Three major striking experiences that made me fall in love with ETAT

I am interested in art and I visit local art galleries when I go abroad. What drives me is to learn about the background of the country and to check if it is an attractive place from a tourism perspective as a part of my job. On the other hand, whenever I have some concerns about my work, I just visit nearby museums and touch something that I don’t understand. Business, in principal, makes decisions based upon economic rationality (whether we make any profit in return for the money invested). However, in many cases, the answer cannot be obtained. If you just rely on your own OS inside your head, you won’t be able to notice something. For me, art plays an important role in helping strike a balance within myself as well as determining the essence of things.

There are prominent people in various fields who support the concept of ETAT and have become its official supporters. Rina Tanaka, a fashion model, appeared in the first article of this series (1), is one of the members. Yamano’s first encounter with Echigo-Tsumari was when he took up an invitation from Takashima to join “a guided excursion for grown-ups” to visit Echigo-Tsumari in winter.

The first shock was the state of art which he experienced for the first time. The first artwork he found was the collections of sculptures he saw from the bus window – “Boys with Red Lion Cloths Returned” by Tetsuo Sekine. “They were half buried in snow and I thought they were scarecrows of some sort. I thought these must have been moved to the river bank during winter in these regions where there is such heavy snow. I didn’t think they were artworks. However, I was surprised for the second time – that they were artworks and that local farmers put jumpers on them during winter.

For me, who only knew how to look at art in the museums, I found art interesting but it was something to admire from far away and thus it stands completely opposite to myself. However, here in Echigo-Tsumari, the local senior citizens just put jumpers on the artwork without permission. It seemed so natural and that was so surprising to me, and not in a bad way. The festival team told us “that is part of the work”. I was so touched that art could be felt as being so approachable as well as becoming integrated into the local community as they change over time.

“For Lots of Lost Windows” by Akiko Utsumi and “Where the River Has Gone” by Yukihisa Isobe shows the true worth of this art festival. In contrast to artworks you appreciate in a homogenous space like an art gallery, art here synchronises with the natural landscape, changing seasons and histories and time passes in this place. We can feel them in harmony here. When I came to think that art could be born inside viewers, my perspective towards the true value of art had completely shifted.

I was impressed by the existence of many people who supported the festival. The meal for the guided tour I participated was “yukimigozen” a winter feast prepared and served by local villagers. The food itself was great but what surprised me was the large number of people participating in running these activities. I learnt that hundreds of volunteers register from around the world as the festival begins. In a regional place which suffers depopulation and decline in the labour force and productive population, new job opportunities have been created from the art festival. There is also a movement to contribute freely to things with value. That was what I was impressed by.

The local people I met at every place I visited looked really happy. From them I felt their joy and pride in being a part of the festival and I learnt from the General Director Fram Kitagawa that tireless efforts have been made, such as the hundreds of meetings that were organised to explain about the festival at the beginning. While “regional revitalisation” is also part of asoview’s business agenda, I was inspired by this initiative that is so down-to-earth and yet successful in bringing cordial outcomes to the region. Looking back now, I have fallen in love with the festival through these shocking experiences.