Overview
Research networks are at the heart of the Institute's mission and research strategy. In addition to affiliations with the University of East Anglia (UEA), the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and the British Museum, there are institutional agreements for collaborative research with Ritsumeikan University, Kyushu University, the Niigata Prefectural Museum of History, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the International Centre for Albanian Archaeology and the Centre Européen d'Etudes Japonaises d'Alsace, and links with many other organisations. The Institute's various projects draw on this international network, bringing scholars from around the world together to explore major research themes. These projects include initiatives such as Collecting Japan in Europe, the Projects in Japanese Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, and Japanese Literature in Art Colloquy.
University of East Anglia (UEA)
The Sainsbury Institute is closely affiliated with the University of East Anglia (UEA). While the Institute is an independently registered charity, with a permanent home in the Cathedral Close in Norwich, the University's Vice-Chancellor acts as Chair of the Institute's Management Board and Institute staff are employed through the University. UEA has long fostered an innovative approach to the history of art through the activities of its School of World Art Studies and Museology. It is the home of the Sainsbury Research Unit, a centre for the study of the arts of Africa, the Pacific region and the Americas.
Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury built up a superb collection of art over 60 years, including many fine Japanese works from the Jomon to contemporary periods. They donated their entire collection to UEA and Norman Foster designed the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (SCVA) to house it. The exquisite Sainsbury collections, while encompassing diverse items from distinct and separate cultures, can be seen to have a distinctly unified and integrated presence due to the vision of the collectors, and this vision continues to inspire and inform the Institute's activities.
The Institute's research strategy places renewed emphasis on the development of synergies among the Sainsbury benefactions at UEA. Our research initiatives provide for that and also offer unparalleled opportunities to enlarge the graduate base and international standing of related programmes at UEA. The Institute also provides colleagues at UEA with appropriate library resources, space for lectures, specialists to work with specific projects and lectures, specialist teaching, postgraduate supervision in Japanese arts and opportunities for student internships.
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
Since its formation in 1916, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has built an enviable reputation around the globe for the calibre and quality of its courses, teaching and research. It is part of the University of London and centrally located in Bloomsbury, next to the British Museum. SOAS continues to enhance its position as the world's leading centre for the study of a highly diverse range of subjects concerned with Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Some 25 Japanese specialists at SOAS offer a wide range of courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including several specifically related to Japanese visual culture, film and media studies. The School has Europe's most comprehensive library on Japanese subjects and is designated the National Library for Asian and African studies.
As the largest centre for Japanese studies in the UK, SOAS is an invaluable partner for the Sainsbury Institute. The relationship is formalized by the membership of the Director and Principal of SOAS of the Institute's Management Board. The London Office of the Institute operates under the auspices of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and works in close cooperation with staff in the Department of Art and Archaeology. The Institute also collaborates with the School's Japan Research Centre, which serves as a national and international centre for Japanese studies, and which maintains links with Japanese scholars, Japanese universities and the Japanese community in London. The Institute maintains its London offices in the Brunei Gallery, where the Department of Art and Archaeology is based.
John T. Carpenter, Reader in the History of Japanese Art at SOAS, has served as the Head of the London Office for the past nine years. The Institute entered into a new institutional agreement with SOAS for 2008-2011. It covers library support, use of SOAS office space and facilities by Sainsbury Institute research fellows and staff, the role of the Head of the Institute's London Office at SOAS, and collaborative research projects. The London office provides study space for Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellows in the Handa Study Room on the fourth floor of the Brunei Gallery building, and regularly hosts visiting scholars on a temporary basis in B401 on the same floor.
British Museum
The British Museum was founded in 1753 to promote universal understanding through the arts, natural history and science in a public museum. Housed in one of Britain's architectural landmarks, the collection spans two million years of human history. The Sainsbury Institute has a formal collaborative agreement with the Japanese Section, Department of Asia, at the British Museum to co-operate to further research, publications and public presentations relating to Japanese arts and cultures in the UK. The Institute's Director has been closely involved with many British Museum projects, including curating two major exhibitions (Kazari: Decoration and Display in Japan 17th-19th Centuries in 2003 and Crafting Beauty: Celebrating 50 Years of the Japan Traditional Arts Crafts Exhibition in 2007) and editing the associated catalogues.
The Director was seconded to the Museum for six months in 2006 to work on the new permanent exhibition in the Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries, a project in which the Assistant Director was also involved. The Institute is currently collaborating with the Museum on an exhibition of important prehistoric ceramic figures (dogu) from the Japanese archipelago in 2009. The exhibition will be curated by Timothy Clark, Head of the Japanese Section at the British Museum, with Simon Kaner as guest curator. There will be an accompanying catalogue, edited by Simon Kaner, and an international symposium. The Institute's Librarian, Hirano Akira, acts as Honorary Librarian to the Japanese Section of the Museum.