Civic Creative Base Tokyo’s Meetup program showcases arts and cultural activities from across the world with the aims of building a global network and fostering international partnerships in the digital creative field. The first Meetup explores laboratory-driven cultural facilities.
Connecting with society through co-creation.
The future of arts and culture hubs ushered in by digital creativity.
In the world today, people are seeking out new values and proposals through experimentation and creative expression. In conjunction with the development of digital technology, creative hubs are also changing. In response to the social challenges we face, growing numbers of venues now have lab facilities and creative functions. The efforts of such hubs are closely connected to cities and the civil society, and can bring about real social change.
This Meetup introduces the work of cultural hubs around the world that play various roles rooted in the social and cultural contexts of their respective cities through the case studies of Watershed in the UK, which focus on urban regeneration, Waag Futurelab in the Netherlands, which aspires to democratize technology, and Taiwan’s C-LAB, which engages in sustained experimentation through arts and culture.
The Meetup explores the potential for art and digital technology to enable civic creativity through these case studies of innovation and collaboration at sites across the globe.
Information
CCBT Meetup “Hello from the Global Creative Laboratories! Vol.01: Laboratory-driven Cultural Facilities”
Date: Feb 25 (Sat), 2023 3:30 pm-7:00 pm（Open 3:00 pm）
Speakers：Clare Reddington(Watershed), Lucas Evers(Waag Futurelab), LIU Yu-Ching(Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB)), Suganuma Kiyoshi (Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM]), Hirota Fumi (Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT])
Free Admission (Pre-Registration Required) ※ Capacity 90
English-Japanese Simultaneous Interpretation Available
Organizers: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture
※Live-streaming Available in CCBT YouTube Channel
◆To Register【First-come, first-served basis】
Please register via the Registration Form.
Time Line（tentative）
3:30 pm-3:40 pm
［Introduction］
3:40 pm-5:40 pm
［Session1］Global Laboratory-driven Cultural Facilities
Speakers: (30min each)
Clare Reddington (Watershed)
Lucas Evers (Waag Futurelab)
LIU Yu-Ching (Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB))
Hirota Fumi (Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT])
5:55 pm-7:00pm
［Session2］Cross-discussion, Q&A
Moderator: Suganuma Kiyoshi (Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM])
(Courtesy of Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM])
Clare Reddington (CEO, Watershed)
Clare joined Watershed in 2004, establishing its creative technology programs including Pervasive Media Studio and Playable City. She became CEO in 2018.
Clare works with industry, academic and creative partners from around the world to champion inclusion, support talent and develop new ideas.
Clare is a Visiting Professor at the University of the West of England. She is chair of Emma Rice’s Wise Children and a trustee of RSC and the British Council.
Watershed (Bristol, UK)
Watershed is a cross-art organisation promoting innovation and risk-taking for over 40 years. It is also one of Europe’s leading independent cultural cinemas and one of the very few places outside London with a year-round programme of world cinema.
Watershed established the Pervasive Media Studio in 2008 and its ethos of collaborative innovation has grown an international reputation and network. The Studio gifts space to a community of over 100 artists, creative companies, technologists and academics exploring experience design and creative technology.
Watershed’s projects can be cultural or commercial and span play, robotics, location-based media, food, connected objects, interactive documentary and new forms of performance. Watershed enables people to participate in inventing the future, by nurturing, inspiring and engaging artists and audiences.
https://www.watershed.co.uk
Lucas Evers (Head of Make Programme & Lead Open Wet Lab, Waag Futurelab)
Lucas joined Waag in 2007. Currently, he works as Head of the Program of the Make research group at Waag Futurelab. With a diverse team of 15 researchers and collaborators, he develops projects for the Fablab, Open Design Lab, Textile Lab, Open Wet Lab and Space Lab, which are part of Make. Make research reflects on and creates alternatives for man-made (and man-un-made) material realities.
Lucas is trained in fine arts and teaching at Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design and he studied politics and public governance at the University of Amsterdam. His interests lie in the way we can learn from the interactions, the differences and similarities, between artistic, scientific and other cultures of research.
Waag Futurelab (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Waag Futurelab for technology and society contributes to the research, design and development of a sustainable, just society by collectively researching emerging technology, and questioning underlying cultural assumptions; by experimenting with and designing alternatives on the basis of public values; by developing an open, fair and inclusive future together with civil society.
Waag Futurelab works in a trans-disciplinary team of designers, artists and scientists, utilising public research methods in the realms of technology and society. This is how Waag empowers as many people as possible to design an open, honest and inclusive future.
Waag knows four research groups Code, Learn, Life and Make.
https://waag.org/en/
LIU Yu-Ching (Head of Marketing & Public Programs Department, Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab(C-LAB))
LIU Yu-Ching has worked at Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB) as a researcher for the C-LAB’s site and history since it was established in 2018 and as chief editor of the online magazine CLABO between 2018 and 2020. Since 2020, LIU is the head of the marketing & public programs department and is responsible for public relations, marketing strategies, international connections and publishing. She works on different programs to introduce and promote the campus and the contemporary art and technology media platforms of C-LAB.
LIU graduated from Goldsmiths, the University of London with a master of arts and has worked as a journalist covering cultural and art news.
Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab(C-LAB) (Taipei, Taiwan)
The Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB) was established in 2018 to create a forward-looking base for cultural experimentation. It is operated by the Taiwan Living Arts Foundation affiliated with the Ministry of Culture. Before C-LAB, this was the site of the Industrial Research Institute of the Taiwan Governor-General’s Office during the Japanese colonial era and was later named the Air Force Command Headquarters in 1949 when the Nationalist government arrived.
Today, C-LAB is an active site open to the public, art and cultural professionals, technological teams, and the animation industry, serving as a base for cross-disciplinary collaboration and co-creation by developing numerous exhibitions, performances, and public programs. With innovative energy from the arts and culture, the spirit and practices of cultural experimentation are expected to continuously expand.
https://clab.org.tw/en/
Suganuma Kiyoshi (Social Co-Creation Director, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM])
Suganuma Kiyoshi is working on co-creation projects with research institutions, local governments, and corporations at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM], where he applies the knowledge YCAM has gained in media art creation to develop a co-creation framework that brings new value to society with a diverse range of collaborators.
Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media［YCAM］(Yamaguchi, Japan)
The Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, commonly known as “YCAM”, is an art center located in Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Since its opening in November 2003, YCAM has been hosting a variety of events including exhibitions, performances, movie screenings, workshops for children, etc.
The Center operates around a central axis defined by the pursuit of new artistic expression incorporating media technology.
https://www.ycam.jp/en/
Hirota Fumi (Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT])
After stints at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences and Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, Hirota Fumi joined the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2012, where she was involved in promoting the Japan Media Arts Festival, especially expanding its reach internationally and regionally. In 2015, she joined the Japan Foundation, working on media culture and art projects for the foundation’s cultural exchange programs between Japan and Southeast Asia. Hirota took up a post at the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History of Culture in 2020, helping launch Tokyo Smart Culture Project, which digitizes cultural resources like the collections of Tokyo’s cultural institutions and offers various types of viewing experiences. In 2022, she was part of the team behind the opening of Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT] in Shibuya.
Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT] (Tokyo, Japan)
Civic Creative Base Tokyo [CCBT] opened in October 2022 in Shibuya, Tokyo, as a hub where the public can explore their creative imaginations in society through the use of digital technology. CCBT has several labs and studio spaces where CCBT hosts a wide range of projects and events with a focus on four core programs: CCBT Meetup, Art × Tech Lab, Art Incubation, and Future Ideations Camp. CCBT aims to become the driving force of innovations born out of Tokyo.
https://ccbt.rekibun.or.jp/en/
