The Kyoto University International Symposium “New Horizons of Academic Visual-Media Practices” will be held this year by the Organization for the Promotion of International Relations (OPIR), Kyoto University. The symposium is an interdisciplinary collaborative project between several faculties, graduate schools, research institutes and educational research centers of Kyoto University.
The symposium has three main aims. The first is to utilize highly-developed visual media practices to show the latest research developments in various fields at Kyoto University, and to discuss these developments with international researchers in order to understand their significance from an international perspective. Secondly, we aim to explore the possibilities for creative and innovative interdisciplinary research utilizing visual media practices. The third is to establish, and promote internationally, a new academic foundation which transcends the conventional boundaries of academic fields, and which will be a new academic model for human society. We invite all scholars who are interested in visual-media practices and related fields to attend this symposium.
The academic significance of the symposium lies in our hope that, through the use of visual media, the expansion of the realms of knowledge, increase in the capacity of stored information and the diversification of the presentation of results will contribute to the advancement of academic research. Also, we propose that visual media can form an existential basis for academic knowledge as a tool for memory, recognition and expression which exceeds current boundaries. The progress of visual media technology is bringing about rapid changes in thinking in various academic fields. To address this situation, the symposium will introduce and discuss the overall use of visual media in various fields within the university, and will emphasize the importance of exploring new interdisciplinary possibilities in academic research. This endeavor, the first of its kind in the world, is significant in that it will raise awareness of Kyoto University’s achievements as a comprehensive academic institution amongst international scholarly society. It is also significant that this bold step in truly integrated academic endeavors will take place in Kyoto, a city which has a rich and long-standing tradition of visual culture stretching back hundreds of years.
Message from Chief Administrator of The Symposium
