Aichi Triennale 2019
August 1–October 14, 2019
Launched by Aichi Prefecture in 2010, Aichi Triennale is counted among Japan’s largest international festivals of contemporary art. Aichi Triennale 2019, the fourth festival to be held, has the journalist and media activist Tsuda Daisuke as its Artistic Director. The Triennale’s cross-sectional curator team comprises nine experts in contemporary art, film and video, stage performance, music, and learning, including art critic Hou Hanru, who serves as Artistic Director of the National Museum of 21st century Arts, Italy (MAXXI), and the artist Pedro Reyes. The Triennale will bring together about 70 contemporary and film/video artists (individuals or groups) from inside and outside Japan, and stage performers will also showcase their works, mainly dramas, there. During the Triennale period, music programs suitable for the festival are also planned.
Artistic Director
Tsuda Daisuke (Journalist / Media Activist / Professor, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University)
Planning Advisor
Azuma Hiroki (Critic/Writer/Philosopher / Founder, Genron Co., Ltd.)
Chief Curator
Iida Shihoko (Curator)
Curators [International Contemporary Art Exhibition]
Hou Hanru (Artistic Director of MAXXI, National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome)
Nose Yoko (Curator, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art)
Pedro Reyes (Artist/Curator)
Washida Meruro (Curator)
Curator [Screening program]
Sugihara Eijun (Curator, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media)
Curator [Performing Arts]
Soma Chiaki (Representative Director, Arts Commons Tokyo / Art Producer)
Curator [Music program]
Oyama Takuya (Founder, Natasha, Inc.)
Curator [Learning]
Aida Daiya (Artist / Projcet Asistant Professor, Graduate Program for Social ICT Global Creative Leaders (GCL), The University of Tokyo)
The Triennale’s theme—Taming Y/Our Passion—presented by Artistic Director Tsuda Daisuke embodies the following thought behind the Triennale: “Information foments our emotions, and as a result, people suffering from severe anxiety have become polarized around the world today. Instead of understanding the world in terms of opposition, we hope to search for clues to resolving the problems we face now by taking advantage of the power of art, which can deal with anything in the world, to appeal to people’s compassion.”
Concept（abstract）
Many concerns are shared around the world today. At the source is anxiety—the anxiety of an uncertain future, and the anxiety of feeling unsafe and vulnerable to danger. Uncertainty makes people anxious, makes them figure that it is more reasonable to treat gray matters as black and white, and understand the world in terms of oppositions. However, Humans are capable of lending a hand and offering solidarity to others in need on the spur of the moment, even if their traditions and ideals are different or it is against their rationally conceived interests. Though the problems facing humanity today have their causes in jō (emotion and information), it is this very same jō (compassion) that can break through these problems. They say that the etymology of the word “art” can be traced to the Latin word ars and corresponds to the Greek word techne. “Art” referred generally to the “skill (ars) of commanding knowledge and methods informed by classical knowledge.” We must develop the skills (ars) for taming jō (emotion and information) with jō (compassion). This is precisely the original definition of “art.” From Aichi, a leading region in the manufacturing industry, and a unique society that is at once a metropole and on the periphery, Aichi Triennale 2019 explores the middle grounds of various oppositions, to recapture the lost original domain of art.
–Tsuda Daisuke, Aichi Triennale 2019 Artistic Director
The full-text of the Concept.
Video message from the director.
Aichi Triennale 2019
Taming Y/Our Passion
August 1–October 14, 2019
Main Venues: Aichi Arts Center, Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya City (Shikemichi and Endoji), Toyota City (Toyota Municipal Museum of Art and off-site venues)
Organizer: The Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee
