PROGRAMRESEARCH FELLOWS
Institute of Contemporary Arts Kyoto
RESEARCH FELLOWS
Arieh Rosen
Nationality ：
Israeli / British
Activity base/place ：
Tokyo / Kyoto, Japan
Enrolled ：
2022 Spring
Research theme ：
A deep and wide exploration of the unique and yet under-researched Japanese craft of broom making. The historic roots of the tool and its development in relation to Japanese society and culture and the connection and interpretations in contemporary art.Outline ：
Kyoto, being a key meeting point between ancient tradition, religious hubs, diverse cultural communities and a vibrant contemporary art scene will be the focal point of my research. Through the extremely mundane tool and object - a broom - its many forms, uses, myths and users I wish to explore different elements in Japanese society. I wish to focus on discovering and developing contemporary art interpretations to the object as well as to the notion.
Daniel Abbe
Nationality ：
USA
Activity base/place ：
Kyoto
Enrolled ：
2022 Spring
Research theme ：
My in-progress doctoral dissertation advances a corporeal theory of the photographer, through the photographs and essays of Nakahira Takuma (1938-2015).Outline ：
I am exploring how the body itself plays a role in the practice of photography. From what positionality, in other words, do photographers engage with the world? Nakahira Takuma was extremely conscious of Japan’s imperial history, so for him being a photographer was something to be continually questioned. As a scholar working in the field of photography history, I see my research as a corrective to prevailing approaches to the medium that privilege ontology, or that otherwise take the more or less philosophical question, “what is photography?” as their starting point. Instead, I want to begin from the embodied position of the photographer.
Peiyuan ZENG
Nationality ：
China
Activity base/place ：
Kyoto, Tokyo
Enrolled ：
2023 fall
Research theme ：
My research draws attention to emerging queer artists from various Asian countries, whose art works vividly represent the status quo of queer community in Asian context - simultaneously addressing to theories from three Western philosophers: Mikhail Bakhtin's “grotesque body”, Michel Foucault's “discipline and punish” and Judith Butler's “gender performativity” - to analyze the queer embodiment from Asian perspectives.Outline ：
The word “queer” originally denotes “strange / odd / peculiar / eccentric” but its meaning has been gradually neutralized and extended as an umbrella term for LGBT+ community who are not heterosexual or cisgender; and in the process of theorizing “queer”, its notion has been amplified as the core spirit of open resistance to question and challenge the “normativeness” (of heteronormativity); On the basis of the core spirit of open resistance, the research will start from several Asian artists’ bizarre and outlandish photographic images to investigate and query the social norms in a sense of oppression - how these Asian artists employ the human body as subjects and/or objects, applying unorthodox aesthetics alienated from the norm, to portrait and represent a variety of neglected Asian queer community by art photography, as their daily open resistance.
Pierre-William Fregonese
Nationality ：
France
Activity base/place ：
Kobe, Kyoto and Tokyo
Enrolled ：
2023 fall
Research theme ：
My research seeks to investigate the significance of Makoto Shinkai's artwork as a prominent exemplar that analyses cultural anxieties linked to the portrayal of "japaneseness" amid societal changes in contemporary Japanese society. To clarify, the director's aesthetics uncover, expose, and shape the present-day Japanese identity within national and global settings.Outline ：
Makoto Shinkai's works intertwine images, narratives, animation, and imaginative elements to delve into the development of social norms, current concerns and geographical inequalities, and their influence on the dialogue around identity in Japan. These challenges jeopardise social harmony and induce reactionary outbursts, which in turn escalate and amplify malicious rhetoric, evidently fostered by social media. His works provide a platform to compare an imaginative model with reality, showcasing innovative methods to address and surmount challenges experienced by subgroups and subcommunities, particularly Japanese women. By examining such productions, it is feasible to reassess and revive the idea of "japaneseness" in a society where traditional communities are in decline. Ultimately, it is crucial to emphasize how the re-signification of Japanese identity in these films directly affects the re-signification of foreign identities.
Sanghae Kwon
Nationality ：
South Korea
Activity base/place ：
Tokyo
Enrolled ：
2023 fall
Research theme ：
My research focuses on the history of Madanggeuk (Madang play) through research on Madanggeuk in Higashi Kujo (East Kujo) in Kyoto.Outline ：
The Madanggeuk (Madang play) is a performance form that inherited the traditional Korean mask dance drama known as Talchum. It was primarily developed in the context of the popular culture movement in South Korea during the 1960s to 1980s. In Japan, Madanggeuk has been performed in various forms within the Japanese-Korean community since the 1980s, addressing community, multicultural coexistence, and local issues. However, the artistic and historical value of Madanggeuk in Japan has not been extensively explored. My study aims to explore the contemporary significance of Madanggeuk, which has depicted the lives of the people in both Japan and South Korea, by researching the spirit and expressive forms of Madanggeuk in Kyoto.