Let's go to the SOTSUTEN !, 2023 Photo：Yuka Kuroiwa
Let’s feel the GEISAI !, 2022 Photo：Sayaka Kono
Let’s feel the GEISAI!, 2022 Photo：Yuka Kuroiwa
The Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai) events “GEISAI” and “SOTSUTEN” featured programs giving young people who find it difficult to adapt to school or society the opportunity to encounter 1) art 2) Geidai student artists and 3) adults other than parents/guardians or teachers. Participants were recruited through a partner NPO.
“GEISAI” programs
Young participants and accompanying adults went around looking at works exhibited on the university campus, conversing in groups, listening to what Geidai students had to say about their own works, and asking questions. During a tour looking at the Geidai Mikoshi portable shrines, a Geidai student explained the theme and how the portable shrines were made. Participants also enjoyed the bustle of the art market in Ueno Park where Geidai students had a stall.
“SOTSUTEN” programs
Young participants and accompanying adults engaged in discussion as a group while they viewed an exhibition of graduation work. Geidai students explained their works and answered participants’ questions. Afterwards participants showed each other photographs of their favorite works and shared their thoughts about them.
Flatart
A group launched in July 2021 by volunteer “art communicators” who worked on the “Tobira Project”co-organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum and Tokyo University of the Arts, enabling them to continue their activities after completing their term in that project. As a group creating art-focused encounters between “people and people” and “people and art,” Flatart connects art and young people in their late teens to early 20s who find it difficult to adapt to school and society, engaging in activities and projects that prevent young people from becoming isolated.
Tokyo University of the Arts, Taito City, Tokyo
