Dear List,
Thank for Verina to invite me into this mailing list. I apologize
that I didn't post until the end o this period.
I'd like to introduce some events I'm involved in Japan.
I think these can be good samples to think what the new kind of
education can be.
Before moving to write about the events, let me introduce by myself.
I've worked at YCAM (Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media) as a
production manager in 2007 to 2009.
Before moving to YCAM, I've worked at IAMAS (Institute of Advanced
Arts and Sciences) as a lecturer of Center for Media Culture. As you
may know, IAMAS is very practical school for New Media Arts. Students
are encouraged for collaboration with different kind of creators and
show their work for public. The school is located in rural and far
away from urban city, however, students are very active to show their
work at art center, live space etc. in Tokyo or abroad.
I have planned art exhibitions or publishing at IAMAS. I was a person
in charge of showing IAMAS and students works.
After I left YCAM, I was back to Tokyo and establish my own company
to manage or produce events, like exhibition, symposium, workshop etc.
1) Make: Tokyo Meeting
http://www.oreilly.co.jp/mtm/05/
(sorry information is in Japanese only)
As you may know, "Make" is an Electronic DIY magazine which published
by O'Reilly in the US. There is Japanese version of this magazine.
Some of articles are Japanese original ones. It's so amazing.
You can feel the air of Make: JP on the following blog.
http://jp.makezine.com/blog/ (This is also in Japanese only. Please
use translation service to read, if you like.)
In the Us, a big event to show a lot of things people make, called
Maker Fair, has been held. In Japan, a different type of small event,
called Make: Tokyo Meeting, is organized by O'Reilly Japan. The event
is included exhibition, demonstration, talk event, presentation,
workshop, sound event etc. I'm involved in this event as a staff of
exhibition. It's very interesting and thinkable what new media art is
for me. Actually the exhibition is not art exhibition. The almost
exhibitors are not artists. They are general people. (But their ideas
are amazing and skill of technology is very high.) The people who has
good idea, imagination and skill can create surprising amazing
things. They are not artists. They don't think they can be artists.
They don't want to be artists. If you compare what they do, you must
think about what artist can do?, what artist should do?
I don't want to think everybody can be artists. I think Art is
unfair. I think artists must have critic for society, technology,
media, what they do by themselves. The Maker create because they
would like to make. It's simple and wonderful. This means we can
create and share our own life by our hands, not consumption in
capitalistic market.
What happen in the exhibition is that Maker (exhibitor) communicate
with the visitors a lot. The visitors asked to Makers how, why, what
etc. The visitors are also creators or potential creators. They teach
different way, skills, knowledge to exhibitors. In the case of the
visitors are beginners, they are inspired by Makers' passion and
crazy, and they also think to start create something from tomorrow.
There is a good interaction between creator and audience here. They
teach and take inspiration each other.
So the last time of Make: Tokyo Meeting, 200 participants and 7200
visitors are counted. The number has increased every time.
You can see Make: Tokyo Meeting in this May on YoutTube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/GolightlyIncV
Make: Tokyo Meeting will be held in Ogaki in September. (Make:Ogaki
Meeting)
http://www.makeogakimtg.org/
At the time, Ogaki Biennale will be held as well.
So if you go to Japan in September, please join us. Also next Tokyo
Meeting will be held in November.
In art school, teacher is respected because his knowledge, technique
or experience. But recently in New Media Art school, young student
may be very closed to emergence technology. They may have rich
knowledge and high skills more than teacher.
In the past, education flow from Up (teacher) to Bottom (student).
But now it was changed.
2) openFrameworks workshop
http://www.openframeworks.cc/
When I was at YCAM, we've organized a workshop of openFrameworks and
invited two developers/artists Zachary Lieberman and Theodore Watson.
It was very impressed for me.
We fixed that the participants are limited in programmers who has
skill of programming, but beginner. This workshop was planned to
discover and develop new collaborators to make new creation at YCAM.
(YCAM has a few new commissioned works every year.)
We have 15 participants from around Japan. They are high motivated
and have high skills in different language, like Max/MSP, C++, Jave
script, processing etc.
I realized that gathering good participants are very important as
same as invite good teacher at the time. They taught each other well.
Zachary and Theodore are both wonderful teachers. What they do was
teaching as well as sharing their rich ideas without regrettably. The
teachers must be inspired from what the students think a lot.
Education must be that originally. The flow of the education didn't
happened from UP to Bottom here too.
Zachary and Theo think about DIWO (Do it with Others).
I think a kind of new education can be this way. ( I don't say that
all education must be this way.)
A Japanese community of openFrameworks was born at the time. It is
still active and members see often.
You can see the document videos of the workshop on YCAM archive in
YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l8aiC8ROls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FKvz7vwVII
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BhoAgSzFnk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0-SEauYxpk
3) a kids program at ICC in this summer
Finally I'll introduce a program for kids which I'm involved currently.
The exhibition "What is Sound Do We Hear?" focuses on "audivle
reality". The exhibition is not announced in public yet.
So I cannot talk about the detail yet. ;-)
If you would be in Tokyo from 4th August to 5th September, please go
to see it.
Information is coming soon on the ICC's website.
http://www.ntticc.or.jp/i
What I wrote is not related in curating contemporary art or new media
art directory. I don't work as a curator in the above events. I'd be
happy if some of you would be interested about what happens in far
east Japan.
Best regards,
miki
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miki fukuda
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