KOKO NI IRU
Artistic Research & Exhibition Project
KOKO NI IRU is an art exhibition with an assemblage of Japanese memorabilia in Utrecht that is the result of an extensive social and artistic research project created by the artistic directors of JACCU.
KOKO NI IRU means “I am here” in Japanese. With this project, we would like to open the doors to the small but rich community of Japanese people in Utrecht, with their own values and culture, to show that they are here with us and give the community the right resonance within the Netherlands.
We interviewed 28 Utrecht residents with Japanese roots, and the exhibition is from the 1st of October to 11th of November in the Neude library, open to all visitors without admission fee.
Exhibition in de Bieb!
KOKO NI IRU Exhibition is in the Bibliotheek Neude
between October 1 and November 11 2022!
We gathered many personal items that are symbolising the memories they told us during the interviews. We collected them as research material in addition to the stories. By archiving personal experiences and sensations that are behind the stories, we expect to build an assemblage that reveals a genuine story of Japanese life in connection to Utrecht. We are gathering these pieces to curate and exhibit as a collective archive of the life of Japanese people in de Bibliotheek Utrecht locations, especially in the great monumental Neude building in the Utrecht city centre.
Taciser Sevinc and Hiroko Matsushita are the curators of the exhibition in collaboration with the Bibliotheek Neude exhibition department. Save the date to your calendar to visit Neude in October!
What makes a Japanese person feel at home in Utrecht?
The project KOKO NI IRU started with a research phase in which we did 27 interviews. The main question of the interviews was: What makes a Japanese person feel at home in Utrecht? How do they decide to make Utrecht their home and how do they make connection with the city?
When starting a new life in a new place, every person acquires countless connections, laying the foundations for their lives and creating their own ‘home’, where they are now. This is what we are exploring, archiving and presenting in this exhibition.
Researchers
Taciser Sevinc
is the founder and the president of the Stichting Japanese Art & Culture Centre of Utrecht. She is a scenographer and a visual artist. She is working as an independent professional on stage design, performance design and graphic design.
Taciser is conducting autonomous artistic research projects on different subjects such as the awareness and the mindset of practising, self-improvement and self-actualisation. In her works, she uses audio-visual media and collected materials to manipulate the space to create immersive installations.
Hiroko Matsushita
is a Japanese artist and designer based in Houten since 2019. She is the board member of the Artistic Committee of Stichting Japanese Art & Culture Centre of Utrecht. She joined JACCU with her passion to make a cultural bridge between Japan and the Netherlands, especially in the field of art and design.
Hiroko’s works have been internationally received in a wide range of disciplines including Art, Illustration, and Design. Predominantly using paper and light/shadow, she explores the idea of perspective, volume and tangibility in the material and the space. These are often combined with her research relating to society, gender and femininity.
KOKO NI IRU is part of the programme of Utrecht 900!
We find this project resonating with the theme of the celebration of “900 years of Utrecht”, ‘City without walls’ with the intention of celebrating the different people of Utrecht. We want to make a big picture of the Japanese community living in Utrecht and make a significant celebration all together.
Many thanks to Gemeente Utrecht, the Utrecht 900 committee for granting us a generous subsidy to realise this project!
Partners & Supporters
