[Special Feature: 30 Years of SFC] SFC and Me: The "Fusion of Science and Art" OS

It is a bit embarrassing to talk about university entrance exams when I am nearly 50 years old, but if I am to talk about SFC, I must start here. At the end of the year, while I was preparing to apply to universities in the United States, I happened to pick up an SFC pamphlet. I became obsessed, driven by the feeling that I absolutely had to go there. After intensive training for the short essay exam, I decided to take the test 50 days later. In deciding to apply, the only words I could really imagine were video, music, and communication. Regardless, I was clear about one thing: I wanted to place myself in a creative world that was constantly changing.

On the day of the exam, I had a fever of 38 degrees Celsius and sat in the venue supporting my neck, which I had strained while sleeping. The topic for the Faculty of Policy Management essay on the first day was "Structural Reform between Japan and the U.S." It was all Greek to me, and I only remember my neck hurting. On the other hand, the topic for the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies the next day was "Is there a fusion of science and art?" In that moment, I shouted "I've got this!" in my heart. I clearly remember writing my essay in the classroom at Hiyoshi, feeling excited and forgetting that I was even in the middle of an exam. That day I took the SFC exam, I encountered those words: "the fusion of science and art."

After enrolling, I learned that the author of the exam prompt was Professor Itsuo Sakane, who would eventually become my lifelong mentor. He was the author of "A Museum of Play," which I had been familiar with since childhood, and the man who introduced M.C. Escher and Mitsumasa Anno to the world. On campus, there were professors with artistic titles like artist, literary critic, art critic, and poet, alongside experts in computer science, mathematics, and networks. My classmates were a diverse and talented bunch: genius programmers, literary geeks, movie, music, and fashion manias, people with a genius for languages, those aspiring to go into agriculture, and people coming out as what we now call LGBT. Both professors and students always seemed excited, the atmosphere was festive, and there was a sense that anything was permitted.

In that environment, I made films, shaved my head, and created fashion shows and artworks. I belonged to multiple seminars covering linguistics, art history, and media art, enjoying learning and creating with professors, friends, and seniors during six stimulating years. My master's thesis on "digital linguistic expression" such as emojis—a topic for which there was no similar research at the time—was co-authored with my professors, and I finished my university life with pride. It was an era where the internet and digital technology were beginning to connect traditional media like print, music, and video. Six years after the entrance exam, through a cutting-edge interdisciplinary education, a human being had been created with the SFC-specific OS of "the fusion of science and art" fully installed.

After graduation, at the recommendation of my late supervisor, Professor Teruo Inoue, I became involved in research for a digital archive of Butoh at the Keio University Art Center (KUAC) in Mita, while also participating in the launch of an internet-related IT venture. After a while, at the invitation of Professors Itsuo Sakane and Masaki Fujihata, I began working on exhibition production. For six years after graduation, I received guidance and support from SFC professors and eventually found my calling as a curator. I then took a job at a museum of the future that had just opened with the theme of "making science a part of culture."

Strangely enough, my connection with SFC grew stronger at Miraikan with each passing year. Professor Jun Murai was an exhibition supervisor. At exhibition production sites and symposiums, I would meet classmates and juniors who had become designers, researchers, and producers. In my small workplace, about a handful of SFC graduates were employed. It was as if SFC-affiliated people gathered at the festive site of this museum of the future, expanding their circle.

Time passed, and my former colleague Hiroya Tanaka became a professor, Akira Wakita became a Dean, and Hajime Narukawa and Nao Tokui took positions at SFC. Many other colleagues, including myself, serve as lecturers. Meanwhile, my ambitious niece, who wants to study design while continuing her sports, is spending a stimulating time there. In my class this year, there were even three children of my former classmates.

In the world today, the internet and digital technology have become infrastructure, and the term "Art & Science" is frequently seen. However, old conflicting concepts still exist, such as which is better or worse: science or humanities, natural or artificial, digital or analog, virtual or real. Society is becoming more complex, the natural environment is changing, and the future seems somewhat uneasy.

But what about SFC? It is always positive about the future and hasn't changed at all, has it? It remains unchanged in the sense that it continues to propose new futures by attaching and recombining various tools and disciplines. And the excited professors, students, and alumni continue to build people by mobilizing both memes and genes. Yes, the "fusion of science and art" OS of SFC has a rule: no matter the era, it will transcend conflicting concepts and domains to intellectually and creatively continue the renewal of human knowledge.