“Chikasui”: exhibit by Isabelle Daëron

This summer, Institut français de Tokyo presents Chikasui, a solo exhibition by Isabelle Daëron, designer, artist, and recipient of the Villa Kujoyama residency.

The practice of design is grounded in long and attentive research, reading, mapping, and drawing. It involves following threads, connecting them, and arranging them in the right order to sketch coherent, narrative, and accessible forms.

Here, the exploration focuses on Japan’s groundwater: its distinctive characteristics, histories, associated beliefs, and the systems that make its use possible.

Following her work on narrating and mapping Kyoto’s groundwaters through the Water Calling project—in collaboration with Yoshiko Nagai—Isabelle Daëron has developed a body of work centered on objects that serve as interfaces, providing access to these invisible waters. Chikasui presents the first stage of this creative process, developed during her residency at Villa Kujoyama this year.