International Collaborations 2009-2010

International Exchange Program “What’s cooking?”

Organized by Department of Architecture in cooperation with Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London (CHELSEA) (UK)
Dates May1 to May 10, 2009
Participants from MAU Shigetake Nagao (Professor), Kimio Tsuchiya (Guest Professor), Satoshi Nishio (Research Associate), Yousuke Nakamura (Laboratory Assistant), 8 Students
Participants from CHELSEA Ken Wilder (Course Director), Takako Hasegawa (Lecturer), 30 students

The theme of the joint workshop is based around “Food/Cooking/Eating”. The aim is to investigate into the cultures, habits and rituals around these daily but essential human activities from the perspectives of art, architecture and design. Four groups of five to six students from each university researched markets, restaurants, pubs, cafes, public spaces, identified the specific topic they wanted to work on, and gave presentations on the findings from their research and discussions.

Thinking about the Environment through Research on Urban Color Design

Organized by Department of Science of Design in cooperation with National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (YunTech) (Taiwan) and Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU) (Taiwan)
Dates January 4 to January 7, 2010
Participants from MAU Akiyo Kobayashi (Professor), Shingo Yoshida (Guest Professor), Tomoko Nishi (Research Associate), 6 students
Participants from YunTech Tseng Chi-Hsiung (Professor), 6 students
Participants from CYCU Lin Kun-Fan (Assistant Professor), 30 students

The purpose of the workshop is to investigate how urban color design influences the landscape. Groups of students from each university conducted field research into environmental colors in Tainan, drew a sample of characteristic colors, and developed their research results to consider environmental color design for district redevelopment plans.

France-Japon: Double Vision

Organized by Department of Imaging Arts and Sciences in cooperation with Ecole regionale des Beaux-Arts de Nantes (ESBANM) (France) and Tokyo University of the Arts (GEIDAI) (Japan)
Dates January to March, 2010.
Participants from MAU Christophe Charles (Associate Professor), 5 students
Participants from ESBANM Christiane Cavallin-Carlut (Professor), Philippe Oudard (Professor), 5 students
Participants from GEIDAI Masaki Fujihata (Professor), 5 students

The purpose of the project is to examine the relationships between fiction and reality in the field of imaging arts. Five to nine students from each university participated. The project consisted of three parts; In the first term, they held an exhibition in which they introduced works that served as references of the project theme. In the second term, they offered lectures and conducted research together. Lastly, in the third term, they held exhibitions in Tokyo and Nantes.

Cultural Library: A Style Encyclopedia of Different Aspects of Culture

Organized by Department of Design Informatics in cooperation with Koeln International School of Design (KISD) (Germany) and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London (CSM) (UK)
Dates October 28 to November 6, 2009
Participants from MAU Hiroshi Imaizumi (Professor), Tadanori Nagasawa (Professor), 23 students
Participants from KISD Philipp Heidkamp (Professor), 12 students
Participants from CSM Paul Sayers (Program Leader), Jane Penty (Program Leader), 105 students

Professors from the Department of Design Informatics visited two leading design universities and conducted a workshop on the topic of “Street Stalls”. This project aims to survey and compile information on lifestyles, social structures, linguistic culture, styles in the formative arts etc. and build a database as a design education resource.