'Utsuwa Utsushi' symposium
Drawing from the wordplay of two etymologically associated Japanese terminologies: 'Utsuwa' (vessel, container, receptacle, vacuum, reality) and 'Utsushi' (copy, transfer, possessed), this symposium raises philosophical and visual cultural questions on the conventional idea of dichotomy 'original' vs 'copy', 'fine art' vs 'applied art'/'craft', 'seen' vs 'unseen' and 'material' vs 'immaterial'.
According to Inaga Shigemi who inspired this symposium with his idea of '"Pirates' View" of world history', the current rigid legal regulations and knowledge production system set by Euroamerica have been challenged by the pirate's trade their products and access to information. However, the negativity attached to the idea of 'copy' also enables us to realise the positive values that can be found in the Japanese/East Asian ideas.
It was Okakura Kakuzo in his Book of Tea who pointed to the positive value of the negatively perceived vacuum by saying 'The usefulness of the water pitcher dwells in the emptiness where water might be put, not in the form of the pitcher of the material of which it was made. Vacuum is all potent because it is also all containing. In the vacuum alone motion becomes possible. The person who could make of himself a vacuum into which others might freely enter, would become master of all situations. The whole can always dominate the part'. Unlike the Euroamerican idea, Utsuwa (vessel) is not merely functional tableware. Utsuwa can be a teabowl that contains tea, but can also contain aesthetic spirituality and potent space for containing. Utsuwa can be the human body which contains the mind, or Utsuwa can be a haniwa figurine that may contain the spirit of the dead. Also, Utsuwa is not just applied art/craft, because it is made of ceramic. Material combined with skills produce material-centred logic that results in a particular form and aesthetic value that is not confined to the narrow definition of 'applied art/craft' as opposed to 'fine art'. Utsuwa has been copied many times and material knowledge as well as the skills involved in making were passed on to many generations through the process of copying.
Tickets: £8/£6
Further information and booking tickets:
http://events.arts.ac.uk/event/2018/5/4/-Utsuwa-Utsushi-symposium/
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