Announcement of Selected Artists AKIYA AIR IWAMI 2026
We are delighted to announce the selected participants for AKIYA AIR IWAMI 2026. This year’s residents will be based in Yunotsu and Gotsu, where they will engage with the region through research, making, and exchange with local communities. In response to the strong interest in the programme, this year we have also decided to welcome participants from countries beyond the Netherlands.
Selected Artists
Hsiao-Hsuan (Amber) Jian
Luxembourg
— staying in Yunotsu
Asuka Takagi
Belgium
— staying in Yunotsu
Juliette Huygen
The Netherlands
— staying in Gotsu
Hsiao-Hsuan (Amber) Jian
— staying in Yunotsu
Luxembourg
Hsiao-Hsuan (Amber) Jian is a Taiwanese-born interior architect, researcher, and cultural curator based in Luxembourg.
In Yunotsu, she will research akiya houses as vessels of memory, exploring how architecture, daily life, and cultural memory are interwoven through observation, documentation, and conversations with local residents and craftspeople.
Asuka Takagi
— staying in Yunotsu
Belgium
Asuka Takagi is a visual artist born in France and based in Belgium, working primarily in sculpture and installation. During her residency in Yunotsu, she will develop a sculptural research project in metal, inspired by vacant houses, local craftsmanship, and the layered relationship between transformation, memory, and material traces.
Photograph: Monique Kooijmans, 2025
Juliette Huygen
— staying in Gotsu
The Netherlands
Juliette Huygen is an Amsterdam-based transmedia storyteller, researcher, writer, and maker whose practice combines critical inquiry with object-making and storytelling.
In Gotsu, she will investigate the “hand of the maker” through local materials and techniques, exploring questions of art and craft, authorship, individuality, and the traces of making.