Three-party artist residency exchange between Japan and Norway

In 2022, Kyoto Art Center and Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) agreed to facilitate for visual artists to travel for residency stays in each country, giving exchange of culture and approaches to artistic practice and research.

OCA organises the residency at Kyoto Art Center as an application-based opportunity for Norwegian and Norway based visual artists. In the first round of applications, 24 artists applied for the two-month residency between December 2022 and January 2023. Kyoto Art Center selected Agata Magdalena Sulikowska. Read more about Sulikowska’s stay at Kyoto Art Center here.

For the second round of applications in 2023, total applicants almost doubled and OCA received 44 applications. Kyoto Art Center selected artist Tori Wrånes from a shortlist of five applicants selected by OCA’s jury. The residency period in Kyoto for Wrånes is from October to November, 2023.

The continued success of the exchange has led OCA and Kyoto Art Center to confirm ongoing support for the residency programme in 2024 and 2025.

OCA itself does not have a residency programme, so Nordic Artist’s Centre Dale (Dale in Sunnfjord) has offered a three-month residency in 2024 for a Japanese visual artist. This opportunity was announced by Kyoto Art Center in June 2023, and subsequently received 16 applications. Nordic Artist’s Centre Dale has selected the artist Gaku Kurokawa for their residency from a shortlist of five artists made by Kyoto Art Center. Kurokawa’s residency will take place from May to July, 2024.