Johan Nieuwenhuize and Shinji Otani stayed together in Ukiha for their third duo project in Japan, following Nagasaki Prefecture (with Rijks Museum) and Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine (Fukuoka Pref.).

The project was based on an anthropological research on the connection between Japan and the Netherlands, which started in 17 C when the Japanese Shogunate was only allowing Dutch merchants access to the country via an island port called Dejima in Nagasaki, Kyushu.

The ideas for the project first sprouted when the duo Studio the Future (Vincent Schipper and Klara Van Duijkeren) visited Ryoko Baba (Omnicent) in Ukiha in 2016 through the connection built by Ukiha’s artists in residence programs.