To date this series has reflected on the historical underpinnings of the artist-in-residence (AIR) system, in part also to revisit its significance and status in art history. Here, though, I would like to return to Japan, and examining a number of cases, make some observations on the history of Japanese responses to AIR, and how AIR programs have unfolded and evolved here.

1. Japanese responses to the AIR system

In the first instalment, I mentioned that AIRs were introduced to Japan in the 1980s. Back then however, the concept of the AIR was virtually unknown in the country, and with almost no host organizations to assist foreign artists, overseas institutions involved in cultural exchange had no choice but to arrange studios and accommodation in Japan themselves. The Villa Kujoyama mentioned in a previous instalment is one such example, but even earlier, in the 1980s, the Australia Council (now Creative Australia)¹ had rented an apartment for visiting Australian artists in Tokyo, Asia’s premier contemporary art hub. Its purpose is now fulfilled instead by a new Australia House² built in Echigo-Tsumari.

Amid these developments, by the 1990s the concept of the AIR, which not only supported emerging artists but allowed a different way of engaging with art to its viewing in a conventional cultural setting, emphasizing not the artwork as outcome, but the creative process, and promoting interaction with local people as part of that process, was beginning to attract more attention. This was in large part due to the ability of the AIR to combine international cultural exchange, and regional/community revitalization, a quality that also caught the eye of local authorities seeking new strategies for regional revival. AIR programs spearheaded by local authorities with the aim of reviving local industry and developing local talent include the residencies at the Institute of Ceramic Studies³ on the Shiga Ceramic Cultural Park site that began in 1992; and the Arcus Project⁴ launched as a pilot program in 1994 by Ibaraki Prefecture. High interest in the potential of AIR programs as agents of regional revitalization from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, local authorities and others also led to the construction of dedicated AIR facilities for hosting artists from overseas, such as the Akiyoshidai International Art Village⁵ opened in 1998, and Aomori Contemporary Art Centre⁶ opened in 2001. Factors behind this trend include the following.

(1) Booming economic growth in Japan during the 1970s had spurred the construction of cultural facilities such as museums and concert halls across the country, but by the late 1980s this had slowed somewhat, to be replaced by burgeoning interest in AIR as a new art framework that moved beyond mere bricks and mortar to combine an international quality, with cultural exchange.

(2) As mentioned above, a sudden increase in demand from overseas for AIR interchange host organizations and facilities.

(3) In the early 1990s, numerous examples of local authorities in France offered models for AIRs bringing global interaction and creativity to the regions, and demonstrated the possibilities of such initiatives.

(4) The 1997 launch by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of a pilot artist-in-residence program run in conjunction with local authorities. This was a groundbreaking initiative that allowed programs to run continuously for three to five years.

In reality however, with its prioritizing of process over product, initially the AIR system was not well understood, and its benefits not readily appreciated, particularly by local authorities and other public bodies, so it is also true that AIRs took some time to become fully established in Japan. That the AIR_J database⁷ now nevertheless lists over a hundred diverse, active AIR programs can be seen as demonstrating the need for a degree of trial and error making use of the features of AIRs that have overcome such issues. These days, not only local authorities, but artists and art managers with experience of AIR programs overseas, are starting up their own AIRs, with distinctive programs unfolding across the country, a development sure to become only more noteworthy as time goes on.

2. An AIR revitalizing local industry—the SCCP initiative

So how have AIR programs actually been rolled out in Japan? Let us first take a look at the example of the Shiga Ceramic Cultural Park (SCCP) AIR initiative, the aims of which are to help revive local industry, and cultivate new local talent and skills.

SCCP opened in 1990, and its AIR program, launched two years later at the onsite Institute of Ceramic Studies, was among the earliest in the country. Shigaraki, where SCCP is located, is renowned as one of Japan’s top pottery-producing regions, especially known for the manufacture of items such as tanuki (raccoon dog) statues, and braziers, but at the time of SCCP’s opening, changing consumer lifestyles had led to a slowdown in the pottery industry. Addressing this challenge for the region was part of SCCP’s mission.

Japan is renowned globally for its ceramic art and pottery skills and industries, and spending a period in this important global center for ceramics, and learning skills there while creating works, is an aspiration often voiced by overseas ceramic artists. As well as boasting a full range of facilities, the Institute has ceramic artists themselves, and young people hoping to become ceramic artists, available to assist in artists’ creative endeavors. This comprehensive support system is the greatest attraction of an AIR at the Shiga Ceramic Cultural Park. At any given time close to ten artists will be hosted, with a total of 1580 taking part in residencies up to March 2025. The SCCP AIR program is not widely publicized, but word of mouth is powerful in the art world, and its existence is well-known among the global ceramic artist community.

In 2016, Sugiyama Michio, who has assisted with the SCCP AIR program over many years as a staff member and ceramicist, launched the Shigaraki Share Studio (SSS)8 shared studio space dedicated to ceramic art, and began supporting young ceramic artists. Equipped with facilities including a gallery and kitchen, SSS is a place set up for meeting and mingling at any time, but also serves as a locus for the revitalization of Shigaraki through ceramic art, and the emergence of new forms of creativity. In Shigaraki, the AIR program run by a public body in the form of the Shiga Ceramic Cultural Park, and private-sector shared studio, complement one another, and together are steadily bringing about change in Shigaraki.

AIR ceramics programs are also starting to proliferate across other pottery-producing regions of Japan. One of these is Creative Residency Arita⁹ supported by the Dutch embassy in conjunction with Saga Prefecture, in which guest artists from The Netherlands collaborate with local businesses to produce tableware and other items in new designs. The Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art meanwhile pursues an ongoing exchange with the Leach Pottery born out the connection between Hamada Shoji and British potter Bernard Leach, regularly welcoming ceramic artists from the UK, giving British and Japanese ceramicists a unique opportunity to mix and gain inspiration from each other¹⁰.

3. AIR connecting a community to the world—The Studio Kura initiative

My second example is the privately-run Studio Kura,¹¹ whose goals are to take Fukuoka to the world, and be financially independent while doing so.

Based in the small city of Itoshima, next to the larger metropolis of Fukuoka, Studio Kura operates an AIR program across vacant houses scattered around the area that have been given a new lease of life as gallery and studio spaces, and accommodation. Owner Matsuzaki Hirofumi is himself an artist, and after taking part in residencies in Berlin and other locations around the world, in 2010 used this experience to launch an AIR program back in his home town of Itoshima. He started the project by converting a rice storehouse at his family home into an AIR, with the idea of transmitting culture globally from Itoshima, but as the number of vacant properties in the neighborhood grew, began buying up these old homes one by one and working with associates to bring them back to life, the group toiling with their own hands to gradually increase the number of residency facilities. Since 2012 they have also been the driving force behind the staging, via an executive committee, of Itoshima Arts Farm,¹² a biennial international arts festival with a local focus designed to turn the whole of Itoshima into an arts village. It should be noted that all these projects are the product of a great deal of hands-on and largely unpaid effort by Matsuzaki and his companions, who take a relaxed approach to the operation, making sure to have fun in the process.

What distinguishes Studio Kura most is its financial self-sufficiency, rare for a Japanese AIR program. Artists from overseas who come to stay at the studios pay their own expenses. Thus all Studio Kura does is supply accommodation. Yet despite artists having to pay their own travel and living expenses, there is always a waiting list. Over a hundred artists now come to Itoshima annually from all over the world. The business has gradually grown to the point where Studio Kura now also runs an AIR in the city of Takeo in Saga Prefecture. Matsuzaki also operates a FabLab digital fabrication workshop, plus painting lessons for all ages, thus offering a wide variety of settings that combine creating and socializing.

4. The AIR as confluence of local and global

Although the AIR system was originally imported into Japan from the West, as examples such as the Shiga Ceramic Cultural Park and Studio Kura demonstrate, by capitalizing on the character and features of different locations to develop in their own unique ways, artist residencies are steadily beginning to take root in Japan.

Artists are always moving about in search of new stimulation and inspiration, acquiring original ideas and methods of expression as part of their personal growth. Though they may hail from different cultural backgrounds, living alongside one another allows people with their individual quirks and personalities to mix, converse, and engage in debate on a continuing basis. Collaborative work also arises naturally out of this. AIR programs are a consistent focal point for interactive, dynamic activity, and a confluence of a particular place (local) and the world (global).

1. Creative Australia The Australian arts council. Name changed to Creative Australia in 2023.
2. Australia House
3. Institute of Ceramic Studies (Artist in Residence Program)
4. Arcus Project　
5. Akiyoshidai International Art Village
6. Now Aomori Contemporary Art Centre, Aomori Public University (ACAC)
7. AIR_J
8. Shigaraki Share Studio
9. Creative Residency Arita
10. Mashiko Museum Residency Program
11. Studio Kura
12. Itoshima Arts Farm　

(All accessed August 29, 2025).

Kanno Sachiko
AIR Lab Arts Planner/Researcher
Kanno became an independent art organizer and researcher after working for the British Council Tokyo and the Japan Foundation. She received her MA and PhD in Cultural Resources Studies from the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology at the University of Tokyo and a postgraduate degree in Decorative Arts History at the University of Glasgow. Her expertise includes artist-in-residence programs, UK cultural policy, and international cultural exchange. Notable projects as a writer include “Gendai āto to gurōbarizēshon — Ātisuto in rejidensu o megutte” [Globalization of contemporary art: Artist-inrResidence] in Gurōbaruka suru bunka seisaku [Globalization of cultural policy] (Tokyo: Keiso Shobo, 2009), and as co-editor, Ātisuto in rejidensu: Machi・hito・āto o tsunagu potensharu [Artist-in-residence: On the potential to connect communities, people and art] (Tokyo: Bigaku Shuppan, 2023).

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