The Art Center at The University of Tokyo is a multi-departmental organization that explores integrated research on art practices through collaboration between faculty and graduate students in a variety of disciplines and professional artists from diverse fields and media. It also seeks to foster creativity and innovative thinking as well as diverse values by providing studio art classes to undergraduate students.
Located on the Komaba campus, the center was established in May 2019 through close a collaboration between seven of the university’s graduate schools: Arts and Sciences, Education, Engineering, Humanities and Sociology, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, Mathematical Sciences, and Medicine.
Major projects that the center promotes include 1) collaborative research conducted by faculty members and graduate students together with artists and scholars outside of the university; 2) studio art classes for non-art major students taught by experienced artists; and 3) social engagement on the question of how use research results through art for the benefit of society. The center is currently preparing for other projects: 1) an art lab that provides technical support for art practices; 2) a creative archive of materials to be used both in academic and artistic fields, and 3) an artists-in-residence program that invites artists to interact with the academic community at the university for the benefit of both.