherlands, …