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Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

The Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM) at Yale announces the Spring 2024 Ultra Space Symposium: Adaptation/s, April 4 and 5. The events and exhibition, inspired by Arakawa+Gins, feature the opening of ISOVIST—CCAM’s new gallery, and Artificial Life specialist Takashi Ikegami.
 Can architecture help you live forever?
 
Arakawa and Gins’ experimental architecture and Takashi Ikegami’s intricate systems remind us that form and function, space and perception, are not just an art, but a science of living.


Can we use our body to see?

At any given point while inside the Mitaka Lofts in Tokyo, designed by Arakawa and Gins, one can see a minimum of six colors. This system of colors is not complex, nor does it offer a coherent pattern—it creates an offering for the senses.

Symposium speakers include: Momoyo Homma (Director, Reversible Destiny Foundation and Arakawa+Gins Tokyo Office), Takashi Ikegami (University of Tokyo), and Habib Zargarpour (Bladerunner 2049). The grand opening of ISOVIST—CCAM’s new gallery—will include works by Refik Anadol, Yale student artists, and others. Konrad Kaczmarek will give a live performance of his Studies in Automation: Guitar Quartet. The events will include paper presentations and the launch of the inaugural edition of the CCAM Printed Volume.
Science fiction?

Arakawa and Gins believed that undiscovered senses lay hidden within us, and they aspired to unlock them through the design of spaces and objects tailored to engage and awaken these latent sensory experiences. Today, Takashi Ikegami of the University of Tokyo, a renowned researcher investigating Artificial Life, explores how systems, whether biological or artificial, adapt to objects, environments, and spaces. Academy-nominated visual effects supervisor Habib Zargarpour blends technical expertise with imagination, pushing the boundaries of cinema.
M³

The Ultra Space Lab is an interdisciplinary research initiative led by CCAM Director and Yale School of Architecture Critic Dana Karwas. Our approach at the Ultra Space Lab is guided by movement, mechanism, and meaning (M³) from digital to material implementation. 

• Mechanism: How can your artifact function as a system?  
• Movement: How does your artifact address concepts in movement ecology?  
• Meaning: What makes this artifact meaningful to culture and society?

Through a combination of digital prototyping and hands-on making, the Ultra Space Lab generates artifacts, installations, and spatial experiments that frequently interface with technology in unexpected ways.

As a cornerstone of CCAM, the Ultra Space Lab finds ways to further connect with and learn from the spaces we inhabit. The lab embraces a range of research activities and outputs, including a yearly symposium, fellowships for students and professionals, courses at Yale, collaborations with peer institutions, exhibitions, and publications.

The Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (CCAM) at Yale is an interdisciplinary art and technology center. CCAM is part of the cultural landscape at Yale that includes other major institutions such as the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art. CCAM is also home to an interdisciplinary Curriculum in Residence, sponsoring classes from art and architecture to public health. A staging ground for faculty and students to experiment, CCAM starts with creativity to advance projects and research, forming an archipelago of interdisciplinary labs within an art-forward setting.
The symposium is free and open to the public. All events will take place at CCAM (149 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511). No advance registration is required, but RSVP is encouraged (RSVP here!). Seating will be first-come, first-served, and room capacity limits will apply.
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