Ma Umi Residencies
- Host organization
Ma Umi
- Address
1-105 Ibaruma, Ishigaki-shi, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan 907-0332
- Website
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Overview
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AIR Program information
| Objective | MA UMI RESIDENCIES is a self-funded and not-for-profit, international site for artists and researchers. Our guests concentrate on a wide range of specialisations, disciplines and practices, but come together to live and work in the Northern Peninsula of Ishigaki Island, Japan. The residency is intended to create a lively platform; to collect, discuss, and experiment with the land, the ocean, and nearby communities. |
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| Organization activities | MA UMI RESIDENCIES questions the nature of knowledge incorporated, produced, and transmitted by multiple forms of practice. Split between three locales, residents are encouraged to critically explore and celebrate Ishigaki’s natural, insular environment in all its complexities. At the end of the program, guests are expected to present on their work and residency experience in the form of a public presentation and discussion. |
| Founded in | 2022年 |
| Background | In the age of climate change, the ocean is a fundamental aspect of research, integral to the planet’s future development. Thus, an important motive behind transforming MAP Office into MA Umi–and moving from Hong Kong to Ishigaki–is to explore the concept of marine and coastal landscape in situ. Responding to the on-going global crisis of climate change, our ambition is to create a sustainable space, in both ecological and economic terms, that will facilitate shared and produced, biological, environmental, and productive meanings.MAP Office’s contemporary practice combined a diversity of subjects and media that slipped boundlessly from one context to another–or deliberately from one island to another. Indeed, over the past 25 years, MAP Office developed a research-based practice that critically observed the complex development of Hong Kong and the extended Pearl River Delta region of Mainland China. First approaching the territory at large through its most recognisable densities of urban life and infrastructure, we gradually shifted our exploration to the region’s invisible islands and hidden communities. These include the rapidly disappearing fishermen’s culture and their remarkable knowledge about the edible and medicinal benefits of seaweed. Recent local, radical political shifts, as well as risks associated with global climate transformations, encouraged our determination to relocate. This new base is in Ishigaki Island, one of the southernmost islands in the Yaeyama Archipelago of Japan. Here, we will channel a life of academic research into creating a research centre and artistic retreat. |
| Location / Environment | GREEN RABBIT MA UMI’s base, a creative home and permacultural project space nested in the forest. In 2022, an additional living workshop and multiple terraces were annexed to the main building to accommodate new, land-related activities. An edible forest and permaculture garden, for instance, were developed to provide a space for critical observation of the project, conceptually and technically. The garden is enhanced with herbs and medicinal plants that are locally renowned to improve one’s health and diet. Green Rabbit is thus particularly impactful for artists who seek tangible exposure to their lifework. |
| Contact | MA Umi 1-105 Ibaruma, Ishigaki-shi, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan 907-0332 E-mail info@maumiresidencies.org Contact Manami Fujita |
Facility information
Studio informationAvailable
AccommodationsAvailable
available inside studio
Presentation spaceAvailable
Residents can use the main Green Rabbit house, its garden, engawa, living space with TV and sound system for their presentaion, exhiition or performance.
Location
We are just a 20-minute drive away from Ishigaki Airport and offer free transportation services for residents.
Open calls
Currently there is no program available for application.