【PARADISE AIR is in fact not just an artist residency - it's a network of friends and allies, a patchwork community】LONGSTAY Program 2018 + Comeback 2019｜Alicja Rogalska

PARADISE AIR got a message in the 2019 yearbook from Alicja Rogalska, a Polish artist who has spent time at PARADISE AIR through two programs;
LONGSTAY Program 2018
SHORTSTAY Program 2019
Thank you Alicja for the text, it reminds our Tomita-ramen day. 

Artist Profile

アリシヤ ・ロガルスカ – PARADISE AIR

I came to Japan for the first time in September 2018 for the LONGSTAY residency at PARADISE AIR. I couldn’t have imagined a better introduction to the country, its culture and to the local art scene. The PARADISE AIR team provided me both with the professional assistance needed to develop my work and with a warm welcome; organizing talks and meetings with the local community, as well as social events, meals and providing emotional support - the importance of which can’t be underestimated when one is thousands of miles away from home and the usual support networks of friends and family.
　　　Located in a quirky former hotel, just above a pachinko parlor and a 5-minute walk from Matsudo train station, PARADISE AIR is in fact not just an artist residency - it's a network of friends and allies, a patchwork community of local residents, artists, students, and whoever else is around: there is always a space at a table and food and drink to share, perhaps even a karaoke song or two (or most likely about 30).
　　　I returned to Japan and PARADISE AIR the following year, in May 2019, to participate in Celebration - a large-scale exhibition at Kyoto Art Centre (which later toured to Poland), organized as part of the 100-year anniversary of Polish-Japanese diplomatic relations. I was invited to participate in the project after the curators saw my solo exhibition "Singing in the Dark" at the Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art which was co-organised by PARADISE AIR. In the summer of 2019 I was also invited to take part in Her Own Way - an exhibition of work by Polish female video artists from the 70s to the present day at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. None of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for the support of PARADISE AIR.
　　　But most important to me are the people I met, the friendships developed during my stays there and the various conversations we had: in homes, offices and universities, over the best ever 'tsukemen' ramen (conveniently located a few blocks away from the residency), in countless sushi bars, smoky local pubs, hot tubs at an onsen, during urban walks and nature hikes, at street carnivals and shrine festivals.
　　　I'm just finishing my breakfast of natto at home in London, hoping to come back one day to the best Paradise Matsudo City has ever had.

Alicja Rogalska

（Photo by Hajime Kato, 2018）