We are pleased to announce the publication of the Bulletin of the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences, Volume 13. The 2021 Bulletin contains a symposium organized by the University’s project Archival Archetyping. The following is the preface (p. 6), written by the project’s principal researcher, Shigeru Kobayashi.

This volume 13 of the Bulletin includes two symposiums organized by the university project, Archival Archetyping, tentatively named: “The Society for Media Expression: Considering Online Expression and Platforms from the Perspective of ‘Collectivity'” and “The Possibilities and Challenges of NFT Art”. The two symposiums will be included in the book.
“Archival Archetyping*” is the concept of simultaneously archiving (a compilation method for creation) and archetyping* by recording and preserving creative acts as a machine-learning model for new creation, starting from the stage when the author is creating the work.
*archetyping is mistranslation of 原型 by the original author; it should be better understood as “prototype” by native English speakers

In contemplation of this idea, while experimenting with archiving human creative acts through collaboration with machines, I launched the project, which has been active since 2019, with Ryota Kuwakubo and Shigeru Matsui to explore the manner in which artificial intelligence is a “mirror” rather than a mere tool, slave.
(Please refer to Volume 11, pp. 51-76 of the bulletin for the background of the launch and activities in the first year).
(For more information on how the project was launched and the first year’s activities, please refer to Volume 11, pp. 51-76 of the Bulletin of the University of Tokyo).
At first glance, these two symposiums on “collectivity” and “NFT art” may seem unrelated to this project, which is supposed to be a study of artificial intelligence and archives. Nevertheless, these projects are certainly connected as each emerged as responses to various events in society by their members. The first feature, “Online Representation and Platforms,” is a report on how in response to the global pandemic restricting activities in physical space, the proliferation of new forms of activity have presented archival challenges. In the second feature, “NFT Art,” the potential for a new method of documenting, not the artwork itself, but the traces of the people involved in the work is discussed.
　This year is the final year of the Archival Archetyping project, and under normal circumstances, we would be in the process of converging and summarizing our activities to date. However, we are aiming to dissolve the organization gradually in order to build on our past activities and connect them to the next ones. It would give us great pleasure if the traces of this project serves as a basis for new creations for our readers as well!

You can also download a PDF version of the bulletin from the IAMAS e-book distribution site “IAMAS BOOKS“.