A Nature-Centered Perspective for an Inclusive and Sustainable Society
“Advanced Art and Design Lab” launched from RCAST

On Wednesday 28 April 2021, the Symposium to commemorate the establishment of Advanced Art and Design Lab (AAD), the University of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) was held online.
More than 250 people participated in the symposium, not only from associated institutions and universities, but also from the general public.

The symposium opened with opening remarks by the President of the University of Tokyo, Teruo Fujii, who expressed his hopes for the creation of new value unique to the Institute through dialogue between researchers in advanced science and technology and a diverse range of artists.

After congratulatory speeches by the guests of honor, Kazuki Sawa, President of Tokyo University of the Arts, Toru Okabe, Director General of the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, and Makoto Gonokami, former President of the University of Tokyo, Professor Ryohei Kanzaki, Director of RCAST, who is in charge of the head of the Advanced Art Design explained the significance of the field and the background of its establishment, “Creating science and technology and shaping the future, along with the perspective of art design, which is the power of instinct and sensibility that connects people with nature”.
Next, Project Professor Setsu Ito, Project Associate Professor Shinobu Ito who are in charge of the Design Lab., Project Professor Kaoru Kondo of the Art Lab., Project Associate Professor Hideki Yoshimoto of the Design Engineering Lab, explained each lab.
After that, Kengo Kuma, a world-leader architect who is an advisor in this field, and Yoichiro Kawaguchi, an artist and world leader in computer graphics, introduced their roles as advisors.

The participants were entranced by the RCAST - AAD Concert, featuring a performance by pianist and AAD advisor Nobuyuki Tsujii, President of Tokyo University of the Arts Kazuki Sawa, members of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Project Professor Kaoru Kondo. In the third part of the session, representatives of the 10 collaboration partners of AAD ( Shiseido Company, Limited, SUMITOMO CORPORATION , Sony, Japan Tobacco Inc., Mazda Motor Corporation, Yamaha Corporation,Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. ,Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd, BLBG Co., Ltd. and Toppan Printing) made a speech, expressing their enthusiasm for participating and their expectations of the collaboration of the research.

Finally, Professor Ryohei Kanzaki concluded by saying: "I believe that advanced art and design is an area of research that can be developed through collaboration with a variety of people. We are eager to work with many people from different areas of art, design, science and technology, philosophy and religion to build a new world and the future.

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• Part 2 RCAST - AAD Concert

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• Representatives of the 10 collaboration partners. From top left, Yuki Otaki (Japan Tobacco),Yoji Nobuto (Shiseido), Tatsushi Tatsumi(SUMITOMO), Yutaka Hasegawa (Sony), Ikuo Maeda (Mazda), Manabu Kawada (Yamaha), Akihiro Nagaya (Yamaha Motor), Tadasuke Shiomi (Recruit Holdings) , Yoshiyasu Takubo (BLBG) and Yoshiki Sato (Toppan Printing)