Since January 2006, Professor Ian Condry has organized the MIT/Harvard Cool Japan research project. The project presents colloquia, international conferences, and arts events to examine the cultural connections, dangerous distortions, and critical potential of popular culture. The goal is to encourage scholarly debate, research, and networking in the Boston area for faculty and students interested in media and globalization, formerly related primarily to Japan but now expanding to include other geographic and cultural regions. The project is sponsored by the MIT Japan Program, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University, MIT Foreign Languages & Literatures, and MIT Comparative Media Studies.

Next Event:  Dissolve Inequality:  Music Summit @ MIT, March 16 (Wed) at MIT and Middlesex Lounge

 

Dissolve Inequality: Music Summit @ MIT

March 16 (Wed.), free and open to the public

 

    tinyurl.com/dissolvemusic

 

Musicians Panel and Ignite Talks: 

    MIT, Room 4-237

    2-5pm Panel:  Musicians & Scholars Debate Music & Inequality

 

Dinner and Dance Party:  

    Middlesex Lounge, 315 Mass Ave., Cambridge, MA 

    6-7:30pm Dissolve Inequality networking dinner

    7:3pm-midnight Dissolve Dance Party, w/ Shing02, The A-Beez, N.B.S., & Toshiya the Tribal (from Japan)

 

This one-day event, a continuation of the Dissolve Inequality (mitdissolve.mit.edu) series, will explore the question:  What can a new era of music teach us about reducing inequalities — gender, racial, economic, and more?  

 

Come join in discussions with artists and scholars, and join the networking dinner and musical performance in the evening featuring internationally acclaimed rapper Shing02 (from Japan), local funk legends The A-Beez, and a rare stateside appearance of Toshiya the Tribal (also from Japan). 

 

More details:  

 

Afternoon Panel Discussion, Room 4-237, MIT (whereis.mit.edu, Building 4, room 237)

 

2pm Musicians Keynote Panel with hip-hop emcees Shing02 (from Japan) and Flash (of NBS), and Amy Bellamy (The A-Beez).  

 

3-5pm  Ignite Talks and Open Discussion:  Music and Inequality (Nancy Baym, Toshiya Ueno, Sandy Alexandre, Eva Heinstein, and Ian Condry)

 

Evening Dinner and Dance Party, Middlesex Lounge, 315 Mass Ave., Cambridge, MA

6-7:30pm  Networking dinner (light food)

7:30-8:30pm  live music with The ABeez, local funk music legends

8:30-9:30pm Shing02 with DJ SPIN MASTER A-1 (live hip-hop from Japan, Boston premiere performance!!)

9:30-10pm N.B.S. (Natural Born Spitters, Boston-based hip-hop group)

10pm - midnight, DJ time: Toshiya the Tribal (from Tokyo), DJ iancondry & Blue Buddha

 

Free and open to the public.  

 

PLEASE NOTE:  If under 21 years of age, YOU MUST PRE-REGISTER:  dissolve@mit.edu (SPACE LIMITED, everyone encouraged to RSVP)

 

Presented as a celebration of the MIT/Harvard Cool Japan Research Project Ten Year Anniversary.  

 

Contact:  Prof. Ian Condry (condry@mit.edu), Global Studies and Languages, MIT.  

 

Thanks to generous support from the SHASS Dean’s Office, Global Studies and Languages, and MIT Japan.