Yasuaki Kakehi laboratory was founded in Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) as part of the XD program in 2008. This is a new design program that aims to design in an integrated manner with an interdisciplinary perspective, and to understand the increasingly complex design to create new values. KAKEHI Yasuaki, who is a researcher of interactive media, participated in the establishment of this program, and along with researchers and students, conducts research and creative activities in the intersection of engineering, art and design.

For the theme of this exhibition, we have chosen the theme “HABLITITATE.” This verb was coined by excluding “re” from rehabilitation. It has been said that rehabilitation derives from a combination of two Latin words, re and habilis. While rehabilitation refers to returning one’s state from ‘minus’ to ‘zero’ and adapting to the environment “again,” HABILITATE offers a more positive nuance of meaning which is to aspire an uplifting influence on one’s state from the starting point that is the “present.” We will exhibit our approaches of design and engineering that slightly renew or in some cases improve current relationships between “humans and objects,” “humans and humans,” and “humans and places.”

HABILITATE proceeds in the following three main stages; “the fusion of the physical world (Atoms) and the digital world (Bits),” “designing the interaction between humans and the new media/tools created by the fusion of Atoms and Bits,” and “the promotion of activities that utilize this interactive media to physically or socially ‘adapt to the environment slightly more than the current state.’” (KAKEHI Yasuaki)

Cooperation:
JST-CREST “Creation of Human-Harmonized Information Technology for Convivial Society” project
Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.