WARE residency programme

The Council – in conversation with Wellington arts sector – selects an artist from Asia to visit Wellington and develop a project in partnership with a local arts organisation or tertiary institution.

The chosen artist will receive full support for their stay in Wellington. This includes return flights, a daily allowance and up to three months accommodation at the historic Bolton Street Sexton’s Cottage.

Bolton Street Cottage

Submit a proposal

Proposals must be submitted by Wellington based arts organisations/institutions, who will host visiting artists to enable project development. As host organisations/institutions will provide pastoral care and wrap around support including introducing them to their Wellington contemporaries and providing access to performance/exhibition and/or studio space.

For more information about submitting a proposal, contact:

Katie Taylor-Duke, Senior Arts Advisor
Email: katie.taylor-duke@wcc.govt.nz
Phone: 021 227 8021

Current resident

2020 – Kota Yamazaki

This year’s iteration of the WARE residency is part two of a two-part artist residency with internationally recognised senior Japanese dancer and choreographer, Kota Yamazaki.

Given the global pandemic this second iteration of the residency will be very different from the first, taking place virtually, rather than physically. Kota will remain in Japan. Residency hosts, Footnote New Zealand Dance will rehearse with Kota over a five-week period via Zoom beginning in September, to create a new dance work titled Fog, Nerves, Future, Ocean, Hello (echoes)  「霧、神経、未来、オーシャン、ハロー(木霊する）」  for Undercurrent, Footnote's double-bill season.

Footnote will tour this season around Aotearoa, New Zealand during October and November (pending alert levels), performing here in Wellington at the Opera House on 12 November. Tickets are available from 1 September. 

Kota Yamazaki shares a reflective mosaic of visual delight in this new work Fog, Nerves, Future, Ocean, Hello (echoes) 「霧、神経、未来、オーシャン、ハロー(木霊する）」. Mysterious, surprising and beautiful, this work is the result of working across continents in a changed world. Inspired by the landscape of Wellington and the unpredictability of human behaviour, this work is buoyed by hypnotic sound design by Wellingtonian Jesse Austin-Stewart and fascinating sculptural set design by his Tokyo based collaborators. Ultimately, Fog, Nerves, Future, Ocean, Hello (echoes) attempts to reveal another dimension of Wellington through the ever-transforming state and body of the performers.

Past residents

2019 – Kota Yamazaki, Japanese dancer and choreographer

Kota was hosted by Footnote New Zealand Dance and stayed at the Bolton Street Cottage. 

Originally from Niigata, Japan, Kota is an award-winning choreographer who has worked across many disciplines and countries. 

Kota is a recipient of The New York Dance and Performance Awards (the Bessie Award) of 2007, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award of 2013, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship of 2016, Guggenheim Fellowship of 2018 and two-time The Herb Alpert Award nominee. 

His latest work, “Darkness Odyssey Part 2: I or Hallucination” was nominated for the Bessie Award of 2018 as Outstanding Production, also was named as Best Production of 2017 in Dance Magazine. 

Kota Yamazaki

2018 – Bifei Cao, Chinese jeweller

Chinese jeweller, Bifei Cao was the 2018 recipient of the WARE residency. He was resident for three months from June 2018, staying at the Rita Angus Cottage in Thorndon and hosted by Te Auaha, The NZ Institute of Creativity.

Bifei Cao graduated with a BA Degree from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, received an MA at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, and went on to gain an MFA in the jewellery and metals programme at Indiana University of Pennsylvania under Lynda LaRoche. He is currently Associate Professor at the School of Art and Design at Guangdong University of Technology in Guangzhou, China.

Cao was nominated as the 2018 WARE artist by the Te Auaha Trust based on the strength of his creative practice and impressive career to date including exhibiting internationally, teaching and most recently winning the 2018 Art Jewellery Forum Award, one of jewellery’s most prestigious accolades.

While in Wellington Cao connected with students at Te Auaha, hosted workshops, and produced a solo show at Te Auaha Gallery titled Vase-tibule, exploring and repurposing as jewellery objects used in daily life in China such as jars and vases.

This residency was generously supported by the Thorndon Trust who manage the Rita Angus Cottage where Bifei Cao was resident.

2017 – Yin-Ju Chen, Taiwanese multi-media artist. 

Yin-Ju Chen's primary medium is video, but her works also includes photos, installations and drawings. 

She studied at the Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan and at the San Francisco Art Institute in the United States. 

Yin-Ju’s practice investigates the function of power in human society, nationalism, racism, totalitarianism, collective thinking or collective (un)conscious. Her recent projects also engage in the relations between cosmos and human behaviour.

While resident at the Bolton Street Cottage, Yin-Ju worked towards developing a new body of work, and participated in Cultural Connections – an artist’s talk and symposium about residencies and cross-cultural exchange. 

Her work was part of the exhibition at City Gallery Wellington, Occulture: The Dark Arts that ran for three months from August 2017. 

Yin-Ju has participated in many important international exhibitions and film festivals, most recently, Liverpool Biennial (UK, 2016), Forum Expanded at 66th Berlin Film Festival (DE, 2016) and 20th Biennial of Sydney (AU, 2016). 

She lives and works in Taipei City, Taiwan.

2016 – Josette Chiang, Chinese British multimedia artist

Josette grew up in Hong Kong. She studied Fine Art at University of the Arts London, attending three of its colleges from 1999 to 2005; she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art from Central Saint Martin’s College of Arts and Design, a Master’s Degree in Fine Art from Byam Shaw School of Art and a Master’s Degree in Drawing at Camberwell College of Arts.

She has also:

• presented a solo performance installation ‘Reference Point’ at Past Vyner Street, London, 2014
• participated in the group shows: ‘Tail Devourer’ at Bash Studios, London, 2009, ‘Tempography’ at Gallery Factory, Seoul , 2008; 'a ses parents' at Villa Jeanneret-Perret (Maison Blanche) in La Chaux de Fonts, Switzerland, 2006. 

Josette Chiang exhibited her work at the Toi Pōneke Gallery during October and November 2016.

2015 – Sutthirat Supaparinya (Som), Thai multimedia artist

Som co-founded and directs the artist-run initiative Chiang Mai Art Conversation (CAC). Through this, she aims to promote contemporary Chiang Mai art via an online platform.

Som earned a BFA in painting from Chiang Mai University. She went onto Post graduate study in media arts at Hochschule Fuer Grafik und Buckunst in Leipzip, Germany.

She has also:

• received placement in the Imaging our Mekong Fellowship through the Rockefeller Foundation, 2005
• earned fellowship with the Asian Cultural Council at the International Studio and Curatorial Program, ISCP in New York, 2010
• participated in the International Creator Residency Programme at Tokyo Wonder Site Aoyama, 2012

Sutthirat Supaparinya exhibited her work at the Toi Pōneke Gallery during October and November 2015.

2014 – Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Japanese composer

Hiroyuki studied composition with Akira Kitamura, Jo Kondo and Isao Matsushita. He earned a masters degree in composition at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

The New Zealand School of Music hosted Hiroyuki Yamamoto. During this time he took part in workshops and research, met composers and performed with other musicians.

2013 – Li Xiaofei, Chinese film artist

Li lives and works in Shanghai, where he is the Director of the Fei Contemporary Art Center and the Zendai Contemporary Art Exhibition Hall.

Toi Pōneke Arts Centre hosted Li while he researched Wellington-based factories and manufacturing plants, extending his Assembly Lines project.

He exhibited work from this series at the Toi Pōneke Gallery, and gave talks about his creative practice.

2012 – Oh Jaewoo, Korean artist

Oh worked with City Gallery Wellington. During this time, Oh developed the exhibition Collectors Choice. This was on display at City Gallery from December 2012 until February 2013.