The restored 13th-century Farm Manor where IDA hosts its biannual residency. Courtesy IDA
Visual artist Kang Chunhui has been officially invited by Paris-based IDA Art to participate in the 2026 Ebbio International Arts Programme in Tuscany, Italy, as one of the programme’s selected international resident artists.
Joining Kang are three artists working across different disciplines: Spanish artist Almudena Romero, whose practice explores photography and plant-based processes; French artist Matisse Mesnil, an emerging voice in installation art; and Taiwanese artist Shiuan Chang, widely known for his musical collaborations with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre. Bringing together four artists from distinct cultural and artistic backgrounds, the residency creates a space for exchange, dialogue and mutual inspiration. Under the theme Seeds Grow, the 2026 programme explores ideas of natural vitality, local culture and artistic renewal across cultures.
The Ebbio Arts Programme takes place on a historic estate dating back to the thirteenth century near Siena, in the heart of Tuscany. Surrounded by the region’s distinctive natural landscape and rich cultural heritage, the residency is situated within the historical landscape of the Italian Renaissance. Held biennially, the international programme received applications from 27 countries for its 2026 edition. Participating artists were nominated and selected by a jury bringing together curators, critics and arts media professionals from international museums and the Paris-based IDA Art.
The programme encourages artists to move beyond their familiar creative contexts and develop new perspectives through encounters with Tuscany’s landscape, historical sites and cultural traditions. Working within the birthplace of the Renaissance, participating artists are invited to reflect on its aesthetic traditions and humanist legacy while developing new approaches to their own practices.
Kang Chunhui’s practice has long been rooted in the complex cultural traditions of Asia, through which she has developed a contemporary artistic language characterised by subtlety and restraint. During her residency in Tuscany, Kang will encounter Western classical traditions from an Eastern perspective. Through sustained engagement with the region’s landscape, history and cultural heritage, she will further explore questions of cross-cultural dialogue, interpretation and translation. Her research and artistic practice at Ebbio will offer a distinctive perspective from a contemporary Chinese artist within an international context.
The outcomes of the 2026 Ebbio International Arts Programme in Tuscany will be presented in a public exhibition in Paris in July 2027.
