How are art universities going to change in the age of globalization?

On May 26, 2015, Tokyo University of the Arts held a symposium to discuss the future of art universities, having Mr. Patrick Loughrey as a special guest from the United Kingdom. Mr. Loughrey is Warden of Goldsmiths, University of London, which is highly regarded for its research on media culture and sociology, and whose distinguished alumni include Damien Hirst, Steve McQueen, and many other leading British artists.

(The original language of this article is Japanese. Please note that this is a tentative translation prepared for publicity purpose, and that the phrases used in this article may not correspond with the expressions actually used by the speaker.)

Mr. Patrick Loughrey’s Presentation

The first half of the symposium featured a presentation by Mr. Patrick Loughrey.

Mr. Loughrey, who started his career at BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), said that there were many factors to consider at BBC, such as tradition, creativity, management, while there was a demand for different means and practices at the same time. He pointed out that the same could be said about the role of universities, saying that universities are where people with different purposes and different objects of respect come together and it is important how we connect the dots of such different factors.

Mr. Loughrey also talked about how students at Goldsmiths are treated as artists since the beginning of their college life. He described the college as free-spirited and creative, where students have to be prepared to answer questions about their works all the time. To illustrate this point, he shared with us a story that film director Steve McQueen once said that he felt overwhelmed because he had too much freedom.

Mr. Loughrey concluded his talk by saying that every student should play the role of critic for one another and polish their works through questioning and dialogues in order to advance. He added that no one ever succeeded without the courage to take risks.

Panel Discussion on the Future of Art Universities in the Age of Globalization

The second half of the symposium featured a panel discussion on the theme “the Future of Art Universities in the Age of Globalization,” joined by Prof. Junko Kumakura and Associate Prof. Sachio Ichimura of our university’s Department of Music Creativity and the Environment, along with Mr. Loughrey.

Before exploring the future of art universities, will there be arts in the future in the first place? If so, in what forms will they exist? The discussion opened with this introductory question. Noting that recent art works often draw on concepts like “participation” and “collaboration”, the panelists gave thought-provoking comments by saying that there would be no point in discussing if such works could be called arts any more, and that there would emerge new fields of arts that could not be dealt with at art universities.

Furthermore, referring to the current state surrounding arts, the panelists pointed out that the notion of art and artist was becoming ambiguous. While making a comparison with the Western modern aesthetics, they discussed that perhaps this was due to the spread of Asian values, where boundaries are vague and new innovations coexist with traditions.

With this in mind, they said, art universities should ask themselves how they can contribute to the society as an educational institution and re-examine their role as a university to teach students how to understand the world. The panelists shared their view that Tokyo University of the Arts, which is planning to launch the Graduate School of Global Arts, Course of Arts Studies and Curatorial Practices in 2016, could serve as a model of future art university, depending on how it will incorporate factors such as visions, ideas, social aspects, and contemporaneity, into its education.

The symposium closed with Mr. Loughrey’s words of encouragement. He concluded that the message is more important than the medium, and invited students to think about how they can make God smile. The students in the audience responded with a round of applause.