Japan - Today All Will Be Different

Thinking about artist-in-residence experiences in urgent situations.

May 22, 2012, Trans Artists / Platform AiR NL organized a meeting for artists and organizers of artist-in-residence programs about facing the unforeseen.

After the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in Japan (March 2011) AiR organizers in the polluted areas wanted to share their experiences and asked Trans Artists to address the subject. This meeting takes a wider scope and addresses also other situations of instability and urgency.

Each artist-in-residence organization needs some basic form of continuity, consistency, and stability.
What if this basic garantee of existence is challenged?

- How do AiR organizers cope with unforeseen situations?
- How can artists prepare themselves to work in an unstable environment?
- How do AiR organizers cope with artists, who come from unstable situations?

The program of the meeting included presentations, artist's talks and discussions about the challenges, which artist-in-residence centers in Japan are facing. Next to this practical examples were discussed how to prepare for entering situations of instability and conflict, and how to deal with those situations. We also addressed the issue of receiving as AiR organizers artists in need, who come from unstable situations. And we looked for strategies and structures for sharing expertise and knowledge.

Presentations were done by: Mami Odai director of Arcus, Japan, Nishiko, Japanese artist based in The Hague, Peer de Rijk, director Tegenstroom / Wise, Amsterdam, Jan Willem Petersen, architect and founder of Specialist Operations, Amsterdam, Roel Schoenmakers, Cascoland, Amsterdam, Shahin Abdalla (Syria), former artist in residence at Cascoland.

Read more: report of the meeting!

Further information - Contact [email protected]

Credits

Trans Artists / Platform AiR NL wants to thank the participants who contributed to this program.

A warm THANK YOU for their support in many ways goes out Mami Odai, Yuka Takeuchi, Yuko Kotera and Lab111.