President's Statement

A Surprise Leading to Inspiration
(from an interview with President Shimamoto Kan)

Kyoto Seika University supports students’ creativity and personal expression with a cosmopolitan outlook.

From this year, KSU has four different faculties: Humanities, Art, Design, and Manga. On the arts side, creative vision requires thoughtful consideration of human beings and society. In the humanities, it is important to be stimulated by association with the arts. In other words, students of both arts and humanities interactively “cross-over” in their perceptions and creative works. We want our students to experience this vividly for themselves.

KSU is the first Japanese university to open a full Faculty of Manga, though I think this came rather late. It seems to me that Manga is a new language combining word and image. Messaging by mobile phone too is creating a new visual language of words and symbols, the rational and the emotive. If this combinative mode continues to develop, new methods of communication – and thinking – will appear. Manga will play an important role towards this breakthrough. And this movement depends very much on the younger generation.

An important aspect of KSU is its strong history of outward-looking cultural exchange. Our students learn about the world through various overseas study programs and workshops. On campus, we enjoy a relaxed atmosphere in which we can appreciate the presence of our overseas students, who come from many different countries. I would like to emphasize this by saying, “Don’t go to Tokyo, go overseas!” We make great efforts to support our students who aspire to study overseas.

We want our students to extend themselves as much as possible, discovering abilities that they were not previously aware of, and learning how to further develop these new abilities, thereby enriching their experience and understanding. I hope that our students will have the kind of experience that really surprises them, and stimulates their development.

 

[See also KSU's Mission Statement]

President Shimamoto Kan

Profile:
Graduated from Kyoto University, Faculty of Literature , Philosophy / Aesthetics and Art History 1972, followed by a Masters in Aesthetics/history of art, also from Kyoto University.

After working for a publishing company, he returned to Kyoto University to earn his PhD in the Literature Graduate Course , Aesthetics and Art History, in 1982.

Thereafter he studied in a doctorate course on Archaeology, at the University of Paris IV (Sorbonne) (Dr. of Literature) until 1986.

After working as a professor at Tezukayama Gakuin University, he joined Kyoto Seika University in 2002, teaching in the School of Design, and was elected President of this university in 2006.

His specialized area of study is Western art history, especially French art history from the 17th to 20th century. Beyond positivism, he has made efforts to clarify structures of various art history theories. Recently he has been carrying out studies of contemporary art and Japanese modern art.

Publications:
Theory of Art Catalogue – Record, Memory, and Theory (Bijutsu catarogu-ron – kiiroku, kioku, gensetsu) (Sangen-sha, 2005)
Art History and the Other (Bijutsu-shi to tasha) (co-edited, Koyo-shobo, 2000)
Minamata

(KSU's President is selected through a voting process that gives all academics and staff the opportunity to nominate and vote for their personal choice of candidates. Students also may register their opinions).