Read the latest blogs from our IFNet Fellows as they explore themes relating to their research projects.
- Bringing Transculturality and the Archive into a Dynamic Relationship
Inside the private archive of the Czech-born artist Václav Fiala lies a remarkable collection of paintings, drawings, photographs, letters, postcards, scrapbooks, and personal documents. Largely uncatalogued and only partially… Read more: Bringing Transculturality and the Archive into a Dynamic Relationship - Staging Japan, imagining Asia: Notes on curatorial discourses and regional imaginaries in post-1990’s exhibitions and debates
This post is the paper given by Edisabel at the Alternative Paths in Japanese Arts: Ishibashi Foundation Network Leader Fellowship Programme Workshop in July 2026. This residential workshop was… Read more: Staging Japan, imagining Asia: Notes on curatorial discourses and regional imaginaries in post-1990’s exhibitions and debates - After Zero: How a Fellowship Turned a Dissertation into an Exhibition
When I first began my research, I expected to spend several years reading theoretical texts, studying artworks, and convincing people about my academic subject. That part happened exactly as… Read more: After Zero: How a Fellowship Turned a Dissertation into an Exhibition - From Mono-ha to Xix-im: When Research Leads You Somewhere Better Than You Planned
As I stated before, some questions politely stay where they belong. Others decide that your carefully designed research plan is merely a suggestion. My project originally focused on understanding… Read more: From Mono-ha to Xix-im: When Research Leads You Somewhere Better Than You Planned - When Matter, Space, and Academic Curiosity Lead You Down Unexpected Paths
Every research project begins with a question. Some questions remain politely within the boundaries we establish for them. Others, however, have a tendency to wander off and drag us… Read more: When Matter, Space, and Academic Curiosity Lead You Down Unexpected Paths - Across Archives, Museums, and Memories: A Research Journey in Lisbon, Portugal
A friend once told me that we historians lead a life of curiosity, traveling to some of the most beautiful cities in the world, places renowned for their cuisine,… Read more: Across Archives, Museums, and Memories: A Research Journey in Lisbon, Portugal - Where do we go from here?
Isn’t it a bit strange to come across a Mono-ha piece in Mexico and not quite know what to do with it? That is, one might expect to encounter… Read more: Where do we go from here? - Dispatch from the Archive: April (part.3)
This is a just a quick post to draw attention to two brilliant opportunities I had to see some of Takako’s earliest works, this time framed and displayed! Friends… Read more: Dispatch from the Archive: April (part.3) - Dispatch from the Archive: April (part.2)
After the whirlwind that was the AAH, I finally arrived at the archie in mid-April, and honestly, I was quite overwhelmed. It was the first time back in the… Read more: Dispatch from the Archive: April (part.2) - Dispatch from the Archive: April (part.1)
April marked the beginning of my ‘archival residency’ in the Takako Saito Archive. However, before I arrived in Dusseldorf, I had the pleasure of presenting at the Association for… Read more: Dispatch from the Archive: April (part.1) - Dispatch from the Archive: The Story So Far….
Takako Saito did not come to be an artist the traditional way, she came to it through life rather than school, through necessity and community rather than theory. Her… Read more: Dispatch from the Archive: The Story So Far…. - Self-Positioning as an Art Historian
When I stood in front of the painting Naked Beauty (1912) by the Japanese artist Yorozu Tetsugorō (1885–1927) at the K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (Düsseldorf, Germany) in the exhibition museum… Read more: Self-Positioning as an Art Historian - The Death of the Artist: Overcoming a unique form of writer’s block
Left: Takako Saito, Self-documentation of performance ‘a game’ at the art fair in Basel, 1975. Courtesy of Takako Saito Archive.Right: Takako Saito, Invitation to performance/concert Studio Morra. (front), 1976.… Read more: The Death of the Artist: Overcoming a unique form of writer’s block - Archipelagic thinking and the question of region: Japan within Asia
Insular anchorages I often return to my Caribbean background when thinking about regions. Growing up in an archipelago often means becoming aware of how nations narrate themselves through geography,… Read more: Archipelagic thinking and the question of region: Japan within Asia - The Architecture of Hospitality: Tea, Space, and Cultural Mediation in East Asia
I am a Brazilian architectural historian specialising in cultural encounters between Europe and East Asia from the sixteenth century to the present. My research explores how architecture, tea culture,… Read more: The Architecture of Hospitality: Tea, Space, and Cultural Mediation in East Asia - Academic Noir: A personal perspective
Are there any usual suspects? There are mornings when I arrive at my desk, coffee in hand, (this is a lie I don’t usually drink coffee but I think… Read more: Academic Noir: A personal perspective - Unlocking the Václav Fiala Archive
I’m delighted to have this opportunity to showcase my research on the previously unstudied archive of Czech artist Václav Fiala, which I am pursuing as a fellow of the… Read more: Unlocking the Václav Fiala Archive