International Symposium: Post-Olympics Art Projects
1 December 2021
Organizer: Graduate School of Urban Management & Global Exchange Office, Osaka City University
Co-sponsor: Cocoroom (Non-profit organization)
Image courtesy of Shinnosuke Ando via Unsplash
The Olympics and Paralympics have been recognized as a cultural festival through London 2012, Rio 2016, and Tokyo 2020. The London culture program was a global success for its unprecedented scale, unified implementation, and legacy of public participation, networking and so on. Tokyo 2020 cultural programs were initially organized in the light of the London 2012 success, but could not fully realize its goals amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Under these circumstances, the Arts and Homelessness Festival was held from 8th to 16th October with homeless, citizens, artists and support groups in Coventry, which was selected as the cultural city of England in 2021, and the "Send a Smile" Postcard Project opened an exhibition of postcards drawn by homeless people and daily wage-earners.The project has the theme of approaching the problems of isolation and the digital divide through art in particular, with the lack of access to computers and the internet caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of support groups, Streetwise Opera has supported homeless people to perform in operas and has collaborated with Olympic culture programs. Cocoroom in Japan also joined the Postcard Project, which founded at the Kamagasaki Art University with various artists and daily wage-earners, and created a guest house.Streetwise Opera and Cocoroom have been interacted with each other in Osaka and Rio from 2009.
Therefore, in this symposium, we will take up the activities of Streetwise Opera and Cocoroom, and their interaction through opera, focusing on the potentials for expression and solidarity the "Send a Smile" Postcard Project aims at. How can we best illuminate the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics and in the face of the of COVID-19 crisis? While delving into the relevant cases in Japan and the UK, We would like to open up the overall picture of each of the Japanese and English cultural programs and discuss with you the direction and possibilities for post-Olympics art projects under the impact of COVID-19.
This symposium provides simultaneous interpretation.
Speakers
Mike Featherstone, Professor of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London
Tomoko Tamari, Senior Lecturer of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London
Matt Peacock is Director of Arts & Homelessness International,the global network of arts and homelessness.
Kanayo Ueda, Poet
Yukihito Sakamoto, Kaizuka City Tsuda Elementary School Director
Moderator
Takayuki Yoshida, Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Urban Management, Osaka City University