Born out of Paul Claudel’s desire to bring Japanese and French cultures closer together, Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto is one of the most prestigious artist residencies that France administers abroad. It is celebrating its laureates and their Japanese collaborators on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary.
A testament to the diverse history of contemporary creation through a Franco-Japanese lens, the book brings together more than 200 original works of surprising diversity, created by artists working in all fields of creation: novelists, photographers, visual artists, designers, videographers, performers, ceramists, typographers, musicians, directors, architects, and more.
From the heights of the thousand-year-old imperial city, the 72 seasons of the traditional Japanese calendar are like an invitation to artists in residence to immerse themselves in the impermanence of nature and life in their research and creative process.