Academic year: 1 April 2016–31 March 2017
International students only
Advanced application deadline: 30 September 2015, 4pm (Japan time)
Full application: 23 October 2015
Tokyo University of the Arts (TUA)
Graduate School of Fine Arts
12-8 Ueno Park
Taito ward, Tokyo 110-8714
Japan
Tokyo University of the Arts (TUA) invites applications for entry into the new MFA in Global Art Practice in the Graduate School of Fine Arts. This first admissions process is open to international students only. The second admissions process, scheduled for November 2015, will be open to all eligible applicants.
For the past 128 years, TUA has played a vital role in exploring Asian artistic traditions and has developed a leadership in art and culture that has resulted in a large number of prominent alumni practicing in East Asia. Now, TUA is expanding into a global arena with diverse cultural values and artistic expressions.
Candidates will have a record of highly qualified artistic practice in any media, an advanced knowledge in contemporary art and culture, and a strong interest in working in teams on course work. In addition, candidates will have an ability to propose a creative and innovative form of artistic practice, as well as embody the proposal through exhibition, publication, and alternative forms of artistic expression that can be distributed to global communities.
Global Art Practice (GAP)
The Global Art Practice (GAP) MFA course will be established in the Graduate School of Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts (TUA) as of April 2016. The GAP focuses on the research and education around social practice of contemporary art today within a global context. It expands alternative networks and social interactions beyond Japan. The course, led by international artists and arts professionals, offers innovative programs in a flexible, specially designed format to enable graduate students to develop leadership roles as artists and researchers.
Main curriculum:
Global Art Practice (Global Art Joint Curriculum)
This major studio course, undertaken in collaboration with some of the world’s best art institutions, offers practice sessions in both Japan and abroad, during which faculty and students of TUA and the partner institution work as a unit. Classes are offered primarily in English. The 2016–17 Global Art Joint Curriculum is scheduled with the following institutions:
University of the Arts, London, Central Saint Martins
École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris
School of Art Institute of Chicago
Global Art Social Practice Lecture
Inviting world-class art professionals, this series of lectures and forums are offered to discuss and examine the critical issues in contemporary social art practice within today’s global context. The distinguished professors for the lectures 2016 are planned to include:
Hou Hanru (Artistic Director, MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome, Italy)
Alfredo Jaar (artist, architect and filmmaker, New York / Santiago, Chile)
Yongwoo Lee (art theoretician and curator, Director of Shanghai Himalayas Museum, China)
Bartomeu Mari (curator, Director of Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Spain)
Traditional Shop
An introduction will be offered to the dynamism of tradition and the techniques in various fields of the arts inherited in Tokyo University of the Arts, the only national art university in Japan. The Shop enables exceptional reflective and critical insight into both modernization and traditions.
In addition, elective courses are offered for students to study and experience traditional Japanese culture, with time spent in Kyoto, Nara and/or western Japan. All disciplines, including art conservation techniques from ancient times to the high technology of today, can be studied.
