MIZUNO Nagisa

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MIZUNO Nagisa

Participating Project	Exchange Residency Program (Japan-based creators sent abroad)
Activity Based	Tokyo
City / Place stayed	Helsinki / HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Programme)
Period	2025.8 - 2025.11

Purpose of the residency

During this residency, the project “Forage the Poetry” combines a tour workshop and poetry creation in the Vuosaari Hills, a former landfill now transformed into a vast recreational area with a thriving ecosystem. Together with a local geologist and poet, the tour weaves a narrative around the glacial rocks, where the tour participants write a poem. The poetry is projected onto glass made from local sand and plants to explore the relationship between people and the transforming land, while creating a living archive of urban ecology.

Plan during the residency

• Research on and fieldwork at Vuosaari Hill
• Conduct a tour on Vuosaari Hill
• Make glass from local sand and plants around Vuosaari Hill
• Research on the relationships between the people and the land in Finland
• Collaboration with a local geologist, a biologist, and artists

Activities during the residency

I conducted two participatory tour workshops titled "Forage the Poetry at Vuosaari Hill" together with a total of around 27 participants. Walking with a geologist, we read the history of the land through its rocks and created sound poetry using the surrounding landscape, environmental sounds, and emotions as cues. I also interviewed with an environmental analyst and a soil specialist involved in the formation of the hill, as well as with a current maintenance worker, gaining insights that cannot be found in written sources or on websites. In addition, I produced glass pieces using sand collected on site.

Outcome of the residency

・Beyond Japan, I was able to plan and carry out workshops in an overseas context with different languages and cultural backgrounds. The active participation of many people and the positive feedback I received gave me confidence in continuing my artistic practice going forward.
・Through this project, I had the opportunity to connect with a wide range of artists and professionals. Establishing relationships with people I can reach out to for future collaboration or consultation has been a significant outcome of the residency.
・For the tour workshops, I asked others to document each session through image and audio recording as part of the project’s documentation and production materials. This experience led me to reconsider the role of documentation within a project, as well as how and to what extent others should be involved. In future projects, I would like to think more carefully and deeply about the design of participation, roles, and collaboration.
・In my open studio, I experimented with a structure that intentionally limited explanatory context, allowing visitors to encounter the work in a more intuitive way. While this approach might have presented some challenges, it also opened space for personal interpretation. As part of the open studio, I also organized a talk event; in the future, I see potential in further deepening such conversations by introducing a facilitator or alternative formats. In particular, it was meaningful to see visitors leave their own poems, lines, and traces on the paper placed in the studio, indicating active and creative engagement with the space.
・I received several inquiries from people who wished to participate in the tour but were unable to do so due to scheduling constraints. This response has strengthened my motivation to continue developing the project together with the geologist Antti.

Creator Information