[Special Feature: 30 Years of SFC] SFC and Me: The "Fusion of Science and Art" OS

2020/10/07

It is a bit embarrassing to talk about university entrance exams when I am nearly 50 years old, but if I am to talk about SFC, I must start here. At the end of the year, while I was preparing to apply to universities in the United States, I happened to pick up an SFC pamphlet. I became obsessed, driven by the feeling that I absolutely had to go there. After intensive training for the short essay exam, I decided to take the test 50 days later. In deciding to apply, the only words I could visualize were video, music, and communication. Regardless, I was clear about one thing: I wanted to place myself in a world that was creative and constantly changing.

On the day of the exam, I had a fever of 38 degrees Celsius and sat in the venue supporting my neck, which I had strained while sleeping. I only remember that the topic for the Faculty of Policy Management essay on the first day was "Structural Reform between Japan and the U.S.," which was all Greek to me, and that my neck hurt. On the other hand, the topic for the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies the next day was "Is there a fusion of science and art?" In that moment, I shouted "I've got this" in my heart. I clearly remember writing my essay with excitement in the classroom at Hiyoshi, forgetting that I was even in the middle of an exam. That day I took the SFC entrance exam, I encountered those words: "the fusion of science and art."

Upon entering the university, I learned that the author of the exam prompt was Professor Itsuo Sakane, who would eventually become my lifelong mentor. He was the author of "A Museum of Play" (Asobi no Hakubutsushi), which I had been familiar with since childhood, and the person who introduced M.C. Escher and Mitsumasa Anno to the world. On campus, there were professors with artistic titles such as artists, literary critics, art critics, and poets, alongside experts in computer science, mathematics, and networks. My classmates were a diverse and talented bunch: genius programmers, literary geeks, movie, music, and fashion manias, people with a genius for languages, those aspiring to go into agriculture, and people coming out as what we now call LGBT. Both professors and students always seemed excited, the atmosphere was festive, and there was a sense that anything was permitted.

In such an environment, I made films, shaved my head, and created fashion shows and artworks. I belonged to multiple seminars covering linguistics, art history, and media art, enjoying learning and creation with professors, friends, and seniors, spending six stimulating years. My master's thesis on "digital linguistic expression" such as emojis—a topic for which no similar research even existed at the time—was co-authored with my professors, and I finished my university life with pride. It was an era where the internet and digital technology were beginning to connect traditional media like print, music, and video. Six years after the entrance exam, through a cutting-edge interdisciplinary education, a human being had been created with the SFC-specific OS of the "fusion of science and art" fully installed.

After graduation, at the recommendation of my late supervisor, Professor Teruo Inoue, I participated in the startup of an internet-related IT venture while being involved in research on digital archives of Butoh at the Keio University Art Center (KUAC) in Mita. After a while, I began working on exhibition production at the invitation of Professors Itsuo Sakane and Masaki Fujihata. For six years after graduation, I received guidance and support from SFC professors and found my calling as a curator. I then found a job at a museum of the future that had just opened with the theme of "making science a part of culture."

Strangely enough, my connection with SFC grew stronger year by year at Miraikan. Professor Jun Murai is an exhibition supervisor. I meet classmates and juniors who have become designers, researchers, and producers at exhibition production sites and symposiums. In my small workplace, about a handful of SFC graduates are employed. It seemed as if SFC-related people gathered at the festive site of the museum of the future, expanding their circle.

Time has passed, and my former colleagues like Hiroya Tanaka have become professors, Akira Wakita has become a dean, and Hajime Narukawa and Nao Tokui have taken positions at SFC. Many other colleagues, including myself, serve as lecturers. Meanwhile, my ambitious niece, who wants to study design while continuing her sports, is spending a stimulating time there. In my class this year, there were three children of my former classmates.

In the world today, the internet and digital technology have become infrastructure, and the term "art & science" is frequently seen. However, old conflicting concepts still exist, such as whether science or humanities, natural or artificial, digital or analog, and virtual or real is better or worse. Society is becoming more complex, the natural environment is changing, and the future seems somewhat uneasy.

But what about SFC? It is always positive about the future and hasn't changed at all, has it? It continues to propose new futures by attaching and recombining various tools and disciplines to the point where one could say it never changes. And the excited professors, students, and alumni continue to create people by mobilizing both memes and genes. Yes, the SFC "fusion of science and art" OS has a rule: no matter the era, it will not stop updating human knowledge intellectually and creatively while transcending conflicting concepts and domains.