International Symposium "CRAFT AS RESPONSE ― Reframing Craft in a Global Context"

Event Information

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• The symposium, hosted by the Advanced Art and Design Division of the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, brings together internationally active creators, practitioners of Japanese crafts, and researchers in a shared forum to reconsider Japanese craftsmanship within a global context through the perspective of “response.”

  Here, “response” does not simply refer to the transmission of techniques. Rather, it points to the human practice of continuously choosing what to embrace and what to preserve while engaging with external conditions such as climate, society, environment, and technology.

  Crafts have been passed down through ongoing responses to changes in society and the times. In today’s world, where the foundations of society are undergoing major shifts, crafts may be understood not merely as objects to be preserved, but as forms of “thinking and practice” that actively respond to the contemporary moment.

  Through the work of diverse practitioners moving between Japan and the wider world, this symposium explores craftsmanship as a form of “dynamic intelligence” and considers ways of responding that remain open toward the future.

  [Program]
  ◾️13:00–13:10
  Introduction | Why Rethink Craft Now?
  Speaker: Hideki Yoshimoto (Project Associate Professor, The University of Tokyo）

  ◾️13:10–14:20
  Session 01 | Emerging Responses Between Context and Immanence
  Speakers: Yuji Akimoto (Art Critic / Curator)
  Naoto Fukasawa (Product Designer)
  Discussant: Danielle Demetriou (Journalist)

  ◾️14:30–15:10
  Session 02 | The Dynamism of Inheritance and Transformation
  Speakers: Genbei Yamaguchi (10th-generation head, Kondaya Genbei)
  Hideki Yoshimoto (Project Associate Professor, The University of Tokyo）

  ◾️15:20–16:30
  Session 03 | Diverse Responses to the Contemporary
  Speakers: David Caon (Industrial Designer)
  Lanzavecchia + Wai (Designer)
  Bethan Laura Wood (Designer)
  Philippe Malouin (Designer)
  Eugene Kangawa, EUGENE STUDIO (Artist)
  Atang Tshikare (Designer / Artist)
  Moderator: Maria Cristina Didero (Design Curator)

  ◾️16:30–16:40
  Concluding Dialogue | What Lies Beyond Response
  Speakers: Hideki Yoshimoto (Project Associate Professor, The University of Tokyo）
  　　　　 Maria Cristina Didero (Design Curator)

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