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.
Foster Mickley
Nationality ：
American
Activity base/place ：
Kyoto, Japan
Enrolled ：
2021 Fall
Research theme ：
My research is within arts communities and the formation and expression of utopian and inclusive communities in the Kansai area. I will make a photographic documentation presenting the vitality of self expression, identity freedom, and inclusivity.Outline ：
I will try to learn from Kansai artists, understand their perspectives and hopes, how young artists express their imaginations and how established artists translate their intentions to the next generation.Photography will be a way of communicating immediacy of the environments, and writing will give depth to the sensibility of those involved.
Leia Barela Roach
Nationality ：
American
Activity base/place ：
Kyoto, Japan
Enrolled ：
2021 Fall
Research theme ：
During my time in Global Seminar (at Kyoto University of the Arts), I researched the arts and culture in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and my home-town – Los Alamos, New Mexico (USA). I will continue this research to explore different methods of reactions to trauma, or how to discuss difficult subjects to children through the use of art.Outline ：
To begin my research with ICA, I will talk with kamishibai storytellers to see how and what kinds of stories they give to their audiences. Using online and in person resources in storytelling, I hope to develop my own kamishibai story or method of storytelling in English, but also Japanese if possible.
Sung Nam HAN
Nationality ：
Korean
Activity base/place ：
Tokyo and Kobe
Enrolled ：
2021 Fall
Research theme ：
Her research topics will include any or all of the following four areas:1. Building an online exhibition platform
2. Planning, theoretical research, and practice of Art Archives
3. Pursuit of new possibilities in the viewing of images (AR, VR, and pocketable images such as smartphone viewing)
4. Research on labors in the sea, underwater video shooting, and underwater sounds
Outline ：
Sung Nam HAN makes video works and video installations, and organizes and curates contemporary art festivals and art events.
Yuni Hong Charpe
Nationality ：
French
Activity base/place ：
France and Japan
Enrolled ：
2021 Fall
Research theme ：
« Encore, mais autrement (Again, in a different way) »Creation of a lecture-performance and video installation based on images and discourses about Choi Seung-hee.
Outline ：
Choi Seung-hee(1911-1969) is a dancer from Korea under Japanese occupation. After dancing in Korea, Japan, and worldwide, she moved to North Korea to establish her dance center. As the dances and discourses of Choi were repeatedly performed in different places and different ways by herself and others, her identity seemed to be divided and fixed in different directions. What images and language have made Choi a Japanese, a Korean, and one of the icons of Oriental beauty? Based on these considerations, I hope to re-question the identity that has been assigned to us today and take a new perspective on it.