Director’s Column - Art That Welcomes: A Quarter-Century of Deepening Layers, and What Lies Ahead

The 87-day period of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2024 has now reached its midpoint. Here, General Director Kitagawa Fram introduces highlights of the 9th Triennale and reflects on the current state of Echigo-Tsumari.

With half of the 9th Triennale now complete, I travelled around Echigo-Tsumari on 29 September, as the night programme of the special exhibition 87-Day Square Adventure with Captain MonET was coming to a close. The Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art MonET, which planned through hands-on experiences and a night museum programme, was bustling with visitors. During two consecutive days of rice harvesting for the Matsudai Tanada Bank, we shared a curry lunch at the piloti beneath Matsudai Nohbutai. Many children took part. As I often feel, it is heartening to see families and groups of children scattered throughout Joyama, expanding out from Ilya & Emilia Kabakov’s The Rice Fields.  Satoyama is only truly brought to life when children are present.

At Ilya & Emilia Kabakov’s The Artist’s Library on the upper floor of Matsudai Nohbutai, I was interviewed by professors and researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Until around ten years ago, we had close ties with the University of Hong Kong and foundations, including collaborative projects. Today, activities continue through Hong Kong House in Tsunan. I would like to take another step forward in finding ways to make use of our accumulated experience together with young people from Hong Kong.

In Karekimata, I had the opportunity to greet Mayor Koide Joji of Ichihara City, the host city of the 100 Years After Art Festival – Uchiboso Art Festival, held this spring. This was Mayor Koide’s fourth visit to the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale. A group led by Urabe Mari from Uzawa International Academy was also visiting.

I was finally able to buy a carton of free-range eggs I had long been hoping for. True to its name, Karekimata is a remote place, but in recent years it has worked steadily with ancient black rice and free-range poultry. Chickens actually wander onto the road here—drivers should take care. Karekimata has also supported the Karekimata Project since 2009, together with Kyoto Seika University. I feel that this long-term effort has truly come into bloom during this Triennale.

I have chosen to highlight works in Karekimata, Shimizu, Kiriyama, Gannyu (Placenta – Misyaguchi / Ubusuna House), Akakura, Nunagawa, Yomogihira, Toge, Daigonji, Oakasawa and Kamigo because they are located on the outer edges of Tokamachi City.

The vitality of the people living in these areas becomes the driving force for the regeneration of Tokamachi and Tsunan—and, by extension, for Japan itself, as the far eastern edge of human habitation. By opening up possibilities embedded in nature, human life and regional history, these works have become compelling and alive.

“Hello, my name is …”
“Welcome. Please come inside.”

This is how visitors are welcomed here. It is the first step towards human connection. Visitors carry with them the ingenuity, ways of life, and the beautiful yet harsh natural environment of Echigo-Tsumari, passing these stories on to their own communities and to future generations. The artworks have begun to serve as guiding lights along that journey.

The outbound leg of the “Deepest Japan Traverse Tour”—from Akiyamago (Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale) to Kurobe Dam (Northern Alps Art Festival), and on to Nomugi Pass (Minami-Hida Art Discovery)—has already sold out. On Monday 14 October (public holiday), anthropologist Tim Ingold will give a lecture titled Akiyama-go in the World, followed by a tour.
Meanwhile, Nakago’s animal-themed exhibition Nakago WonderLand–Breath and Rebirth of Animals runs until Sunday 6 October.

We warmly invite you to visit Echigo-Tsumari this autumn.