Viewing the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2024 through the Lens of Official Photographer Kanemoto Rintaro

At the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2024, more than 200 permanent works are joined by nearly 100 new and newly developed works, colouring the entire Echigo-Tsumari region. In this feature, we offer a photo tour that conveys the atmosphere of the Triennale as it is now, seen through the eyes of official photographer Kanemoto Rintaro.

Located at the entrance to Echigo-Tsumari from Echigo-Yuzawa Station, the Isobe Yukihisa Memorial Echigo-Tsumari Kiyotsu Soko Museum of Art [SoKo] serves as a gateway to the region. Here, visitors can gain insight into the activities and regional perspective of Isobe Yukihisa, who has been involved with Echigo-Tsumari since the earliest days of the Triennale’s conception. The museum offers a deeper understanding of the geography and terrain of the Echigo-Tsumari region—Tokamachi City and Tsunan Town—where Triennale artworks are spread.

This year, Isobe Yukihisa presents a new work created in Kiyomizugawara, Akiyama-go, inspired by Akiyama Kikō by Suzuki Bokushi:
Before the rain – A Conjectural Study for Suzuki Bokushi’s “Akiyama Kikou” : “Travelogue”1828－No.2

At the Kiyotsu Soko Museum gymnasium, visitors can enjoy a dynamic installation that recreates this project through aerial photography.

This work by Indonesian artist Dadang Christanto has continued since 2006. Scenes of agricultural life in Bali are translated into moving elements that respond to the wind, producing a cool, clattering sound. This year, scenes from agricultural work in Echigo-Tsumari have been incorporated into the piece, updating it further. As the work is only exhibited once every three years during the Triennale period, be sure not to miss it.

Because the Shinanogawa River—the longest river in Japan—runs through the Echigo-Tsumari region, hydropower generation has long been a key local industry. Nikita Kadan’s work is installed at the TEPCO Shinanogawa River Power Station regulating reservoir, a facility that channels water drawn in Nagano Prefecture to power stations along the Shinanogawa River in Niigata. At this site, an otherwise underground waterway briefly emerges above ground.

Beside this curiously shaped structure, Kadan has placed sculptures inspired by rocket-shaped playground equipment he often saw as a child, along with satellite motifs. Although the sculptures resemble playground apparatus, visitors are not permitted to approach them.

Drawings inspired by night views encountered on the journey from Tokyo to Echigo-Tsumari are scattered across several shops along the street.

During last winter’s Tsunan Snow Festival, Kaji Seiya held a colouring workshop with local children. Using the brightly coloured scrap materials produced there, a dragon has emerged inside the former Kanayama clothing store. The dragon’s form is something to be discovered in person.

Continuing since 2015 under the supervision of EAT & ART TARO, the Kamigo Clove Theatre Restaurant returns this year with a script by Hara Rintaro + Hara Yu. Local women—affectionately known as onnashō—serve dishes made with Tsunan ingredients, presented in a theatrical format. Costumes and props, crafted with great care by the women themselves, are also highlights. Details of the performance and costumes are best enjoyed together with the meal on site.

Open Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 13 July to 10 November
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Located in the northern part of the Tokamachi area, Ubusuna House is a thatched-roof farmhouse set apart from the town centre. Visitors can enjoy a gentle sense of time passing, while being warmly welcomed by energetic local women, who also share stories about the land, the artworks, and their connection to the Triennale.

Notably absent from the photographs of the meal is the main dish. Lunch at Ubusuna House is characterised by an abundance of side dishes that make use of preserved foods unique to heavy-snow regions.

This year, in addition to rotating small dishes, guests can enjoy a set meal featuring either an inari-style hamburger made with Tsumari pork, or a main dish of kuruma-fu and deep-fried tofu.

For menu details, click here.

The special exhibition 87-Day Square Adventure with Captain MonET, inspired by Captain Nemo from Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, is currently being held across the museum corridors and Akashi no Yu.

Russian artist Tanya Badanina, who continues to work with the motifs of white and light, presents a new work. Based on everyday workwear worn in fields and mountains, each “white garment” features a unique pattern imbued with meanings specific to Echigo-Tsumari. Inside the museum, visitors can also enjoy striking new works by other international artists.

In 2015, inspired by Raphael’s The School of Athens, Navin Rawanchaikul painted a large-scale work depicting the residents of Akakura. In 2022, a companion painting portraying people from Chiang Mai, the artist’s hometown in Thailand, was completed. This year, both works are installed facing one another across the gymnasium and schoolyard of the former Akakura Elementary School.

Akakura village, where the School of Akakura  is installed, is said to have been founded by two defeated warriors in the distant past. Former pupils of the now-closed elementary school sometimes serve at the reception desk. The memories embedded in the school building and the relationships cultivated by the artist within the community are deeply felt, making this a truly site-specific work.