東京藝術大学の学生美術コンクール「義体アートプラザ・アートアワード2023」の授賞式が、3月21日にJR上野駅で開催されました。授賞式には学長やアーツプラザ館長などが出席し、各受賞者に賞状が授与されました。受賞者のスピーチや作品の紹介も行われ、アートの新たな可能性や役割が探求されました。最優秀賞や各部門賞が贈られ、作品の長期保存や社会への貢献について述べられました。デジタルアート部門でも賞が授与され、新しいアイデアや経験が期待されています。
The award ceremony for the Tokyo University of the Arts Student Art Competition “Gita Art Plaza Art Award 2023” (formerly “Gita Art Plaza Award”) was held on March 21 at JR Ueno Station platform 13. It was a sustainable event.
At the ceremony, attendees included Tokyo University of the Arts President Katsuhiko Hibi, Arts Plaza Director, and Tokyo University of the Arts Professor Michihiko Yamauchi, as well as the winners of each award and the judges. Shogakukan President Nobuhiro Aiga also attended. Certificates were presented to each winner.
This article introduces the ceremony and speeches by two representative winners.
Location: JR Ueno Station “PLATFORM13”
Last year, Tokyo University of the Arts signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with JR East Japan to create new opportunities for users to interact with art at the station in a casual way, aiming to provide services and value centered around art. This year’s Arts Plaza Art Award ceremony was held at JR Ueno Station platform 13, which is used for various purposes (see photo below). This is a cooperative effort between Shogakukan and other parties to explore new possibilities and functions of art.
Exploring New Possibilities and Roles of Art at the Ceremony
President Katsuhiko Hibi of Tokyo University of the Arts, Arts Plaza Director and Tokyo University of the Arts Professor Michihiko Yamauchi, and President Nobuhiro Aiga of Shogakukan attended the award ceremony along with the winners and faculty members. During his speech, President Hibi expressed his gratitude for the familiar Ueno station and his excitement at being selected to host the event there. He also expressed his desire to continue promoting art with the cooperation of JR East Japan and Shogakukan.
Following that, the winners of this year’s Art Award, Masase Kasuga, the runner-up Miyu Kakinuma, and Futa were presented with certificates and trophies. Then, Yuki White received the Shogakukan Award from President Aiga, and special jury awards were given to Noriko Kawasaki and Kaito Kawasaki by Arts Plaza Director Yamauchi. The ceremony concluded.
In the Digital Art division, Aoi Suwa, who won the Shogakukan Award, Momoka Takeda, who won the JR East Japan Award, and Rikuto Fujimoto, who received a special jury award, took the stage. They were presented with certificates and trophies by Shogakukan President Aiga, JR Ueno Station Manager Yuji Saito, and Altai Art Plaza Director Yanai.
During the award ceremony, Mr. Mase and Ms. Suwa, representing each group, delivered speeches.
Speeches by the Winning Representatives:
Creating Artworks That People Want to Leave Behind
Grand Prize in the Fine Arts Department – Kasuga Masase
Artwork Name: Hello
Thank you for planning such an event for me. I stand here to express my gratitude to my family, teachers, and friends who have supported me. I am a member of the cultural heritage preservation laboratory at the University of the Arts and mainly research the preservation and restoration of lacquer art. I have inherited the thoughts of people who have tried to preserve this work from the past to the present, and the time I spent seeing this work up close and participating in its preservation was not only about preserving the work but also about feeling a sense of responsibility to create the work. This was a moment that made me think deeply.
Have you ever thought about what will happen to your work or product 100 years from now? Every artist wishes that their work will be treasured for as long as possible, but how can that be achieved? For example, by using materials that are not easily broken, or by making it repairable. I am not an expert so I don’t know the details, but I think there are many ways to create digital art. In any case, I believe that the mission of us artists is to create works that make people want to leave something behind, or something they want to leave behind even after they are gone.
I studied lacquer art at Kanazawa College of Art and Crafts. When I reported my award on social media, I received congratulatory messages from people in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture.
As you may know, that person, along with my former teachers and the people at the Wajima lacquer workshop that I worked with, are facing very difficult conditions due to the recent earthquake. Especially, one of the workshop members I worked with said in an interview, “He said that making these things is also a way of preserving works.”
The situation is still tough, and there is a limit to what I can do, but as someone involved in lacquer art, I hope to continue creating and eventually, when the time comes, I hope to realize something on my own. I want to give back to society. The person from Wajima will eventually enter society, and I wanted to continue studying in the environment of the University of the Arts.
Recreating the Light of the Past with a Series of Experiences and Ideas
Shogakukan Digital Art Award – Aoi Suwa
Artwork Name: Glass Bead
Thank you very much for providing such a wonderful place for me today. I am currently studying for a Ph.D. at the University of the Arts, mainly creating installation and spatial works.
Installations have a nature that disappears if not recorded in video or photos. Many of my works have a strong aspect of “one-time-ness,” and I often focus on that theme.
This work captures the image flowing behind Glass Beads. This video transmitted through glass beads was created during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. It was an attempt to present the installation without an audience and stream it online. I used lenses from that time again for this presentation, creating a composition that I saw again with today’s eyes.
Originally, I mainly created spatial works, but I started using digital technology more to convey them, which led to more opportunities to archive images and data. In this case, when I saw the data stored on USB and SD cards, I realized that this data exists in this world but not in space, which made me want to play it again. I felt like something was about to appear.
My work was exhibited at the Ueno Station platform as the winning work in the Digital Art category, and it was a very fulfilling experience, as if the “light” I had previously captured had returned to its original place once again. It feels like space. I look forward to seeing various new experiences and ideas brought about by these new initiatives.
Winners of the Awards
Photos: Tadahiko Nagata