Artist-in-residence program provides opportunities for artists in the field of contemporary art to cultivate their artistic creativity and vision since 1994. Located around an hour from Tokyo, a residency at ARCUS Studio allows participants in the program to come into contact with the contemporary art scene in Japan as well as devote themselves to their creative endeavors in a calm environment while interacting with the local community. Through the support the program offers from its dedicated team of coordinators and regular tutorials with a curator, artists are able to search for and explore approaches in their practices and undertake new challenges in their artistic expression.

The program particularly emphasizes research-based practices and presents the initial results of these processes at open studios. It welcomes ideas for artworks and projects that develop out of encounters with people, the land, and culture, and aspire to form critical discourses that are open and international.

2026 Resident Artist

1. Hrair Sarkissian
2. Bruno Ruiz
3. Vivi Zhu and Jiawei Tian

ARCUS Project’s Artist-in-Residence Program received applications from 749 international applicants (from 89 countries and regions) and 8 applicants from Japan. Following a careful and thorough selection process, Hrair Sarkissian, Bruno Ruiz, and artist duo Vivi Zhu and Jiawei Tian have been selected as the 2026 artists-in-residence. The artists will participate in a 90-day residency at the ARCUS Studio in Moriya, Ibaraki, from September 11 to December 9, 2026. As the judges for this year’s applications, Iioka Riku, Associate Curator at Yokohama Museum of Art and Yoshida Yamar, Curatorial Producer and Founder of FLOATING ALPS LLC. who made the selection through a process of discussion with the ARCUS Project Administration Committee.

Sarkissian is a Syrian artist of Armenian descent, currently based in London, UK. In Japan, he has previously participated in the “Arab Express” exhibition held at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo in 2012, as well as the Aichi Triennale 2025. His practice consistently adopts a format of archiving traumatic events, including the Armenian genocide and those which occurred in Syria, through photography, sound and installation. Execution Squares is a series of photographs of public squares in the Syrian cities of Aleppo, Latakia and Damascus, where public executions were once carried out. The shadow of state violence hangs over these scenes of the city that are encountered casually every day. What happened, what was lost, what is a state, and what is identity? These questions of history and belonging resonate deeply throughout Sarkissian’s works. Past solo exhibitions include The Other Side of Silence (Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE, 2021-2022) and FOCUS: Hrair Sarkissian (Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, USA, 2020). He also participated in Armenity/Haiyutioun. Contemporary Artists from the Armenian Diaspora, presented by the Armenian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, which won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation.

Ruiz is based in Mexico City, and his practice is on the intersection of the DIY (Do It Yourself) ethos and street culture. In Mexico City, where social and cultural resources are limited, he incorporates duplication and piracy as means and methods to pursue freedom of expression. He is also active as part of the “Red de Reproducción y Distribución (RRD: Network of Reproduction and Distribution),” a collective which functions out of a kiosk on the street producing self-published zines. Critically challenging the industrialized publishing and distribution systems, he conveys another path in the DIY-spirit, carved out independently through workshops and installations. Past exhibitions include Sharjah Biennial 16 (UAE, 2025), the Busan Biennale (South Korea, 2024, as RRD), and Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines (Brooklyn Museum, USA, 2023, as RRD). In 2024, he participated in artist-in-residence programs at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan) and the Singapore Art Museum.

This duo is comprised of artist-curator Vivi Zhu and artist Jiawei Tian. Interested in the concept of ‘performance’ in everyday life, Zhu researches the process of identity being formed and reimagined within cultural contexts and social constructs. Tian is interested in psychological or physical transitions and tipping points, visualizing these through performative sculpture and installation. While both explore social systems and constructs through physical experience, they remind aware that both are also subject to change through their mutual influence. Further, their engage with spacial concepts and practical applications informed by ethnology and anthropology, bringing a vitality to their work. Both Zhu and Tian have participated in numerous exhibitions at art spaces in Tokyo and across China.