Shiro Masuyama: The Borderline Project • Dnote: for the best of art here

Butler Gallery Garden Studio and Grounds Thursdays 13:00-20:00 (Late Night)
Fridays to Sundays, including Bank Holiday Monday, 1 June

Butler Gallery is delighted to announce Shiro Masuyama as the Artist in Residence for June 2026.

Shiro Masuyama is a socially-engaged artist whose work encompasses performances, sculpture, installations, photography, and video. As part of his residency, Shiro Masuyama will present his mobile art caravan as an interactive, participatory artwork. The caravan will operate as a welcoming, informal space where members of the public can meet the artist, engage in conversation, and contribute to his ongoing Borderline project, which explores themes of identity, migration and belonging.

The Borderline Project has been presented at public institutions across Ireland and the UK, including Ebrington Square (2013), The MAC (2013), The Lyric Theatre (2014), The Model Sligo (2014), Siamsa Tíre (2019), Make North Docks Liverpool (2025), Rua Red Dublin (2025), Artlink Fort Dunree (2025), and the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast (2025).

Shiro Masuyama’s practice has been shaped by in a diverse range of artist residencies worldwide, including: Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, Germany (2023); Khoj Studios, New Delhi, India (2023); Ruang MES 56, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2018); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea (2008); Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (2004-2005); International Studio and Curatorial Programme, New York, USA (2002-2003). Following international residencies at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, in 2006 and Flax Art Studios in 2009, he moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he has been based ever since. Having previously lived in Japan and Germany, living in Belfast has had a profound effect on both Masuyama’s concept of identity and on his art practice. Living in North Belfast, where sectarian tensions are still high and where residents are traditionally local and white, has allowed Masuyama to explore, both personally and artistically, how political rhetoric influences everyday life and concepts of identity and how we see ourselves.