Global COE Program "Digital Humanities Center For Japanese Arts And Cultures," Ritsumeikan University

INFORMATION

December 17, 2011

International Symposium: The Past, Present, and Future of Cultural Assets: Methods of Preserving Memories of Things

A symposium titled “The Past, Present, and Future of Cultural Assets: Methods of Preserving Memories of Things” will be held as detailed below. Please come and participate.

International Symposium

The Past, Present, and Future of Cultural Assets: Methods of Preserving Memories of Things

The symposium ended successfully. We would like to thank the many people who participated in the symposium.

( PDF: 1.0MB)

Date:	Saturday, December 17 and Sunday December 18, 2011
Place:	Great Lecture Room, Ritsumeikan Univeristy (Suzaku Campus)
Sponsored by:	MEXT Global COE Program “Digital Humanities Center for Japanese Arts and Cultures” (Ritsumeikan University), Art Research Center (Ritsumeikan University)

Free participation, booking required.

For more information see ＞＞The Past, Present, and Future of Cultural Assets: Methods of Preserving Memories of Things

　This symposium follows the International Symposium “The Past, Present, and Future of Cultural Assets: the Significance of Digital and Analog Co-existence” held in April 2010. While the previous symposium focused on the people engaging in the protection and inheriting of cultural assets, the symposium this time will look at the things that are related to cultural assets. One of the issues pointed out in the last symposium was the difficulty of preserving cultural assets, because materials required to achieve that are disappearing, despite the availability of technology to inherit such assets. The symposium this time aims to shed light on the current situation surrounding things that sustain the survival of cultural assets and consider ways of preserving such things into the future.

　In order to preserve things, not only do we need to think about how to do it, we also need to consider ways of preserving memories of the things. The digital archiving and database making of Japanese cultural assets being implemented by the Center are a way of preserving the memory of things. The symposium will attempt to induce discussions among people involved with various fields of cultural asset protection and inheriting as seen from the viewpoints of art museums, museums, universities, administrations, onsite preservation efforts and so forth, while examining the possibilities of passing memories of things long into the future.

Lecturers:
Keynote speech:	Genshitsu Sen（former head of the Urasenke school of tea ceremony）
Lectures:	John Mack (Head of the Centre for Japanese Studies, University of East Anglia)
Presenations:	Masanori Aoyagi (Director of The National Museum of Western Art)
	Princess Akiko of Mikasa (PD at the Kinugasa Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University)
	Shinnyo Kawai (chief of the Jingu Shicho (Shrine office) Public Relations Office)
	Simon Kaner (Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures）
	Shouchiku Tanabe (bamboo artist）
	Masayuki Harada (educational gikan (officer with specialized skills) of the Art and Craft Section, Agency for Cultural Affairs）
	John Mack (Professor at the University of East Anglia）
	Kazumi Murose (lacquer artist）
	Keiji Yano (professor of the Faculty of Letters, Ritsumeikan University)
Chairs:	Masao Kawashima (Professor Emeritus at Ritsumeikan University)
	Ikuyo Matsumoto (Associate Professor of the Yokohama City University graduate school)
	(names listed in order of the Japanese phonetic alphabet)