Cultural Exchange Event 'MATCHA Ball'
at Loosdorf Castle, Austria
13th June 2026
At Loosdorf Castle in Austria, our organization (ROIP) held an event called "MATCHA Ball at Schloss Loosdorf," aimed at promoting cultural exchange between Japan and Austria through their traditional arts.
Loosdorf Castle holds a collection of about 10,000 shards of porcelain — mainly Old Imari ware — that were destroyed during World War II. Starting with an exhibition at the Okura Museum of Art in 2020 and continuing through a tour of four venues in Japan by 2022, this collection of shards has drawn growing attention in Austria as well.
Now, from May 31, 2026, the University of Applied Arts Vienna is presenting a special exhibition at Loosdorf Castle called "Completed X Contemporary: Resonances to the Broken Collection." This exhibition is the result of a three-year Artistic Research project called "Broken Collection," carried out by the university from 2023 to 2026 with funding from the Austrian Science Fund. It features contemporary artworks created by artists from around the world, inspired by the castle's collection of shards .
To celebrate this special exhibition, ROIP hosted "MATCHA Ball" — a cultural exchange event combining a traditional ball (dance) with the Japanese art of tea. About 20 practitioners of international tea ceremony traveled from Japan, and around 40 people joined from Austria — including students interested in the collection of shards and Japanese culture, as well as members of the Austria-Japan Society and international organizations. In total, about 60 people took part. The Austrian participants came from many different countries, including Russia, Germany, Poland, India, China, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Morocco, Cyprus, and New Zealand, making the event wonderfully international.
In the morning, participants gathered in front of the MAK (Museum of Applied Arts Vienna) and traveled about an hour and a half to Loosdorf Castle. Along the way, they stopped for lunch and an opening ceremony at a restaurant in the nearby village of Laa. After arriving at the castle, Verena, the castle owner's mother, guided participants through the "Room of Shards," where the shards collection is displayed, as well as the special exhibition. Through this tour, participants learned about the history behind the shards of porcelain and how they inspired contemporary artists.
After enjoying this blend of historic heritage and modern art, it was time for the world's first (perhaps!) event combining a ball and a tea ceremony: "MATCHA Ball." A Viennese ball values elegant tradition and music, while the Japanese tea ceremony values the spirit of treasuring each unique encounter. Both traditions share something in common — the idea of people meeting, immersing themselves in the moment, and creating time together. Inspired by this shared spirit, the event featured a tea ceremony space set up right inside the ballroom. Dance instruction was provided by Makiko Habu, an Austrian state-certified dance master.
The event's name, "MATCHA Ball," combines "matcha" (the green tea that has become popular worldwide), "bowl" (as in a tea bowl), and "ball" (as in a dance ball). On the day, the ballroom at Loosdorf Castle echoed with the elegant sound of a Viennese waltz, as dance master Habe and her students, dressed in tuxedos, carefully taught the Japanese participants to dance. In the drawing room next door, women in kimono calmly served tea to guests who stopped by between dances. True to its name, the event created a space where Japanese and Austrian traditions blended naturally, bringing people together across generations and nationalities. Participants introduced each other to their own cultures in a relaxed, natural way, and everyone — from the tea ceremony to the waltz — enjoyed the event with smiles.
Conflict, division, and destruction continue in our world today — a state of affairs that would have been hard to imagine ten years ago, when we first encountered the shards collection at Loosdorf Castle. Perhaps it is precisely because we live in such times that artists were able to draw inspiration from the silent voices of these broken porcelain, giving rise to such rich creative work.
Meeting people, learning about their cultures, and understanding one another is the foundation of peace. We hope that this special exhibition, along with this time spent sharing tea ceremony and dance, will be — however small — a new step toward peace.
Exhibition: Loosdorf Castle, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Supported by: Japanese Embassy in Austria
Sponsored by: All Nippon Airways (ANA)
Subsidized by: THE TOKYO CLUB
