The LOCUS exhibition is a part of the programme aiming to promote exchange between the Asagaya College of Art and Design in Tokyo and the Norwich School of Art and Design in Norwich. Since 2004, the two schools of art and design in Tokyo and in the U.K. have been engaged in active exchange under the common theme of "Locus".

Locality, culture and life are deeply intertwined. Globalisation notwithstanding, there will always remain uniqueness in our cultures and modes of life, since they are closely tied to the geographic locality. The aim of the LOCUS exhibition is to experience the cultures and lifestyles linked to specific locales - Tokyo and Norwich - and to let the experience manifest itself in the form of art and design.

The 5th LOCUS exhibition will display works of graphic design. The primary characteristics of graphic design are that it uses letters and images for representation. Its duplicative nature, by means of printing, is also an important feature of graphic design.

Since the dawn of civilisation mankind have employed characters and images as a means of communication, among which the Mesopotamian cuneiform and the Egyptian hieroglyph are well-known.
Printing in its most primitive form was relief printing, a method still used now to make rubber stamps and woodblock prints. It was already in use in China in 2nd century A.D..

Why do characters and images fascinate us? It is because they have the power to make things that are not here appear before your eyes. The character (or letters) "god" enables those who can read the word to actually see the immaterial existence. The 8th century Irish manuscripts of the Bible must have possessed the power to allow the people to see Jesus Christ in the letters XPI woven into the endlessly intricate patterns. Unscrolling the Japanese "Tales of Genji", illustrations and written characters resonate with one other to unfold the world of love and passion between men and women . The fundamental power of characters and images lies in their ability to materialise the nonexistent. It is this power that enables communication between people, and graphic design employs this power to the fullest.

Another aspect of graphic design that should not be forgotten is that it is deeply intertwined with the advancement in mass printing technology and the development of the mass media. Graphic design was first born in cities which had the means for mass production and a highly developed mass media.

And now, the potential for graphic design has further expanded with the arrival of unprinted form of mass communication such as the Web catalogue you are now reading.

This year, Robert Shadbolt from the Norwich School of Art and Design is invited to Tokyo to engage in creative activities, and Hiromi Beppu from the Asagaya College of Art and Design will visit Norwich in return. Robert Shadbolt specialises in illustration and is active in the various fields of graphic design. Hiromi Beppu, also specialising in illustration, creates picture books and art books.

In this age of universal and material-free Web design, it is interesting to know what new potential the two artists will discover in graphic design through experiencing life in a different culture.

Lastly, it is a great privilege for us to have been conferred accredited event partner status to "UK-JAPAN2008", hosted by the British Embassy and the Britich Council in Japan to celebrate the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations and friendly ties between Japan and the United Kingdom. We would also like to express our deep gratitude to the Great Britain Sasagawa foundation for their continuing support in funding this programme.

Takashi HAYAMI
Director of Advanced Studies
Asagaya College of Art and Design