The cultural cooperation program Holland-Kyushu had its official finale with the opening of the Omotemonbashi, the reconstructed bridge connection between Deshima and the city of Nagasaki, on November 24, 2017.
The creative exchanges between Kyushu and the Netherlands will continue, building on the strong ties that have been established by the Holland-Kyushu program. Examples of further initiatives are the Holland House that opened on March 16, 2018 in the city of Saga, and the Arita Creative Residency program, that will continue until at least 2020 thanks to the support of the Mondriaan Fonds and the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie. Also, the activities of Ukiha City with people from the Dutch creative sector mean stronger cooperation.
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tokyo and DutchCulture express their thanks to all the people in Kyushu and in the Netherlands who contributed to the success of the Holland-Kyushu program.
The workshop is co-organised by the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) and the Japan-Netherlands Architecture and Cultural Association (JNACA). As part of the 2016/2017 Holland-Kyushu Year, the first workshop was held in Arita in 2016 and this year it will be held in Hirado. Twelve students from Kyushu and Tokyo will take part in the 5-day workshop. The Hirado Conservation and Development Workshop aims to define the development potentials of Hirado’s historical core. The outcome of the workshop will be policy advice to the municipality of Hirado regarding planning and design of the inner city and its buildings. The method used is a quick scan on two topics: Part 1: […]
This is the second concert in the “Dutch Jazz in Hirado” series. This time The Amsterdam Jazz Connection featuring Mike Del Ferro. They will perform opera songs specially arranged by Mike Del Ferro. The concert takes place in the reconstructed Hirado Dutch Trading Post where the Dutch merchants started trading with Japan in the 17th century. It was the first place in Japan where Dutch music was played. This special evening is made possible by the Netherlands Embassy in Japan and the Hirado City Hall.
The Dutch Trading Post Heritage Network was initiated in 2014 by Hirado City and the Hirado Dutch Trading Post. The first official meeting took place in Jakarta (Indonesia) in 2015, and in Ayuthaya (Thailand) in 2016. To commemorate the opening of the newly constructed main bridge to Dejima, the 2017 meeting will be held in Nagasaki. Members from 7 different countries will participate to exchange knowledge with each other on the management of the historical VOC heritage in each of their respective cities.
We are pleased to announce the performance Watching and being watched by Hannie van den Bergh and Jan van den Berg on June 24 (Sat) and 25 (Sun), as a result of their artist in residency at Studio Kura. For this special occasion the noh performer Toshikazu Marumachi (from Hiroshima) will perform with them.
What can be the role of arts and design in this era of big changes in both society and science? How can we use traditional techniques to develop state of the art scientific research and bottom up initiatives? Studio HB is a design and research lab, working in the field for many years. Senri Nojima, artist and professor at the Kumamoto University, invited Hannie van den Bergh from Studio HB to talk about her working method and give the students of the University the opportunity to discuss about a broader approach to the role of arts and design.
In 2016, it will be four hundred years ago that an exceptional type of white clay was discovered in the mountains around the city of Arita. That clay became the raw material for the famous Arita porcelain. The porcelain acquired world fame when Dutch merchants began exporting it from their trading post on Dejima during course of the 17th century. The refined pottery, or ‘Imari porcelain’, as it is known in Europe, was of an extremely high quality and very much in demand. Moreover, it inspired the Dutch to develop a tradition of porcelain all their own.
Deshima, or ‘Dejima’ in modern Japanese, was a fan-shaped little island lying in the harbour of Nagasaki. Not much bigger than De Dam, Amsterdam’s central square, Deshima functioned as the Dutch trading post in Japan from 1641 to 1859. The Dutch lived there under strict prohibitions. Only very rarely were they allowed to leave the island, such as for instance travelling to Edo (now Tokyo) once a year for an audience with the shogun.
MONO JAPAN is a fair and a cultural event with inspiring lectures and workshops, in one welcoming businesses and general audience alike. MONO JAPAN offers a stage to acclaimed masters of traditional practices and the new generation of ambitious and enthusiastic creators.
400 years after the first Dutch traders went to the Far East, The Global Tradewind Organisation is preparing a voyage around the globe, from Europe to Asia. Goods such as wine, olive oil, coffee, and cacao which are produced in a fair and sustainable way will be in 2017 carried across the seas by wind power only.
Indigo: Sharing blue is an artistic research on indigo. Indigo Dyeing is the shared heritage of Japan and the Netherlands that reached its peak during the Golden Age. By researching the past between these two countries, Crafts Council Nederland brings the traditions of indigo back to life.
Two designer/artist teams from the Netherlands, paired with three sweets pastry shops in Hirado as well as with makers for the plates and tea bowls under the directions of the curator Chitose Ochi, introduce a new collection which is related to the Hirado’s sweets culture. The result will be presented during a Dutch Tea Ceremony in Hirado and Tokyo, and in Europe.
Opening Traditions is a project of three designers with different backgrounds, who have studied together at the Design Academy Eindhoven. In collaboration with the shop Unagi no Nedoko and a traditional Japanese ikat weaving company in Yame, Fukuoka, they design a new ikat fabric which will be presented at the Dutch Design Week 2016.
In 2016, Dutch and Japanese crafts experts are holding two meetings in Kyushu. The participants exchange knowledge and expertise and seek future collaborative partners in the areas of traditional skills, innovation, mutual social concerns and entrepreneurship.
OTANI NIEUWENHUIZE is a collaboration project of the Japanese photographer Shinji Otani and the Dutch photographer Johan Nieuwenhuize. Two photographers with different cultural backgrounds, who not only recognise differences in their concepts and fascinations but also a similar state of mind in each other’s work, visit the most touristic places in the Nederlands and in Kyushu.
For two centuries, Deshima was the one and only door between Japan and the Western world. What does Deshima mean for the modern Japanese – living in a still relatively isolated country, and for the Dutch – half a globe away? Could Deshima develop into the bearer of new meaning and importance for both Japan and the Netherlands? Perhaps even as a powerful symbol of the importance of growing cooperation in this world, by nations opening their doors?
Highlight Omotemon-bashi Bridge The Omotemon-bashi Bridge connected the artificial island of Dejima, located in Nagasaki bay, with the mainland of Nagasaki between 1641 and 1853, the period in which the Netherlands was the only Western country permitted to trade with Japan. The bridge disappeared after Dejima lost its purpose at the end of the 19th century when the country opened its ports. As a result, Nagasaki developed into a large port city and Dejima was swallowed up by the city. With the completion of the bridge, the original point of access to Dejima will be restored for the first time in 130 years. The symbolic meaning of the bridge is […]
How did Leiden acquire its famous Japanmuseum SieboldHuis? Why does the city have a special Van Siebold garden within the Hortus botanicus Leiden? And why have hosts of students over the centuries mastered the Japanese language at Leiden University? Curious? Then treat yourself to Het Zingend Hart’s vocal music show “Von Siebold in search of the real East Asia.” Performances in Leiden’s Academy Building (Rapenburg 73) on 11, 12, 18 and 19 November, as part of the Leiden Asia Year. Support act by Raiden Yosakoi – 雷電 よさこい Warning: our shows mostly sell out. So book your seats in time, through info@hetzingendhart.nl. ようこそ / Yōkoso – be welcome! More info at www.hetzingendhart.nl.
Flyer (pdf): HZH-Siebold-ENG
The Dutch Trading Post Heritage Network, initiated in Hirado, is an international network of institutions in the public and private sector that work with VOC heritage. A number of cities in (South) East Asia cooperate, does research and promotes exchanges on a cultural, economic, educational and personal level. The annual network conference for 2017 is planned to be held in Nagasaki.
Friends of MacDonald • The Dutch Connection —a Cultural Public Benefit Organisation— tries to advance insight in relations between Asia, Europe and North America. Its major activity is to grant the Ranald MacDonald Prize to a young writer or artist whose work sheds new light on those relations. The prize amounts to 5000 Euros and will be announced every October 11.
The Mondriaan Fund and the Creatieve Industries Fund NL offer together residency in the Saga region in Japan. The reason for this residency is to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Japanese Arita porcelain in 2016. There are two residency periods of three months during which an artist and a designer work together with a ‘pottery’ in the Arita region.
Regout in Japan is a cooperation between Nagasaki and Maastricht that aims to start a long-term partnership to confirm the historical relation between Nagasaki, more precisely Dejima, and Maastricht. For that purpose, Centre Céramique in Maastricht will bring a loan of Maastricht ceramics, moulds and copper plates to the Dejima Restoration Office in Nagasaki where the objects will get a special place in the new presentation of Dejima in 2017. Centre Céramique owns the most important ceramic collections of the Netherlands.
The Japanese island Amami has a centries-old tradition of kimono making. This tradition has declined in demand, and there is a great risk that this craft will dissapear in the future. The photobook “Motsure Hotsure Tsumugu” shows the traditional way of producing kimonos on the Amami island and the beauty of the products. The book also shows a series of almost meditative portrets of how the kimonos are worn.
Kaikin is a contemporary play loosely based on a historical incident of a woman arriving in Japan, persuading the authorities to let her stay with her husband. The Japanese characters are affected by this in various ways, and the journey that follows confronts us with our feeling of belonging, pushing boundaries and how we’re inevitably governed by love. ‘Kaikin’ – at times surreal – also includes a modern folktale and the introduction of mythical creatures.
A jazz concert by the famous quintet AMSTERDAM JAZZ CONNECTION will be organised in a 500 year-old historical temple in Ukiha City, Fukuoka. Enjoy an early autumn evening with a combination of exquisite local cuisine and top notch music.
400 years ago, in 1609, the first Dutch Trading Post in Japan was set up in Hirado and it fulfilled an important role in the international relations between Japan and the western world. In September 2016 the exhibition “Holland at Home in Hirado” will be held in the reconstructed Hirado Dutch Trading Post with many items that represent various stories of the many personal connections between the people of Hirado and the Netherlands. It shows that the exchanges between Hirado and the Netherlands are still very much alive today.
In cooperation with DutchCulture, Scholten & Baijings welcomes a closed group of experts and creators to a series of lectures in the Arita House Amsterdam in 2016. These three lectures will be held in the context of the programme Holland-Kyushu and 2016/ project with relevant themes for the Holland-Kyushu relation such as craft, cultural heritage en revitalisation of rural areas (area development and community building).
Volkskrant Magazine featured an article by journalist Jeroen Visser on the reconstruction of Dejima and the current state and function of the former Dutch trade post in their special on Japan of 2 December 2017.
Deshima Revived, the radio project about the restauration of de historical Dutch trading post Deshima, made the cover of the Dutch TV/radio guide magazine VPRO Gids! Along with a special article spread over 5 pages. (December 7, 2016)
The newsletter #57 from the Creative Industries Fund NL with the theme ‘internationalisation’ features Arita 2016/ en the programme Holland-Kyushu. (September 29, 2016)