Groups, Clubs, and Sakuru: Amateur Arts Practice in Japan

This inaugural workshop will establish a research network for academics studying group-based amateur arts practice organised within clubs and “circles”. Topic range from film to photography, and music performance to fan-created manga and cosplay. Participants will come together from across the humanities to share their current research and plan the building of the first international research network to develop and support the study of amateur arts groups in Japan.

 

The film screening and 6 October workshop is open to the public and is free to attend. Please register to book your seat by contacting Jennifer Coates

 

The workshop is organised by Dr Jennifer Coates and Dr Kerry Ross.

 

 

Workshop Schedule

Friday 5 October 2018 | Open to the public
4-6pm | Exclusive film screening of Nishijin, 1961
Rare DVD donated by producer Asai Eiichi
Venue: the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures

 

Saturday 6 October 2018 | Open to the public
9:30am-5:30pm | Workshop
Venue: the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures

 

Kerry Ross (Associate Professor in History, DePaul University)
“Cultural Clubs and Democratic Organization in Imperial Democratic Japan”

 

Noriko Morisue (PhD Candidate, East Asian Languages and Literatures, Yale University)
“The Emergence of Amateur Film Clubs and DIY Aesthetics in 1920s Japan”

 

Jennifer Coates (Senior Lecturer in Japanese Arts, Cultures, and Heritage, Sainsbury Institute)
“Activist Audiences and Amateur Filmmaking in 1960s Kyoto”

Andrea Giolai (JSPS Postdoctoral researcher, International Research Center for Japanese Studies)

“McLuhan in the keikoba. Thoughts on politics and the senses among Nara’s amateur gagaku practitioners”

 

Robert Simpkins (PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, SOAS, University of London)
“Small spaces of amplification: rescaling musicianship in a Tokyo neighbourhood”

 

Iza Kavedzija (Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Exeter)
“Making a life but not a living: Contemporary art practitioners in Osaka”

 

Nicolle Lamerichs (Senior Lecturer and team lead at Creative Business at HU University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht)
“Cosplay in Japan: How Amateur Practices Change in a Fan-Centric Economy”

 

Sunday 7 October 2018
Planning activity for 2019: building a research network, future collaborations, funding applications, allocating tasks for future collaboration and applications

 

The workshop is generously supported by The Japan Foundation and the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures.