PARASOPHIA 京都国際現代芸術祭2015

* This event has already taken place. Read report


For the fourth Open Research Program, Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 will invite internationally renowned contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang (蔡国强) to engage in a conversation in Japanese with prominent philosopher and critic Akira Asada about his work in recent years.
Cai lived in Japan from 1986 to 1995. During these years, he explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, an inquiry that eventually led to his experimentation with explosives on a massive scale and to the development of his signature explosion events. He is known for the dynamic, powerful style seen in these drawings and events, as well as his fireworks in the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
In 1994, Cai presented an event commissioned by Kyoto City, titled Project for Heiankyō 1,200th Anniversary: Celebration from Chang’an. The event was held in front of Kyoto City Hall for the exhibition Making New Kyoto ‘94, or the 4th Geijutsu Saiten Kyō (Arts Festival Kyoto), which in turn was tied in with a string of events commemorating the 1,200th anniversary of the founding of Heiankyō (the present Kyoto).
On the present occasion, Cai will return to Kyoto once again and speak with Asada, with whom he has been personally acquainted for many years. The conversation will be held in Japanese.

About the Open Research Program
The Artistic Director and his curatorial team will conduct part of their research for Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 publicly, in the form of lectures and other events in this program.

Cai Guo-Qiang (蔡国强)
b. 1957 in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China; based in New York. Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 participating artist. Read more: Cai Guo-Qiang

Akira Asada (浅田彰)
Director, Kyoto University of Art and Design Graduate School Academic Research Center; critic. B.A., Faculty of Economics, Kyoto University. Formerly an Associate Professor at the Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University (1989–2008) and the Dean of the Kyoto University of Art and Design Graduate School (2008–2013). Currently the Director of the Kyoto University of Art and Design Graduate School Academic Research Center. Widely recognized as a philosopher and critic whose interests include philosophy, art, architecture, music, dance, film, literature, and more. Publications include the bestseller Kōzō to chikara—Kigō-ron wo koete [Structure and Power: Beyond Semiotics] (Tokyo: Keisō Shobō, 1983), Tōsō-ron—Sukizo kizzu no bōken [A Theory of Escape: The Adventures of the Schizo Kids] (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1984), Herumesu no ongaku [The Music of Hermes] (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1992), Eiga no seikimatsu [The End of Cinema’s Century] (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 2000), and 20-seiki bunka no rinkai [Critical Point of 20th Century Culture] (Tokyo: Seidosha, 2000). Currently running a blog on the Japanese version of Realkyoto (realkyoto.jp).