From  September 22 – November 20 2025 Erik van Lieshout stayed at the psychiatric Fukoroda Hospital in the village of Daigo/Japan. There he worked with and for psychiatric clients.

This residency was based on drawing. Van Lieshout created drawn portraits of the clients. He showed them to the clients and through the drawings communication started. Perhaps by facial expression or through an exclamation of surprise; that was enough, a first connection. He taught drawing to various group of clients: On the men ward, on the women ward, on the temporary ward, on the permanent ward. And he has made drawings together with the clients. What started as a formal drawing class evolved into a free studio like approach to drawing. All drawings were in black and white using charcoal or conté crayon. Apart from drawings on paper Van Lieshout also taught sand drawing to some clients, introducing South Dutch heritage to a village in Japan.

The residency period was concluded on November 15 and 16 during ArtFesta, an art festival in Daigo where inhabitants of the village can enter the hospital and see the art. The drawings of the clients and the ones of Erik van Lieshout himself were exposed within an installation of paper and wood designed by Erik van Lieshout, titled ‘Paper Residency’. The installation was built, connecting two spaces divided by a corridor. By mixing the drawings of the clients and of Erik van Lieshout, without any labels, boundaries between so called professional art and amateur art and between so called mentally healthy and outsider art, were blurred.Outside on the parking lot ‘Sand Carpet’ was created by the clients.