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Ken Ito
Ken Ito
Ken Ito obtained his Ph.D. in pharmacognosy from Kyoto University (Japan). Trained as a pharmacist, curator, and historian of science, he has developed a strongly interdisciplinary profile that connects natural history, art history, and museum studies.
He is an Explorer of the National Geographic Society and Visiting Associate Professor at The Museum of Osaka University, where he leads projects that link collections-based research with new forms of public engagement. His work ranges from the study of fossils, minerals, and medicinal plants to the analysis of early modern East Asian art and material culture, with a particular focus on honzogaku (classical natural history) as a multidisciplinary science.
Ito’s recent projects explore how sacred landscapes, disaster sites, and cultural heritage can be reinterpreted through digital archives, immersive media, and collaborative fieldwork. Working across Japan, Central Asia, and Europe, he builds bridges between universities, museums, and local communities to co-create new narratives that combine scientific evidence with historical memory and place-based spirituality.
He is active in graduate and professional education, supervising museum practice, field-based research, and art–science collaboration. In addition to his academic work, Ito advises cultural institutions and foundations on long-term strategies for integrating research, curation, and digital innovation.
Beyond the Metaverse Museum: Reclaiming the Real and the Local in the Age of AI and Digital Curation
Beyond the Metaverse Museum: Reclaiming the Real and the Local in the Age of AI and Digital Curation
Abstract
Abstract
This presentation reexamines the relationship between digital curation, artificial intelligence, and the human experience of place and reality. The speaker previously founded a venture dedicated to constructing cultural heritage within the metaverse during the COVID-19 pandemic. Responding to the social demands of the time, the project developed with venture-capital support and achieved public recognition. Yet as the world shifted toward a renewed appreciation of the physical, the realization of its ideals temporarily slowed. The speaker regards this not as an ending but as a vision whose time has not yet fully come—a concept ahead of its age, whose philosophy and technology continue to evolve in new forms today.
Through this experience, he recognized a striking paradox: the more technology advances, the more humans long for tangible reality and local memory. This talk explores the evolving role of museums in an era when AI and blockchain redefine authenticity and the meaning of place. It argues that the next stage of digital transformation should not seek to replace reality, but to re-enchant it—restoring wonder, presence, and connection in the age of intelligent technology.
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