PARASOPHIA 京都国際現代芸術祭2015

Parasophia presents “Parasophia Conversations,” a new series of events based on the Open Research Program. Parasophia Conversations is a platform for relaxed open conversations on various subjects, where individuals with different backgrounds have casual discussions on specific themes without being pressured to turn it into a debate. The first event in the series, Parasophia Conversations 01: Alexander Zahlten & Keisuke Kitano “Image Traffic in the 21st Century,” will be held at Kyoto Art Center on Sunday, November 16 as a multifaceted and multi-directional presentation and discussion on the circulation of images in today’s society. Rigid divisions between speakers and audience will be broken down in this multi-channel talk event, where the circulation of moving images in the present day will be discussed.
Parasophia is making an open call for video clips with a particular theme in advance of the event. The conversation on November 16 will be based on these submissions. Please read the introduction by the two coordinators and submit video clips based on the theme given below.

Text: Alexander Zahlten & Keisuke Kitano “Thinking about the Morphology of Image Traffic in the 21st Century” [PDF, 92 KB]

Theme: “Curation (Curating, schmurating!)”
Please make your submissions here:
paracon01.tumblr.com/form

About Parasophia Conversations
Parasophia Conversations is a platform for relaxed open conversations on various subjects, based on the Open Research Program.

Alexander Zahlten
Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. Born 1973. PhD in Film Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Mainz, Germany. Zahlten conducted research for his dissertation at Nihon University (2003–05) and conducted postdoctoral research at Meiji Gakuin University (2009–11). In 2011–12, he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Film & Digital Media at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea. He was Program Director for the Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection, the world’s largest festival for film from Japan, from 2002 to 2010. His research on film and audiovisual culture in East Asia and especially Japan from the 1960s onward focuses on the connection between larger economic, social, and institutional structures and aesthetic modalities. He has published on topics such as Pink Film, Kadokawa Film, and V-Cinema in Japan. His recent publications have examined the role of postcolonial fantasy in Korean “remakes” of Japanese films, the question of categories in a media mix environment, and more. On November 9, 2014, Zahlten will be discussing the reception of Japanese anime overseas with Kim Joon Yang (Niigata University) as a talk event held in Niigata, Japan in connection with the Association for Studies of Culture and Representation’s 9th Annual Workshop.

Keisuke Kitano (北野圭介)
Professor, College of Image Arts and Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto; Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 Professional Advisory Board member. Born 1963. Studied as a doctoral candidate in Cinema Studies at New York University. Kitano came to hold his current position after teaching at New York University, and an Associate Professorship at Niigata University in the Faculty of Humanities. He was a visiting research fellow at Media & Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London, from September 2012 to March 2013. Kitano is a wide-ranging film critic and scholar in Japan, and he has organized and participated in numerous panels and symposia on film studies, performance studies, social sciences, and architecture in Japan and abroad. He has written on Japanese cinema, American cinema, visual culture, and new media.
On November 8, 2014, Kitano will be participating in a panel discussion on Allan Sekula presented by the Association for Studies of Culture and Representation and Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 in Niigata, Japan, as part of the association’s 9th Annual Workshop. He will also be acting as the host for another related panel discussion to be held the next day, also presented by the Association for Studies of Culture and Representation and Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015 in Niigata, Japan. More information: Parasophia co-presents “Allan Sekula: Between Photography and Text, Image and Geopolitics” (9th Research Presentation of the Association for Studies of Culture and Representation)