MITAMURA Shunsuke

Born 1936 in Gifu prefecture. Graduated in 1964 with a degree in “Plastic Arts & Mixed Media” from the Faculty of Fine Art, Tokyo University of Education. Studied abroad from 1966 to 1970 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and Italy’s Accademia delle Arti del Disegno. After returning to Japan, accepted a post as lecturer at Hirosaki University, after which he went on to the University of Tsukuba School of Art and Design, where he helped to establish the “Comprehensive Visual Art” curriculum. He assumed a professorship in 1987, became Director of the Fine Art Division in 1992, was named Director of the Faculty of Arts in 1995, and retired from this post in 2000, remaining a professor emeritus. During this time, in 1980 he started working on holography art, and won the Holography Award (Shearwater Foundation, USA) in 1996. In the Comprehensive Visual Art curriculum, he incorporated holography and other media technologies that have visual art creation at their foundation. In doing so, he supported the evolution of high-tech art into media art, fostering numerous successful media artists including CHIKAMORI Motoshi, KODAMA Sachiko, KUWAKUBO Ryota, and TAMURA Satoru recently.

As Japan’s leading holography artist, MITAMURA involved himself in art and technology exhibitions and education programs both in Japan and abroad, and was invited to and participated in such programs as Ars Electronica. He has also been engaged in many pioneering activities through participation in Group Arts-Unis and the International High Technology Art Festival and has authored many books. He developed a unique media art education curriculum in the newly established field of Comprehensive Visual art at the University of Tsukuba by inviting in a group of professors (YAMAGUCHI Katsuhiro, KAWAGUCHI Tatsuo, SHINODA Morio) to launch the endeavor. He has demonstrated a playful spirit in supporting education in this new field while keeping his vision fixed on both the “art of things” and the “art of media,” thereby fostering many creatives including ISHIHARA Tsunekazu, HARADA Daisaburo, IWAI Toshio and Maywa Denki. MITAMURA’s contributions have been tremendous.
(MORIYAMA Tomoe)