Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, one of the world’s largest international art festivals, has been held since 2000 in the Echigo-Tsumari region of Niigata Prefecture, which covers 750 square kilometers and is one of Japan’s snowiest areas, where the original landscape of the satoyama remains.
It is a pioneer of site-specific art festivals that use art as a medium to discover and communicate the charms of the region, and in 2022, the previous festival attracted approximately 570,000 visitors in a remote area with a population of 60,000. In 2024, the 9th edition of the festival will be held for a total of 87 days from summer to fall. Along with nearly 300 artworks, visitors will enjoy the beauty of Echigo-Tsumari in each season, from summer with its beautiful greenery to autumn tinted with gold.
Unfolding site-specific artworks in natural settings and local existing buildings
Art is a way for humans to engage with Mother Nature. Since the cave murals of Altamira and Lascaux, art has reflected society in many ways. As wars, epidemics, famine, and global environmental crises threaten our survival, and as efficiency-first capitalism and an economy-centered world reach their limits, we have no choice but to start from our personal five-sense experiences, such as walking, seeing, touching, and listening.
The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale has been held with the basic philosophy of “Human Beings are part of nature.” Artists have developed their works in rivers, forests, terraced rice paddies, dams, abandoned houses, and closed school buildings. The creation of artworks have brought about collaboration, and guided by the artworks, visitors travel around the region with five senses. Many of the artworks and facilities have created new value by taking advantage of what is already there. In the 9th edition, too, artists will create fascinating works of art that can be experienced through the five senses.
Exploring the region in depth
Artists have explored the geography, history, and lifestyle of Echigo-Tsumari in a variety of ways and created works of art. Isobe Yukihisa has been a participant since the first edition in 2000, and his commitment has revealed Echigo-Tsumari’s local resources and supported the ideological framework of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale. For this year’s Triennale, Yukihisa Isobe Memorial Museum [SoKo] will exhibit the entirety of his activities.
In addition, in the deepest part of Echigo-Tsumari, Akiyamago, the artists and local residents have launched a long-term project to reveal human activities since the beginning of time, while incorporating ethnographic method.
Connecting with the world
Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale has invited artists of diverse origins and backgrounds. To date, more than 1,000 artists from 70 countries and regions have participated in the Triennale, which has attracted a total of 3 million visitors.
This year’s festival features a group of nine works by Ilya Kabakov, who was born in Dnipro, Ukraine, and moved from the former Soviet Union to Russia and then to the United States, including reproductions of works from the former Soviet Union. Ukrainian artist Nikita Kadan will exhibit new and previous works, and screen three of his selected videos.
On September 6, the Asia Forum, which has been ongoing since the 2016 Setouchi Triennale, will also be held in Echigo-Tsumari, inviting artists from Japan and abroad to discuss contemporary issues.
In addition, the Echigo-Tsumari Field Day will be held on September 7. It will be a unique event that will open up all five senses, incorporating sports, dance, music, art, and food, inviting foreign workers and refugees in Japan, children from poor families, people in disaster areas, the disabled and their caregivers, local residents, supporters, and artists. This will be the highlight of the festival’s quarter-century history, which has been created through the collaboration that transcend regionality, generations, and professions.
Press release from Echigo-Tsumare Art Field
Image: Ayşe Erkmen. in and out. 2024. Image courtesy of Echigo-Tsumare Art Triennial
