August 11–September 26, 2021
The third Reborn-Art Festival is a comprehensive celebration of art, music, and food.
First held in 2017 at venues centering on the city of Ishinomaki in northern Japan, the Reborn Art Festival is a new type of comprehensive art festival organized together with the local people and featuring art, music, and food, all among the lush nature of the host area. The third edition of the festival will be held in 2021, the tenth-anniversary year of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and is set to take place in two parts, Spring and Summer. The main venues for both parts will be in the city of Ishinomaki and on the Oshika Peninsula, both in Miyagi Prefecture. Ishinomaki and Oshika suffered severely as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake. These former disaster zones will now be visited by contemporary artists from both Japan and abroad, who will create artworks and organize music events while interacting with local residents. The food served will be unique, presented by top chefs from throughout Japan, who will introduce visitors to the local people and local ingredients. The festival aims to inspire new encounters and establish new connections that contribute to the region’s recovery and its future prosperity.
Theme: Altruism and Fluidity
Taking place in the tenth-anniversary year of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the 2021-22 edition of the Reborn-Art Festival aims to bring together the lessons and results of past festivals to establish new connections that inspire the Tohoku region to recover on its own terms. It seeks to once again move people’s imaginations and form relationships that allow for the creation of a new way of life inspired not by self-interest but concern for others and a fluid way of engaging with things.
Art
The summer program will be curated by Kenji Kubota, who aims to make the festival a place for “sharing your creativity.” Artworks will be displayed in five areas, including Onagawa, a new addition for this year.
Participating artists: Satoshi Hirose, Houxo Que, Yoshihide Otomo, Mari Katayama, Yosuke Amemiya, MES, Yasuyuki Nishio, Mayunkiki, Kyota Takahashi, Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Makoto Aida, Yoko Ono, Tsubasa Kato, Mariko Kobayashi, Rintaro Fuse, Tetsuro Kano, Lieko Shiga Permanent-display artworks by: Naoki Kusumi, Teppei Kaneuji, Kohei Nawa
Music
Music that blends into the region: Musician Takeshi Kobayashi will produce the music program, parts of which will be streamed online, as well as an installation themed on a song written on the tenth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. He will be expressing a world of sound that can be deepened and played only in this time and place.
Food
Ishinomaki is blessed with a wealth of culinary resources from the earth, sea, and mountains. The Reborn-Art Festival, together with producers and top chefs from throughout Japan, has always sought to shine a light on local ingredients and food culture. The 2021–22 edition will, to an even greater degree than before, provide the opportunity to explore food and art together with some of the region’s most notable food professionals.
Organizers: Reborn-Art Festival Executive Committee, ap bank
Special sponsor: Kinoshita Group
Grant: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
