Since 2019, colleagues from various departments at the University of Glasgow have reached out in collaboration with Kyudai faculty members for a string of online events, in-person workshops, and hybrid art activities. These activities opened up further opportunities in research, exchange in teaching of COIL and intensive course, exchange of faculty for short-term visits and on-site seminars, as well as a possible summer school.


2022-23
Site Visits

 
 

Following the mutual agreement established between Kyushu University and the University of Glasgow (UG) in December 2020, activities in 2022~2023 focused on the United Kingdom:

Visit to University of Dundee (2023.3.4)

Meeting with Dr. Xuanli Liao (Reader in International Politics) and discussing the exchange of graduate students in Japanese studies, as well as possible introduction to Jordanstone College of Art & Design at University of Dundee to discuss further education collaboration.

Visit to University of Glasgow and Conducted the Hybrid Workshop (2023.3.6-8)

Through three days of thorough and inspiring discussions in groups and individually, potential topics for mutual research projects and interdisciplinary academic exchanges have been established and developed by a wide range of faculty members from various departments at University of Glasgow (Department of Modern Language and Culture, School of Culture and Creative Arts) and Kyushu University (Faculty of Arts and Science, Faculty of Humanities, School of Design), as well as post-graduate research fellows, Ph.D. students, and multi-media artists located in Scotland and Europe.

Celebration Event of Consulate-General of Japan in Edinburgh (2023.3.7)

Meeting with JSPS London Office and Department Deans of University of Glasgow (2023.3.8)

Visit to Sainsbury Institute for the Studies of Japanese Art and Cultures and University of East Anglia (2023.3.10-11)

Sainsbury Institute for the Studies of Japanese Art and Cultures is one of the most important research hubs for Japanese studies, particularly in Japanese art history in UK. It has residency scholars, post-graduate fellows, as well as important and rare collections of primary materials of Japanese art and a research library.

Informative discussions were held about the research network in the UK, and inspiring discussions about future research opportunities for faculty members and collaboration opportunities for master programs among Kyudai, Sainsbury Institute, and University of East Anglia. 

Meetings were held with Dr. Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer (Acting Director and Lecturer in Japanese Arts), Hirano Akira (Librarian), Dr. Alison Miller (visiting scholar, Sewanee University), and Dr. Eriko Tomizawa-Kay (Lecturer in Japanese Language and Culture, University of Anglia)


UN/REAL Transcultural Perpectives on Digital Living

Dr. Ramona Fotiade (UG)’s Visit to IMAP, Kyudai, and Presentation at Workshop: UN/REAL Transcultural Perpectives on Digital Living, 2022.11.11, Kyudai Ito Camps (hybrid)

UN/REAL brings together academics, creatives and other project partners with a strong transcultural interest in generating innovative knowledge that allows us to understand and improve digital living. We will discuss wellbeing issues such as (self-)isolation, stress, addiction, depression and fatigue, but also debate the need for a new definition of ‘the real’ in the digital age.


FLOATING WORLDS: THE SEAWEED GATHERERS  

Art Performance by Dr. Graham Eatough (UG) & Dr. Daryl Jamieson (Design Institute, Kyudai)

2022.9.2 (James Arnott Theatre, Gilmorehill Halls)

The Seaweed Gatherers performance will take place as the culmination of a three-day workshop led by director Graham Eatough, composer Daryl Jamieson (Kyushu University) and artist Miek Zwamborn. The workshop takes the Japanese Noh play, The Seaweed Gatherers (Mekari) as the basis for a contemporary exploration of seaweed, its cultural history, and its potential as a performance material. The performance will present extracts from Zwamborn’s book, The Seaweed Collector’s Handbook (2020) alongside original composition by Jamieson performed live.

This research builds directly on a previous project involving Eatough, Jamieson and Zwamborn, working with artist Andre Dekker, Floating Worlds: Erraid Sound, a film made in 2021, co-produced by the Hunterian, and screened as part of the University’s activities during COP26.

The workshop and performance forms part of the new University of Glasgow ArtsLab theme, Islands in the Global Age and will be followed by a discussion to which everyone is welcome. This project also extends the strategic partnership between the University of Glasgow and Kyushu University.

The performance and discussion were recorded by Martin Clark and can be viewed below. Our thanks to Martin for his technical assistance and video documentation. The password is Seaweed.

https://vimeo.com/751648155
https://vimeo.com/754257508


Kyudai Campus Visit, Fukuoka

Professor Konstantinos Kontis (Dean of Global Engagement, UG)’s visit to Kyushu University, and discussion about promoting research and education collaborations with IMAP with Professor. Anton Schweizer, and Dr. Yu YANG (IMAP, Kyushu University), as well as general collaboration with Professor. Jan Lauwereyns (Vice-President for International Affairs, Kyudai) and Professor Natalie Konomi (Professor, Global Strategies Office, Kyudai)  

2022.6.2


Hybrid Online Conference Event

Glasgow-Kyushu International Conference:

Islands in the Global Age:
Identification, Estrangement and Renewal in the East-West Dialogue

2022.3.28-30, Online

This theme explores the connections between identity, culture, technology and natural environment in Scotland, Europe and archipelagic regions across the globe.

The engrained cultural practices, philosophical ideas and psychological resources we derive from inhabiting a territory and passing on our experience and knowledge to future generations through arts, crafts and technology define our identity and relationship to other communities around the world. The archipelagic layout of the Scottish natural environment and its interactions across time with its continental neighbours and islandic nations across the globe, providing creative solutions to global challenges, can be looked at through a trans-disciplinary lens which combines the expertise of practitioners and researchers from the College of Arts (Modern Languages & Cultures, History of Art, Theatre, Humanities, Theology & Religious Studies), College of Social Sciences (Education) and College of Medicine, Veterinary & Life Sciences (Psychology & Neuroscience).

The aim of the theme is to provide a congenial research environment that fosters collaboration across disciplinary boundaries and supports the personal development of Early Career Researchers and PhD students. As a natural extension of the activities organised through the Existential Philosophy and Literature Network (2017-2019) and the Glasgow-Kyushu Research Collaboration in the Arts (2019-2022), the theme seeks to energise links with external partners (such as GalGael Trust, Scottish Centre for Geopoetics, the Alliance française de Glasgow and the French Institute in Edinburgh), and to organise public events to disseminate ideas around nomadism and travel across cultures, inspired by the geopoetic movement initiated by the Glasgow-born Scottish-French writer, Kenneth White. This line of enquiry ties in with cross-disciplinary research on eco-criticism, the impact of technology and human/robot interactions during the pandemic, and the role of creative industries and performative art in tackling mental health and restoring our relationship to the natural environment.