“Aesthetically, my current process fuses found object sculpture, audience- activated installations, performance (often with third party participants), and video (mainly, but not exclusively for documentation). The performative aspect of my work is usually the ‘ritual use of the sculptural object’. A functional bed attached to a black fisted afro-pick, a mandala of cut rubber tiles used as a dance-floor and shown with the scuff marks, a graffiti mural made of sand applied unfixed to the floor, vulnerable to a viewer's touch are situations where the viewing experience is no longer passive, but active. Through the incorporation of diverse materials and cultural references, these ‘power objects’ act as crossroads for seemingly incongruous ideas. This syncretism forms the ideological core of my work.” (Sanford BIGGERS)

“Japanese architects and old architecture have a very interesting view on different ways of living in a community. For instance the way in which the housing and domesticity is dealt with is quite different from what I am used to in Europe. Also I'm interested, for example, in how people are less violent compared to Europe and want to learn these ways to incorporate them in my work. I would like to work in the city and make something that the people can enjoy. I like to make art that becomes a catalyst for people. It would be great if I can work with people of different occupation in Ibaraki.” (Alicia FRAMIS)

“My workplan for ARCUS deals with personal memory. Both at a personal level or in a larger scale, memory remains. I believe that having another experience in certain perimeters according to the existing memory will generate another value. I'd like to invite children with scars from accident or surgery to participate in a puppet making process and develop a puppet play, a video art piece. Scar would be a source of an artistic development and, hopefully, the whole experience of making and playing puppet, based on its different shapes, will bring something in value. I have to be careful about reducing the process to simply 'changing bad to good,' but I will try every effort to make the process enjoyable. At the very end, it will become a person-to-person interaction, a game, and an experience. It will be a new memory.” (Ristyo Eko HARTANTO)

KOIZUMI Meiro

“Look around on the streets of Shinjuku at 9pm on Friday night. You see tired souls. You smell alcohol and vomit. You hear the howl of frustration. Around the same time on the same day in Moriya, forty adult men and women are dancing aggressively along with a loud pump up dance tune in front of a huge mirror. People’s movements are all in sync, the music’s played non-stop for 90 minutes. It’s an aerobics studio. What a positive energy with great aggression! What a ‘Joyful Time’! This is how Religion could be. This is how Art should be. Whatever I will make in my studio at ARCUS, I have to keep in my mind, this image of people’s smile and sweat.” (KOIZUMI Meiro)

LE THUA Tien

“ARCUS Project is especially meaningful for me because it is held in Japan that I wished to visit to learn about its culture firsthand. At ARCUS, I am planning to make art works with inspiration I get from nature and people in Moriya. I started my project with collecting many branches from a nearby park. Kind help of some local people gave me access to these materials for my installation work. Cooperation from the local community and beautiful nature in Moriya are part of the important environment available at ARCUS for me to pursue my art projects.” (LE THUA Tien)