New Ecology and Artistic Practice

2023.12.17(Sun)

Information

Period:

2023.12.17(Sun)
13:30 - 16:45 (doors open at 13:00)

Venue:


Conference Room, Kanazawa Bunka Hall

Admission:

Adults: ¥1,000
25 and under: Free
*People under 25 years old must show ID at the time of admission.

Ticket Handling:
Peatix(JP)

For More Information:

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Phone: +81-76-220-2801

About

What is the New Ecology in the post-pandemic? How will Art respond to it? We will invite Timothy Morton, a well-known advocate of the new ecological philosophy, to consider this question.

In his book "Ecology without Nature: Toward a Coming Environmental Philosophy," world-renowned philosopher Timothy Morton argues for a new ecology that removes nature from ecological philosophy, which tends to fall into a dualism between nature and humans and puts humans on par with various other things. Coincidentally, the pandemic of the new coronavirus, and disasters caused by environmental change have made us keenly aware that humans are also part of nature. How will art respond to this changing perception of nature for society?
To this question, we will hold a symposium with anthropologist Juichi Yamaguchi, artist AKI INOMATA, and philosopher Masatake Shinohara. Kanazawa has produced outstanding philosophers such as Kitaro Nishida and D.T. Suzuki. Zen philosophy will also be reinterpreted as a new ecological theory for the post-coronial era and connected to the creation of contemporary art.


Keynote lecture: Timothy Morton
Discussion: Timothy Morton, Juichi Yamagiwa, AKI INOMATA, Masatake Shinohara
Moderator: Yuko Hasegawa
MC: Jin Motohashi

Program

  • 13:30 - 13:40 Greetings from Moderator, Yuko Hasegawa
    13:40 - 14:40 Keynote Lecture, Timothy Morton, 60min
    14:40 - 15:00 Break Time, 20min
    15:00 - 15:45 Short presentation, 15min each
           Juichi Yamagiwa|AKI INOMATA|Masatake Shinohara
    15:45 - 16:25 Discussion, Moderator Yuko Hasegawa
    16:25 - 16:45 Question and Answer, Moderator Yuko Hasegawa

Profile

  • Timothy Morton

    Philosopher and ecologist Timothy Morton is Professor at Rice University and Director of the Cool America Foundation. Morton is the author of over twenty books, translated into eighteen languages; and of three hundred essays. In 2014, he gave the Wellek Lectures in Theory at UC Irvine. Morton specializes in British Literature, and his research interests extend from art and architecture to ecology and bioscience. Morton has collaborated with Laurie Anderson, Björk, Jennifer Walshe, Susan Kucera, Hrafnhildur Arnadottir, Adam McKay, Jeff Bridges, Olafur Eliasson and Pharrell Williams. His authored books include Ecology without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics (Harvard University Press, 2007; Japanese translation published by Ibunsha in 2018) and Humankind: Solidarity with Non-Human People (Verso Books, 2017; Japanese translation published by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, in 2022).

  • Juichi Yamagiwa

    Juichi Yamagiwa is an anthropologist and primatologist. He is Director-General of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, and Doctor of Science. After completing his BS at Kyoto University, Yamagiwa enrolled in and withdrew from the Doctoral Program of the Graduate School of Science at the same university. He has conducted fieldwork to observe the behavior and ecology of wild Japanese macaques on Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture and of gorillas in several locations in Africa, reconstructing the lives of early humans to explore the origins of social traits unique to humans based on these studies. His books include Gorillas Taught Me Everything That Is Important in Life (Ie-no-hikari Association, 2020) and Evolution of Human Sociality Vol 2.—The Past, Present, and Future of a Society with Empathy and Family (Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2023).

  • AKI INOMATA

    AKI INOMATA is an artist who received her MFA from the Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Inter-Media Art.INOMATA demonstrates creations that emerge from, or relate to, non-human creatures and nature. Her works include Think Evolution, an experimental journey across a long evolutionary period where an octopus encounters its ancestor, the ammonite; and Why Not Hand Over a ‘Shelter’ to Hermit Crabs?, in which a hermit crab repeatedly moves into transparent shelters in the shape of cities around the world.

  • Masatake Shinohara

    Masatake Shinohara is Program-Specific Associate Professor of the Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, and Doctor of Human and Environmental studies. Shinohara has translated works by Timothy Morton, with whom he has associated. He is the author of Fukususei no Ecology (The ecology of the Multiplicity) (Ibunsha, 2016), and the translator of Ecology without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics (Timothy Morton, Ibunsha, 2018) and Humankind: Solidarity with Non-Human People (Timothy Morton, Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2022). His new translated work, One Planet, Many Worlds: The Climate Parallax (Dipesh Chakrabarty, Jinbun Shoin, 2024) is due to be published in 2024.

Credit

Organized by:

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Kanazawa Art Promotion and Development Foundation)

Grants from:

Japan Foundation for Regional Art-Activities

Patronized by:

THE HOKKOKU SHIMBUN