第1回コンピュータアートコンテストの賞状 (Certificate for the First Computer Art Contest)

Notes

From the 端山貢明アーカイブ (Hayama Kōmei Archive), item 55455 in the コンピュータアート category, registered 2023-07-10: https://d-commons.net/hayama/?c=&p=55455. Published by the 端山貢明アーカイブプロジェクト (Hayama Kōmei Archive Project), directed by 前川道博 (Michihiro Maekawa) of Nagano University, on the D-Commons platform, and licensed CC BY (表示). The source documents come from the 端山文庫, the papers kept in Hayama's laboratory at Tohoku University of Art and Design, digitised by the project with the agreement of his family; his autograph scores were given to the University History Archives of the Tokyo University of the Arts in 2026. Source: A single printed sheet, unfilled, with a red square seal of the Computer Art Center.. Dated: The certificate carries no date and no year; the archive supplies none.. The archive publishes this item as 1 separate page scan rather than as a PDF; the download here was assembled from those scans in page order, each taken at the higher of the two resolutions the archive serves. A blank award certificate from the First Computer Art Contest, run by the Computer Art Center. The sheet is headed with the single character 賞 and then prints a form with gaps to be filled in by hand: "第一回コンピュータ アートコンテスト審査の結果　貴方の作品が［　　］となりました。これを賞し　副賞［　　］をおくります。今後の一層の研究御発展に期待致します。" — as a result of the judging of the First Computer Art Contest your work has been awarded [blank]; in recognition we present the supplementary prize of [blank]; we look forward to the further development of your research. A space for the recipient's name precedes 殿, the Computer Art Center signs at the foot, and a line below adds that the prize money will be sent separately. What survives, then, is the unused stock rather than an awarded certificate: the prize category, the supplementary prize and the winner's name are all still empty. That is itself informative. It shows that the Center ran a judged competition with ranked categories and cash prizes, that it printed its own certificates rather than borrowing an organiser's, and that it had a carved seal — reproduced here in red, reading コンピュータ・アート・センター in seal script. The phrasing is notable too: the recipient's work is praised, but the closing wish is for the development of their 研究, their research, not their art. The Center is addressing entrants as researchers. The item is one of very few traces of the contest in this archive. Without a date, a list of entrants, a jury or a category scheme, the certificate establishes only that a first contest was held and judged, and leaves open whether a second followed. Noted: The sheet is undated and no year can be derived from it; the archive gives none either. No judges, categories, prize amounts or winners are named, and nothing on the sheet says when or where the contest was held. Whether any certificate was ever issued, and whether a second contest followed, cannot be established from this item.