2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Art of the Atomic Age (Part II)
| Project/Area Number |
17K13371
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| Research Institution | Kyushu University |
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Principal Investigator |
デカマス ガブリエル 九州大学, 言語文化研究院, 准教授 (90741710)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | Art History / Nuclear Technology |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
I was able to visit the Marie Curie Museum in Paris. This has proved to be very useful for my research. There was a lot of information about her life and her research. There was also a lot of information about radium, its effect and uses during her time. In addition, the shop at the museum had so many books and DVDs that are so interesting. I have been able to buy many precious books in English and in French. A lot of these books were for specialists or the general public, but there was a surprising number of books for children. This is a very interesting lead to follow.
In addition, thanks to the budget I received, I could organize an online conference with two foreign artists/researchers titled "ATOM + ART: Representing Irradiated Polynesia and the Navajo Nation / 被爆の表象：ポリネシアとナバホネイション". The conference had live translation from Tokyo in English and Japanese. The speakers were online, and the audience could also attend in-person. This required a lot of organization, and a great part of my budget, but the feedback I receive was very very encouraging. It was beneficial for my students, but many foreign or national scholars and artists also joined online. Even after the event, many scholars reach out to be able to watch the recordings of the talks.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The main reason for the slow progression of my research is the virus. Organizing research trips and conferences while the virus crisis is unfolding is still a challenge. My conference had to be done online, and it was difficult to find the right day/time that would suit the invited speakers and some of my students' busy schedule. By the time I learned all the requirements for the live translation via Tokyo (in terms of budget but also finding the right technology, connecting devices, room etc), several months had passed. But I have learned so much from this experience.
Preparing the research trip to the Marie Curie Museum was also very challenging. First, the war in Ukraine had started. This meant that Japanese and Western airlines had to change their routes not to fly over Russia. As a result, the flights were longer, sometimes with extra stops on the way to Paris. It was obvious to me that I could only go during the summer break (not to disturb my teaching schedule) too much, and the prices were very high. On the top of that, the Marie Curie Museum isn't open every day, so I had to extend my stay even longer than I anticipated. In other words, it took me time and patience to adapt to the new circumstances.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Now that I am aware of the difficulties to travel to Europe, I hope to complete one more research. This trip would be to visit ITER. ITER is the world's largest fusion experimental site. Thirty-five nations are collaborating to build and operate it. It is therefore of utmost interest to me, especially that some breakthrough in fusion technology happened recently. ITER is located in the south of France. This is even more difficult to access now than Paris. But this time, I started to organize my trip already.
Time permitting, and if I have enough resources left, I also hope to organize one more conference. I am not sure to have enough budget for two panelists like last year. I am still studying my budget to see the possibilities. But I am trying to organize all this. The context would be the same: online with live translation via Tokyo. It was very efficient last time.
If this is not possible, I plan to buy more nuclear-related books for my research or to travel to nuclear-related places in Japan such as Fukushima or to the Daigo Fukuryu-Maru Exhibition Hall in Tokyo.
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| Causes of Carryover |
I plan one oversea travel, and if possible one more conference. Given the difficulties I had to plan my trip to the Marie Curie Museum in France, due to the war in Ukraine and the virus, I hope to better organize my trip to ITER. The first trip was very expensive due to these problems, so I anticipate that my trip to ITER will be as costly. The same holds true for the conference. The price of translation was a very large part of my budget. What is expensive is not only the translator fees, but the equipment that had to be shipped from Tokyo. I used NHK translation services. They are professionals and the translation was spotless. So, needless to say, I hope to use their services this time around too.
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Research Products
(1 results)
