SAITO Haruka

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SAITO Haruka

Participating Project	Exchange Residency Program (Japan-based creators sent abroad)
Activity Based	Tokyo
City / Place stayed	Helsinki / HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Programme)
Period	2026.8 - 2026.11

Purpose of the residency

I will observe how the duration of daylight in Helsinki affects perception through painting, sculpture, words, video, and other media, and reconsider the theme that “time does not exist, but emerges as the totality of movement” by translating these observations into artworks. I will reinterpret the geometric structure of the traditional ornament Himmeli, shaped by gravity and activated within living spaces, as a device for visualizing time, and incorporate it into my artistic practice. I regard my daily life with my four-year-old child as an “open dedication” to artistic practice. Play, caregiving, and unexpected events are not interruptions to concentration, but opportunities to open my senses and deepen my attention toward materials, light, language, and time. Moving between life and artistic practice, I seek to develop my work through this continuous exchange.

Plan during the residency

• Understanding the Environment (August / Arrival with my husband and child, who turns four years old during the residency)
  Observe the daylight, topography, and rhythms of daily life on Suomenlinna Island. Research ceramic working environments, as well as the structure, history, and traditional making processes of Himmeli.
  
  
• Establishing an Observation Protocol (August)
  I will test multiple methods of fixed-point observation in order to establish a sustainable daily practice that can continue regardless of unexpected circumstances, such as my child becoming ill, extreme fatigue, or falling asleep while putting my child to bed. Through this process, I will develop a protocol that will serve as the foundation for the three-month project. I will begin recording through diaries, sketches, photographs, and video. I will create drawings using materials such as transparent watercolor in response to changes in the environment, light, and events in daily life. I will also conduct experiments using cyanotype and other methods to record traces of sunlight.
  
  
• Continuation of Observation and Movement of Motifs (September / My husband returns to Japan; I continue living with my child)
  I will continue the fixed-point observations, incorporating daily life with my child and walks together as part of my research. I will record the decreasing duration of daylight and changes in light as embodied experiences. I will investigate how ceramics and three-dimensional forms emerge through their relationships with light and gravity I create works in different media based on works generated through acts of observation (for example, daily life → painting → sculpture). As the locus of the motif shifts from reality to the artwork itself, the artwork becomes a new object of observation. Rather than treating reality as a one-way source of material for artistic production, I seek to create a situation in which the process of making art, in turn, influences the way reality is perceived and experienced.
  
  
• Editing and Composing(October)
  I will continue the fixed-point observations. I will explore the possibility of transforming the processes of drawing and sculptural production into stop-motion animation or related forms of moving image. Regarding the presentation format, I will primarily consider an installation in which the various works created throughout the residency are composed through relationships of light and shadow. I will also explore the possibility of compiling a small book if appropriate. Rather than presenting the results of observations about time through daylight as a conclusion, I aim to create a situation in which an experience of time emerges anew through perception, within the relationship between space and the viewer.
  
  
• Open Studio（31.October）

Creator Information