Thursdays at Villa Kujoyama: the program for December 4, 2025

Program subject to change.
Schedule will be updated on this page.

Please note that Villa Kujoyama has no parking facilities for cars, only bicycle parking.

Studios 1 & 4
Open studios by Agathe Charnet (14:00-16:00) and Mona Oren (14:00-16:00- / 17:00-19:00)

14:00–16:00 / 17:00–18:30 – 2nd Floor Hall
Support sale for the association Noto Fukko Labo, invited by Théo Mouzard & Marine Royer

14:00–18:30 – 2nd Floor Hall
Installation OK DES PARIS x VOU/棒  by Sébastien Desplat

14:15–15:00 – Auditorium
Conversation between Thomas Garcin, director of the French Institute of Research on Japan at the Maison franco-japonaise and Darius Dolatyari-Dolatdoust & Grégoire Schaller about Yukio Mishima and their research projet (FR/JP)

15:15–15:45 – Auditorium
Presentation of his research project about artists’ books in Japan by Vincent Tuset-Anrès (FR/JP)

16:00–16:45 – Auditorium
Discussion on reconstruction practices in Noto with the association Noto Fukko Labo, and presentation of their research by Théo Mouzard & Marine Royer (FR/JP)

16:00–17:00 – Salon
Screening of the film “Dead Sea” (2019-2020, 10 min) by Mona Oren

16:00–19:00 – South Patio
Screening of the video “Para para” (2025) by Vincent Tuset-Anrès

17:00–18:00 – Alley, Salon, and Terrace
“Love to Death”: a choreographic piece in five chapters, by Darius Dolatyari-Dolatdoust & Grégoire Schaller (performance with sensitive content)

18:30–19:30 – Auditorium
“Faire Famille.s 3/3 – LIVING WITH OUR GHOSTS” : performance conceived by Agathe Charnet, with Nicolas Kumano and Koudou Tsugami

20:00 – Auditorium
“山        山” : Performance by Mark Geffriaud and Shinsuke Yamaji
Live visuals: Shinsuke Yamaji a.k.a. catchpulse, assisted by Mahiro
DJ sets: KA4U and HAMON

20:30–21:00 – Salon
Cocktail reception

TORO café will be selling snacks from 3 pm to 7 pm !

Love to Death

“Love to Death” is a choreographic piece that brings together dance and a series of sculptural objects: mask, costume, and video. Its structure follows the five chapters of Yūkoku (Rites of Love and Death), the controversial 1966 film by Yukio Mishima portraying the final moments of a couple on the verge of taking their own lives. Filmed entirely behind closed doors in a Noh theatre, it also foreshadows the author’s own seppuku in 1970. Through five scenes oscillating between tragic and grotesque—reminiscences, metamorphoses, lip sync, harakiri, and a farewell ritual—the spectator is invited to navigate these elements as one would wander through a story shattered across space. Balancing performative gestures and poetic language, the work explores our relationship to death, desire, and metamorphosis.

Agathe Charnet (2025, theater)

Himono-onna: What to bring into the world today?

Based on a series of interviews on the theme of “Making Family/ies” conducted by Agathe Charnet since August 2025, the author and stage director is presenting, through December, performances created especially for the Villa’s spaces. These performances intertwine the sounds of Japanese and French languages and bring together different artistic families — dance, music, theatre, and contemporary art. For her last experiment, “Living with Our Ghosts”, she invites two musicians—pianist Nicolas Kumano and shakuhachi player Koudou Tsugami—to join her for a musical reading that explores our relationship to those who are absent, both in our daily lives and in the transmission of artistic practices.

Mona Oren (2025, crafts)

Haze wax, a treasure to explore !

Mona Oren’s work revolves around an emotional core woven from impermanence and memory, embodied in a material that reflects this sensitivity: white wax. For her, wax is not merely a substance, but a living material. Her encounter with haze wax in 2022 led to numerous experiments aimed at finding blends that would allow her to sculpt this highly singular, plant-based material. She now wishes to continue this exploration, focusing on wax, hazé trees, and other materials unique to Japan—such as rice wax, washi paper, and sumi ink sticks. The resulting body of work will highlight the poetry of the creative process itself, with the final pieces acting as mirrors of original artifacts—echoes of their memory and transformation.

Mark Geffriaud (2025, visual arts)

Traditional Japanese architecture, a contemporary ecology

Mark Geffriaud works with sculpture, photography, film, and performance. During his residency in Japan, he researches traditional abandoned houses that have the particular feature of being able to be dismantled, reassembled, or dispersed into parts. The potential for reuse and transformation of these structures forms the starting point for his reflection on artworks whose preservation would rely on mobility and evolution rather than on maintaining their individual components. Lately, his attention has focused more specifically on sliding doors as a cinematographic device.

Thank you to Osamu Hashimoto for providing the kaleidoscopes, and Fumio Ishikawa for the sliding doors.

Vincent Tuset-Anrès (2025, design)

Monogatari

Using the artist’s book as a jumping board, Vincent Tuset-Anrès proposes to examine the entire ecosystem of Japanese art publishing. His project sets out to shed light on its procedures and know-how; its technical, aesthetic and conceptual particularities, and the relationship that artists and designers have with publishing. By working in Japan, he will be in contact with people who work in the art publishing world whose expertise will add to his research. Following this period of fieldwork, he hopes to present his project to a wider public, with the aim of eliciting new models for a sector that is currently in transition. In this way, Vincent Tuset-Anrès seeks to showcase the rich tradition of art publishing in Japan, the excellence of its artisans, and the inventiveness and vitality of the contemporary scene.

Théo Mouzard et Marine Royer (2025, architecture)

The architecture of afterwards – Post-disaster care and repair: from resource to place, from landscape to object

Since the triple disaster of 2011, the themes of care and repair appear to have led to a reconfiguration of the practices of certain Japanese architects and designers. As part of an ecological redirection, it has become imperative to rethink the ways in which the architectural profession is practiced, especially in a context where new construction is no longer seen as the most desirable option. This calls for the exploration of more frugal strategies, particularly those aimed at transforming collective spaces through the active involvement of local communities. These approaches are evident both in Japan and in Europe, through direct engagement in the field, the use of collaborative practices, and a reflection on the resources and know-how specific to the territories undergoing transformation.

Sébastien Desplat (2021, crafts)

Sébastien Desplat, together with his publishing house OK DES PARIS, will be present to showcase his latest publications as well as his exhibition “OK VOU!” taking place at Vou Gallery from December 6 to 26.

Zashiki-warashi, Vincent Tuset-Anrès (2025, design)