Creative Residency Arita/Saga – Japan

The specific Arita porcelain and other porcelain from the Saga prefecture are known for their high quality and the focus on hand painting. The porcelain industry and the tradition of porcelain painting dates back to 1616, and is still alive today. Arita is a town in the province of Saga on Kyushu, the third largest of Japan’s main islands.

The Mondriaan Fund and the Creative Industries Fund (het Stimuleringsfonds) jointly offer two residency periods in the Japanese ceramics region of Saga. The work period in Japan offers promising artists and designers the opportunity to conduct artistic and technical research and to develop their own work, resulting in close interaction with the region’s porcelain products. A significant aspect of this residency is to learn special techniques within Japan’s oldest ceramics industry, and to apply these techniques in the artist’s own work.

The residency is designed to stimulate crossovers and experimentation, to initiate new collaborations between Dutch artists and designers, and to trigger new Japanese porcelain products. An assistant/interpreter is available for a few hours a week to help the residents with meetings at the potteries and to deal with other practical concerns. A Japanese guide is also available to assist the residents and help them find their way in the Saga prefecture of which the city of Arita is part. The experiences and results from the residency are shared in lectures and/or workshops in Arita, and subsequently in the Netherlands.

Per period, an artist and designer are selected to work in Arita. Each resident has their own room in a traditional Japanese house. The living room, bathroom and kitchen are shared.

At the start of the working period, the residents discuss their plans with the director and coordinators. They link the artist to one of the ceramics partners in the Saga prefecture such as Arita, Imari and Ureshino. These partners are close to each other. The area where they are located is also called Hizen.

Hizen ceramics have been known since 1616 and are characterised by their special quality. The potters from Hizen provide technical support, share their knowledge with the artists and help with the baking of the creations.

An assistant coordinator/translator will be on site several days a week to support residents with meetings with the potteries and other practical questions. This coordinator’s assistant also helps participants find their way in and around Arita/Saga.

In 2019, artist Antye Günther and the artist duo Heringa/Van Kalsbeek worked in Arita. The artists Tilmann Meyer-Faje, Isabel Ferrand, Henri Jacobs, Ruta Butkute de Roo, Susan Kooi and Helen Frik all previously stayed at the residence.