Social Dive Studies

Schedule: Activity period May 29 (Sat) – Sep 11 (Sat)
Time: May 29 – July 3: [14:00 – 16:00]｜July 14 – Sep 11: [19:00 – 20:30]
Venue: 3331 Arts Chiyoda

Social Dive Studies (SDS) is a program aiming to nurture “players in the city” who will dive into various sites and communities in the city to initiate art projects, based on a project to build an academic community organized by university faculty members in Tokyo in 2020.
With the spread of the new coronavirus, the city’s accumulated methodologies for urban development and art projects have been shaken to the core. SDS will accompany the artists participating in Tokyo Biennale 2020/2021, an international art festival taking place in the northeast area of central Tokyo in July, and support their earnest endeavors while considering together with a diverse group of lecturers the role and possibilities for art projects in a post-corona society.

What SDS will do

SDS invites experienced directors, managers, and researchers to become lecturers, and through open dialogue that includes students, SDS will explore the perspectives, experiences, and methodologies necessary for practicing art in Tokyo. The three-and-a-half-month program will consist of lectures, internships, presentations, cross-talks, and workshops, each with a leading facilitator to help members navigate their learning experience.

1｜Lectures
“Seven things you need to know before diving into an art project”
This is a special lecture series that attempts to connect the issues and possibilities facing “Tokyo” in 2021 to art projects while analyzing them from the perspectives of augmented reality, community design, art business, and SDGs among others.

01 “When Corporations are Involved in Art” Atsuhiko Kinjo (Mitsubishi Estate) + Hiroko Miyao (Ryohin Keikaku Co.)
02 “How to access the community” Ryo Yamazaki (studio-L)
03 “From the Perspective of Researching the City” Yuma Harada (UMA/design farm)
04 “Humor between Art and Technology” Tom Kawada (AR 3 Brothers)
05 “My Tokyo Art Guide” Kunio Nakamura (6th Dimension)
06 “Searching for a Medium Combining Art and Business” Masamichi Toyama (President and CEO of Smiles Co.)
07 “Words that Accompany Creation” Kazuko Koike (General Director, Tokyo Biennale)

2｜Internship
Tokyo Biennale 2020/2021 Management Support
This is an on-site training program for art projects that allows participants to experience the forefront of “city x art” through volunteer support for an art festival with citizen participation. Interns will assist artists in the creation and installation of artworks, help with venue and artwork maintenance, provide tours and events, and handle public relations among other roles.

3｜Presentation
Build Academic Community Forum
“Projects to Build Academic Community,” which was initiated in 2020 for the Tokyo Biennale, aims to transcend borders between Tokyo’s numerous universities in search of a space for practical learning and pursuit of criticism and technique that connects society with art. In the SDS program, the founding members of the Tokyo Biennale will take turns to present their research for the Biennale in an open forum. Discussion will center on the inaugural Tokyo Biennale while traversing various fields including art, cognitive science, civic collaboration, and art education among others.
Study group founding members: Shinya Satoh (Director, Hachinohe Art Museum/Professor, Nihon University), Kikuko Takagi (Project Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo), Shin Nakajima (Associate Professor, Tokyo City University), Akira Hiroe (Former President, Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University)

Presentation by the study group founding members (October 27, 2020)
Activities in 2020 [PDF].

4｜Crosstalk
Tokyo Bienniale Participating Artists Talk vol.1-8
An exchange program between artists/coordinators and SDS students that will be held on Wednesday evenings during Tokyo Biennale 2020/2021. Through commentary by the artists themselves and Q&A sessions, participants will deepen their understanding of works exhibited at Tokyo Biennale and learn about the appeal of art projects and the production process from the perspective of various artists who will join as guests.

5｜Workshop
Social Dive Lab
This is a workshop-style program in which participants plan art projects on the theme of “Tokyo,” based on their learning and experience in steps 1 through 4. Using the actual art projects created through the TB 2020/2021 “Social Dive Open Call Projects” as case studies, each student will submit a plan (art project proposal) to conclude their work and research through SDS, which will be critiqued by the directors. The members will use their experience and knowledge from Tokyo Biennale to develop their own art projects.

Current Activities

SDS note
After each week’s activities, the members of the “Social Dive Studies” program will write and post their reflections on the official TOKYO BIENNALE note in a relay format.

Planning Planner/Facilitator

(Alphabetical order)

Akira Aoki（Social Dive Lab Director）

Associate Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Director of TB 2020/2021 Projects to Build Academic Community. Born in 1975 in Fukushima Prefecture. He received a Ph.D. at Tokyo University of the Arts with a specialization in Art Education. Including the direction of art projects, Ito is involved in the planning of a wide variety of cultural programs. He served as project manager for the “Tobira Project,” an art community formation project developed in collaboration with Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and Tokyo University of the Arts, and “Museum Start i-Ueno”, a learning design project involving nine cultural facilities in Ueno Park. Ito serves as the project manager for “Museum Start”. He is co-author of “Designing Society Through Art—A Collaboration Between Citizens and Cultural Institutions” (Seigensha), “Tokyo 1/4 ga teian suru tokyo bunka shigenku no arukikata” (translation: “How to walk through Tokyo’s cultural resource zones based on the proposal of Tokyo’s 1/4” (Bensei Publishing Inc.), and “Museum Summit: Museums Innovating on Society” (Gendaikikakushitsu Publishers), among others.

Tatsuya Ito（Projects to Build Academic Community Forum Director）

Associate Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Director of TB 2020/2021 Projects to Build Academic Community. Born in 1975 in Fukushima Prefecture. He received a Ph.D. at Tokyo University of the Arts with a specialization in Art Education. Including the direction of art projects, Ito is involved in the planning of a wide variety of cultural programs. He served as project manager for the “Tobira Project,” an art community formation project developed in collaboration with Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and Tokyo University of the Arts, and “Museum Start i-Ueno”, a learning design project involving nine cultural facilities in Ueno Park. Ito serves as the project manager for “Museum Start”. He is co-author of “Designing Society Through Art—A Collaboration Between Citizens and Cultural Institutions” (Seigensha), “Tokyo 1/4 ga teian suru tokyo bunka shigenku no arukikata” (translation: “How to walk through Tokyo’s cultural resource zones based on the proposal of Tokyo’s 1/4” (Bensei Publishing Inc.), and “Museum Summit: Museums Innovating on Society” (Gendaikikakushitsu Publishers), among others.

Yumi Shishido（Internship Director）

General manager, 3331 Arts Chiyoda. Born in 1978 in Arakawa-ku, Tokyo. Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University with a major in painting. After graduating, she worked as an art specialist at a nursery school while setting up an art project in Okinawa City (Okinawa Prefecture) in addition to producing and holding exhibitions. She participated in the launch of 3331 Arts Chiyoda in 2008 and is currently the community manager. She is also administrator for Tokyo Biennale 2020/2021.

Takenori Miyamoto (Head of Planning / Lecture / Crosstalk)

Curator, art director. Born in Nara in 1974. He was assigned to Bangkok through the dispatch program of the Japan Overseas Educational Services, then went on to live in France through the Musashino Art University Paris Award. After returning to Japan, he worked in the curatorial department of the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art before moving to Tohoku University of Art & Design in 2005, where he worked as professor and chief curator until March 2019 while undertaking art projects across Tohoku and projects to support the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake. In 2014, he founded the Yamagata Biennale and served as program director for three terms (until 2018). Major exhibitions that have toured Japan and abroad include “Naoki Ishikawa: the stranger,” “Tomoko Mukaiyama: Nocturne,” “Cho Duck Hyun: Flashback” and “Kengo Kuma: Transcendent Architecture in Stone and Wood.” From April 2019 to December 2020, he served as creative director for the Kadokawa Culture Promotion Foundation, through which he was involved in the founding of the Kadokawa Musashino Museum. He is currently Communication Director of the Tokyo Biennale and a technical instructor at Tokyo University of the Arts.

Coordinator: Daiki Kudo

(As of June 2021)

Project Director