The Graduate School Academic Research Center (ARC) (Director Akira Asada) inherits the achievements of activities of International Research Center for Comparative Art Studies. Not only is it promoting comparative research according to a spatial axis or historical study following a time axis, ARC promotes comprehensive research from a diagonal point of view. In close cooperation with the doctoral course of the graduate school, the ARC functions as the theoretical core of the university as a whole, and by promoting activities centered on theory and criticism related to creation of contemporary art, the ARC will deepen the mutual stimulation between the university and artists on the ground. By transmitting the results of the activities above domestically and internationally through Realkyoto – a website for theoretical study and exchange of information about art culture in general – or extension lectures, the ARC will be equipped to function as a hub of cultural information in Japan and East Asia, and its goal is to become a focal point in a global network of art theory and criticism.

†The International Research Center for Comparative Art Studies has changed its name to the Graduate School Academic Research Center (ARC) from the 2013 school year.