The Tokyo University of the Arts’ (TUA) COI Site and the Graduate School of Film and New Media have organized a “Virtual Department of Games” for a limited period, based on the challenging idea “what if there were a Department of Games at TUA?”. The exhibition displays many artworks of young researchers and artists who put a lot of effort and thinking into these works, including student works from the Graduate School of Film and New Media and animations by young researchers of the Research on synesthetic media group at TUA’s COI Site.

In particular, the “Animation to Game” approach, which regards interactive games as a new field of artistic expression, is catching the attention of many visitors. One of the creators, Ryoya Usuba, says that he “was assured of its potential” regarding the possibilities of artistic expression using games as a trigger.

On 26 July, 40 teachers and students from Rikkyo Ikebukuro Junior & Senior High School, who have received prizes both in Japan and overseas for integrating VR creation in the school curriculum, visited our exhibition. It was an opportunity to share inspiration through an exchange between young people and TUA artists. They were all excited by each of the displays and were enthusiastically asking questions about the production process.

We also had kind cooperation from the University of Southern California and Square Enix Co., Ltd. so we will provide a chance for people to think about games and art, through lectures and discussion forum.

We only have a few days left of the exhibition, so please come and visit!

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