2024-04-23
Aichi Triennale is an art festival organized in Aichi Prefecture, Japan since 2010. This means that in 2022 we can expect the 5th edition of the event. As the main theme, the organizers have chosen the phrase "STILL ALIVE", referring to the post-covid era in which society is to be "reborn" environmentally, politically, economically, and culturally. We are now informed about the full list of artists whose works will be presented during the Triennale.
The Aichi Triennale was established as an international art festival where avant-garde artists can showcase their art. The mission is to spread awareness of groundbreaking artistic realizations while promoting the Aichi region. The festival focuses its attention on contemporary art, with a special interest in the performing arts of music, dance and radical theater.
In 2022, the event will feature Laurie Anderson (iconic American experimental artist), Diedrick Brackens (American artist known for his tapestries exploring queer issues), and Kader Atter (artist whom we already mentioned in the article "Mindscapes – art and mental health"), among others. The list of all participants is available on the event website, under the following link: https://aichitriennale.jp/en/index.html.
For 73 days, from July to October this year, Aichi will come culturally alive with the Triennale. The program is divided into several blocks. These include "Contemporary Art," "Performing Arts," "Education," "Collaborations" and "Online Activities." The committee responsible for the realization of the project wanted to emphasize the multidimensionality of the phrase in this year's edition. It can, of course, be interpreted in several ways, starting from the context of the global Covid-19 pandemic, a universal situation facing humanity - each and every one of us.
Inspiration was drawn from On Kawara – a representative of Japanese conceptualism and mail art
The title "STILL ALIVE" is inspired by the works of Aichi-born artist On Kawara, who in one of his conceptual series of works sent telegrams with the message "I am still alive". The artist's black humor proclaimed the answer to a question no one had asked, sparking controversy for good reason. The information sent by Kawara also had a chance to become outdated before the telegrams were delivered. In this work, which bears the traces of performance, one can see the contrast of the expression of one's inner self with the use of an "external" medium – the mail.
Like Kawara in "STILL ALIVE," pandemic reality confronts us with self-expression through media that create distance from the rest of society. The Aichi Triennale aims to shorten this distance by starting a valuable dialogue about art. Finally, to a significant extent, face-to-face.