MURAKAMI Kaoru

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MURAKAMI Kaoru

Participating Project	Exchange Residency Program (Japan-based creators sent abroad)
Activity Base	Tokyo
City / Place stayed	Basel / Atelier Mondial
Period	2025.4 - 2025.6

Purpose of the residency

In this programme, I will research and create artwork on papermaking and printing, taking advantage of Basel’s history and environment as a city of paper and printing. I plan to create an installation that reconsiders papermaking using alternative materials and printing techniques in terms of their emotional value. This work also serves as both a parallel documentation of the process and an experiment in the relationship between technology, human beings and nature in visual representation. Through this experiment, my aim is to find the right means of expression and expand the range of possibilities for future creations.

Plan during the residency

• Research the techniques and history of papermaking and printing at the Basel Paper Mill.
• Research on plants that can be made papers at the University of Basel Botanical Garden. Negotiations to obtain material from the botanical garden, such as weeds. 
• Negotiation of obtaining for herbivore faeces.
• To obtain, make or negotiate to borrow papermaking tools.

Activities during the residency

It was a significant achievement to acquire papermaking techniques using plants and to realise an exhibition within the residency period. Through working closely with raw materials, I developed a heightened sensitivity to the relationships between nature, chemistry, and time. On the other hand, had I started preparing for the exhibition earlier, I could have developed the work further; in particular, I regret not being able to expand the practice into printmaking. Moving forward, I aim to explore unconventional plant-based materials and develop installation works that visualise the traces of relationships between nature and human beings.

Outcome of the residency

Visiting Merian Gardens and the Ballenberg Open-air Museum prompted me to reconsider the relationship between materials and culture. Both institutions collaborate with Pro Specie Rara to promote the preservation of plant diversity and the transmission of traditional ways of life. This made me realise that materials are not merely “resources” but are deeply intertwined with systems and everyday life. In particular, seeing how familiar plants are selected, preserved, and managed offered a powerful opportunity to reflect on the human involvement in shaping what we perceive as “nature” in the places where we live.

Creator Information