2014 HERE

Application Overview

PARADISE AIR currently seeks artists who wish to create work while residing at PARADISE AIR in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, as part of the 2014 LONG STAY Program.

During Japan’s Edo Period – while many towns developed under the rule of Feudal Lords and Samurai who worked to expand the Shogunate’s Imperial Fief – Matsudo flourished as an independent city untethered by feudalistic growth. As an inn town, the prosperity of Matsudo stemmed from the foot traffic of the Mitokaido highway, and from the nautical trade that bustled along the Edo River, but, most importantly, Matsudo has long been fabled for exceptional townsfolk. The people of Matsudo remain praised by visitors for their remarkable hospitality and obliging nature. In fact, Matsudo has such a rich history as a restful point of transit along the Mitokaido that many evacuees from the 2011 Great Tohoku Disaster headed to Matsudo without a moment’s hesitation. That refugee program was not the work of political initiative, but rather of the local town council around Matsudo Station quickly ralling the support of neighborhood leaders.

PARADISE AIR is an artist-in-residence program created in 2013 to revitalize Matsudo in light of its history as an inn town. Rakuen, the four-story-love-hotel-turned-pachinko-parlor across the street from Matsudo Station, operated for many years without any business operations on its top floor until Hamatomo Kanko Co., Ltd. offered up two of those unused rooms to begin PARADISE AIR. Two programs were borne from this initiative: LONG STAY, in which two foreign artists per year are hosted in Rakuen as they create work that engages the city of Matsudo; and SHORT STAY, a “one night, one art” program which encourages Japanese artists to stop through Matsudo to present or perform their work in exchange for lodging.

Program Theme

“HERE”

This year’s Long Stay Program will continue last year’s tradition of hosting two artists from abroad.
The current theme, “HERE,” encourages artists to incorporate Matsudo’s regional resources into a proposal that explores the town’s temporal, spatial, and/or physical “place.”

“You are HERE,” the familiar phrase emblazoned upon maps to orient a passing traveler, marks not a specific location, but rather a fleeting subjective experience. “You are HERE, in this exact location, for this exact moment.” This particular instance of presentness may serve as a point of transit between one’s origin and destination, or perhaps merely as the moment one must seize in order to travel from the past into the future.
Just as Matsudo often became the “You are HERE” for travelers along the Edo River and Mitokaido Highway, those who participate in PARADISE AIR will recognize Matsudo as their temporal and spatial “HERE” along their artistic journey. Rather than operating under the mindset of “come, create, and leave – oh, and remember to incorporate the locals!,” we encourage our artists to ask, “how may I capture this presentness,” and, “what can I do specifically because I am HERE?” Just as the map and the traveler coexist as object and subject, we are searching for proposals that uniquely focus upon the relationship between the artist and his/her residence.

• Sponsor: Matsudo Community Planning Council
• Support: Japanese Ministry of Culture (As part of the 2014 Dissemination of Japanese Culture and Measures for International Cooperation through International Cultural Exchange Program)
• Partner: Hamatomo Kanko Co., Ltd.
• Project: PARADISE AIR

Timeline of LONG STAY PROGRAM

Term of Residence (Projected): Friday, December 15th, 2014 to Thursday, February 12th, 2015 .
Note: The SHORT STAY PROGRAM will not run concurrently.

Applicant Regulations

1. Applicants must be below the age of 40; two artists will be selected per year.
2. Applicants must not hold Japanese citizenship.
   Note: Art Groups may not apply.

Applicant Conditions

Applicants must meet the following conditions:

• -Enjoy speaking with locals.
• -Currently live and work as a visual, musical, fine, or experimental artist.
• -Be willing and able to engage in genuine cultural exchange with regional artists and leaders during the term of residency.
• -Have a desire to connect with local leaders and conduct regular fieldwork and/or interviews.
• -An artist may plan to work collaboratively with an artist in the Matsudo region.
• -Must be in good physical and mental health.
• -Flexibility toward program scheduling, rules, and administration.
• -Be able to conduct everyday life in Japanese and/or English language.

Main Program Schedule (Tentative)

* this schedule is adjustable to artists
Dec. 15 (Mon) Arrival in Japan
Dec. 16 (Tue) Plan of Action Meeting, Welcome Party
Dec. 19 (Fri) Self-Introductory Artist Talk for Locals & Reception
New Year’s Vacation
Feb. 10 (Tue) Final Cumulative Presentation/Performance
Feb. 12 (Thu) Departure from Japan

Program Support Package

• -Round trip transportation from the artist’s home to Matsudo
• -Residence at PARADISE AIR
• -Up to ¥150,000 for production costs, to be decided via project proposal.
• -Daily stipend of ¥2,500
• -Costs associated with local talks, performances, etc.
• -Costs of transporting works of art created during the program.
• -Local support for activities and product of work
• -Costs associated with advertisement and promotion

NOTE:

• -We kindly ask that applicants plan to participate in the program with their own health insurance. PARADISE AIR may not serve as an insurer nor guarantor.
• -While we generally accommodate artists who come to Matsudo alone, we still encourage applications from those who intend to bring along his/her spouse and/or children. Please indicate clearly in the application if you wish to do so.
• -During the program, we ask artists to arrange their meals using their daily stipend. Both local restaurants and an in-suite kitchen will be available for use.
• -For an artist hailing from a country that does not maintain a tax treaty with Japan, we must assess a 20% income tax upon the daily stipend and production costs.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.nta.go.jp/kohyo/katsudou/report/2003/japanese/tab/tab31.html

Copyright & Public Relations

1. Copyright and ownership of work created during the program will remain that of the artist.
2. Matsudo Community Planning Council retains the right to photograph and film all events, performances, workshops, and exhibitions conducted by the artist during the duration of the program.
3. We request full participant cooperation with all program coverage by the media, as well as with coverage by our staff and sponsors.
4. A request may be made for a piece to be donated to Matsudo, but the artist reserves the right to rejection.

Application Details

1. Application Materials

Articles A-B listed below must be submitted to be considered for participation in the program. Please note that direct attachments to an email will not be accepted. Please submit a link to a Dropbox, Hightail, or other file share folder via email.

1. Application Form (PDF or Word document in A4 size)
   Please fully complete and submit the application form for PARADISE AIR that can be downloaded via this link.URL＝ Application Form (PDF)URL＝ Application Form (WORD)In the event that you are unable to download the application form, please contact us directly for the necessary documents via email at: pair@matsudo-artline.com
2. A PDF portfolio (A4) or photographs of work.
   Please compile all photographs or portfolio documents into a single folder.
   -Please limit your portfolio folder to 50MB or less.
   -Feel free to submit visual or audio recordings of work (limited to one piece, less than five minutes).

2. Application Period

October 1st, 2014 to November 1st, 2014.

3. Mail Address for Applications

mail：pair[at]matsudo-artline.com

4. Contact Information

mail：pair[at]matsudo-artline.com

We unfortunately cannot answer any inquiries regarding the selection process.

Selection and Notification

1. Examination Criteria

A committee of local leaders and outside judges will determine the best applicant from the submitted materials.
[PARADISE AIR Examination Committee]
Yoshitaka Mohri (Sociologist, Associate Professor at Tokyo National University of The Arts)
Matsudo Community Planning Council
Etc.

2. Notification of Selection Results

The chosen artist(s) will be individually notified by November 15th, 2014.
Selection results will be posted to our website on November 20th, 2014.