Thursdays at Villa Kujoyama: the program for Thursday, February 5 2026

2:00–6:00 PM – Studios 2,4 & 5
Open studios by Isabelle Daëron, Victoire Thierrée, and Claire Lange & Lucie Roy

2:00–5:00 PM – Auditorium
Film screening: “What the Villa did to me”

6:00–7:30 PM – Auditorium
“Véronique Joumard – Thirty Years of Playing with Light, or the Lasting Effects of an Artist Residency”: a discussion between Véronique Joumard, visual artist, professor at the École nationale supérieure d’arts de Paris-Cergy, Villa Kujoyama laureate (1996, visual arts), and Saé Cardonnel-Shimai, Director of MUZ ART PRODUCE and MOMENT Contemporary Art Center (FR–JP)

7:30–9:00 PM – Salon
Cocktail reception

An encounter with chefs in Kansai / A kaiseki dinner, a homage to the seasons / An art of dining, yet to be imagined

Claire Lange and Lucie Roy are interested in the subtle links between the seasons in Japanese culture, particularly in the culinary arts, where each piece of tableware enters into a poetic dialogue with the time of year and the dish being served. Every two weeks, they will meet with a chef to explore the unique relationship he maintains with the present moment of the season. They will design the associated items of tableware, while also meeting with producers and foragers to draw local plants and study the seasonal representation of nature in the applied arts (Kyo-yaki porcelain, lacquerware, textiles).

Victoire Thierrée (2026, visual arts)

Into the Fog

Victoire Thierrée examines how, in 1944-45, the Imperial Japanese Army used washi paper to build balloon bombs that were launched against the United States. She wishes to work with a National Living Treasure in papermaking, and produce sculptures that investigate washi paper’s aerial properties, completed by a series of photographs. The project also includes the making of film focusing on the work of Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya and address relationships between artificial and natural, visible and invisible.

Isabelle Daëron (2026, design)

Chikasui

After the project “Water Calling” in collaboration with Yoshiko Nagai, which maps Kyoto’s groundwater in texts and drawings, Isabelle Daëron’s wishes to examine interfaces with invisible water, which can be the water supply system or underground water, for example grids, valves, gullies and wells. Her objective is to extend this research to cities beyond Kyoto and, ultimately, propose objects for public spaces. The residency could conclude with an urban walking tour. The “world beneath our feet” has less symbolic resonance in Japan than in the west, and this is something Isabelle Daëron wishes to explore.

Véronique Joumard (visual artist, professor at the École nationale supérieure d’arts de Paris-Cergy, artist-in-residence at Villa Kujoyama in 1996)
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Saé Cardonnel-Shimai (director of MUZ ART PRODUCE, director of the MOMENT Contemporary Art Center)

The solo exhibition by French artist Véronique Joumard, The Substance of Light, will be held from February 13 to April 5, 2026 at MOMENT, a contemporary art center that opened in February 2025 in the Sanjō district of Nara. Véronique Joumard uses light as a true material. Through photography and installation, she creates devices that make its mechanisms perceptible—and, more broadly, the forms of energy that traverse space (light, electricity). A resident of Villa Kujoyama in 1996, this marked her first extended stay in Japan: a formative experience that gave rise to a deep connection with the country, whose impact can still be felt thirty years later.

During this talk, Véronique Joumard will reflect on her artistic journey, from her 1996 residency at the Villa Kujoyama to her current research. Saé Cardonnel-Shimai will, in parallel, present the activities and ethos of the MOMENT Contemporary Art Center.

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Biographies

Véronique Joumard (1996, visual Arts)

Born in 1964 in Grenoble (France). Lives and works in Paris. Graduate of the École supérieure d’art de Grenoble (ÉSAD Grenoble-Valence). Professor at the École nationale supérieure d’arts de Paris-Cergy (ENSAPC).

Her work explores the relationships between space and the body through dispositifs that make energy visible—light, electricity. In 1996, she was in residence at Villa Kujoyama (Kyoto). She has presented works in Japan in various contexts: Tsunan (2000, Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, Niigata), TGV (2002, Hiroshima), projects for the Setouchi Triennale at Takamatsu Airport (2013) and on Megijima Island (2019). She is currently completing a stained-glass creation project for Bayeux Cathedral (France).

Saé Cardonnel-Shimai

Born in Osaka in 1970. Art producer. Graduate in Japanese painting from Kyoto University of Education. Her career spans teaching, Japanese painting, cinema, work in contemporary art galleries, and the coordination of residencies at Villa Kujoyama. She has also been involved in organizing cultural events and served on the board of directors of the Lycée français international de Kyoto.

A founding member of KYOTOGRAPHIE in 2012 and co-director of KG+ until 2020, she founded MUZ ART PRODUCE in 2018. From 2019 to 2025, she produced Nuit Blanche Kyoto. Since 2020, she has been developing the projects ARTAOTA, FOTOZOFIO, and Red Line, co-producing numerous events, the Kyoto Writers Residency, and Franco-Japanese theatrical projects MIMOZA WAYS, as well as carrying out various missions for local authorities. Since 2024, she has been an associate researcher at the Mori Memorial Foundation for Manufacturing Technology. In 2025, together with the MORI Foundation, she created the MOMENT Contemporary Art Center, which she now directs.

Visuel: Forteresse de Mado dans Tako no Himitsu
© Christophe Galati (2019, jeux vidéo) en collaboration avec JPTom