On December 14, 2017, Deputy Minister of Culture of Republic of China Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆) visited Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo Geidai) with a Taiwanese delegation including Mr. Zhu Wenquin (朱文清), the head of Taiwan Cultural Center at Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan.

The Taiwanese guests were welcomed by President Kazuki Sawa, Professor Toyomi Hoshina, Trustee and Vice President for Research, Professor Mitsuko Okamoto, Vice President for International Affairs and Campus Diversity, and Professor Yuji Akimoto, Director of the University Arts Museum, as well as Professor Fumiya Kizu of Faculty of Fine Arts.

Following his greetings, President Sawa stated that Tokyo Geidai and Taiwan had a proven history of cultural collaboration in the respective fields of fine arts and music. He also showed expectations that the relationship with Taiwan would be tighter through active exchange in the field of new media such as animation, an academic field offered at our Graduate School of Film and New Media.

President Sawa explained the past cultural activities with Taiwan

Deputy Minister Yang explained that Taiwan and Tokyo Geidai have enjoyed a close relationship considering a history of Taiwanese art and the existence of many active artists in Taiwan who studied at Tokyo Geidai. He went on to say that as Taiwan was working hard to develop the domestic industry of video games, a type of new media that involves all types of artistic genres such as fine arts, music, and visual images, he would like to collaborate with artists of both Tokyo Geidai and Taiwan to push forward with new initiatives that can cope with a new age. He also showed expectations that Taiwan would have a closer partnership with Tokyo Geidai so that Taiwan and Japan would be able to promote art and cultural activities for the summer Olympic and Paralympic games in 2020.

Deputy Minister Yang expressed expectations for further collaboration with Tokyo Geidai

In response, Professor Okamoto introduced an exhibition that was designed based on a hypothesis that Tokyo Geidai opened a new program of game creation. Titled as Tokyo University of the Arts, Virtual Department of Games (Co-hosted by The COI Site, Tokyo University of the Arts, and the Graduate School of Film and New Media, July 21-30, 2017), the exhibition featured a number of non-commercial games unique to the art university. She also explained that the exhibition was characterized by its comprehensiveness achieved through the contribution made by the fields of fine arts, music, and film and new media, which coincide with the expertise of Tokyo Geidai, and also by the collaboration with the relevant industry, which enabled the event to take place. It was a good example to show that the university is eager to tackle new challenges, Professor Okamoto added.

Prof. Okamoto explained “the Tokyo University of the Arts, Virtual Department of Games” exhibition

Professor Hoshina expressed his gratitude for the relationship and achievements made so far through cultural exchange with Taiwan, such as The Spotlight Taiwan Project sponsored by The Ministry of Culture of Taiwan. He also said that he was willing to collaborate with Taiwan in cultural activities for the 2020 Olympic/Paralympic Games. Deputy Minister Yang replied that he would like to organize various programs such as a large exhibition featuring the art-historical relationship between Taiwan and Japan and a joint concert by President Sawa and Taiwanese violinists.

Prof. Hoshina recalled the past exchange with Taiwan

Professor Akimoto spoke about deep cultural ties between the University Art Museum and Taiwan, explaining that Professor Masato Satsuma of the University Art Museum served as the curator for the Modern Western Paintings of Japan exhibition (Oct.7, 2017 -Jan.7, 2018) at Museum of National Taipei University of Education. He also introduced that the University Art Museum held for the first time in Japan an exhibition of Taiwanese modern art in 2014.

The delegation later visited the Doctoral Program Final Exhibition at the University Art Museum, where they listed to a detailed explanation by Professor Akimo of the museum and the exhibited works. Deputy Minister Yang was attentively listening to the explanation and occasionally asked questions on the materials used in Japanese painting.

Prof. Akimoto introduced the University Art Museum

Furthermore, Taiwanese and Chinese doctoral students offered explanations of their own works, which allowed the Deputy Minister to actually see the cultural exchange taking place at Tokyo Geidai.

Deputy Minister Yang attentively listened to an international student

The Taiwanese guests left the campus by recognizing the standing relationship between Taiwan and Tokyo Geidai as well as the possibility of further collaboration through new initiatives.

Read in Japanese