September 18–November 23, 2027
The Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama: Clear-skies Country will return from September 18 to November 23, 2027, across northern Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Building on its inaugural edition in 2024, the international art festival brings contemporary art into dialogue with the region’s natural environments, cultural heritage, and local communities.
The 2027 edition is guided by the curatorial concept “Protopia—A Becoming Forest,” which envisions the forest as an evolving entity that moves toward a future that is a little better than today. By connecting this vision with the idea of social common capital, the festival seeks to foster new forms of exchange and collaboration across fields including technology, agriculture, welfare, and education. Under the artistic direction of Yuko Hasegawa, the festival seeks to cultivate spaces for collective engagement and to imagine futures that are incrementally better than the present.
The second group of participating artists, announced on November 2, 2026, comprises twelve artists from eight countries, including Julian Charrière, Junya Ishigami and Adrián Villar Rojas. All are participating in the festival for the first time, and one will be exhibiting in Japan for the first time. Together with the artists announced previously, the 2027 edition has so far announced twenty artists from eleven countries, with artworks to be presented at 22 venues across seven municipalities in northern Okayama Prefecture. Eleven of these venues will be used for the first time. Further artists, venues and projects will be announced in the coming months.
The festival’s main visual features Abricó de macaco 10 (2023) by Brazilian artist Luiz Zerbini. Ahead of the festival, a specially designed train by Mika Ninagawa with EiM began operating in October 2026. The project is set to evolve further, with completion expected in autumn 2027.
Further information on participating artists, venues, and the festival program is available on the official website.
Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama: Clear-skies Country 2027
Concept: “ProtopiaーA Becoming Forest”
Festival period: Saturday, September 18–Tuesday, November 23 (National Holiday), 2027
Area: 12 municipalities in the northern Okayama Prefecture
Art venues: 7 municipalities in the northern Okayama Prefecture
Artistic Director: Yuko Hasegawa (Curator / Modern and Contemporary Art Historian)
Organizer: Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama: Clear-skies Country Executive Committee, Ryuta Ibaragi (Governor of Okayama Prefecture)
Artists (as of November 2, 2026; listed alphabetically, *exhibiting in Japan for the first time): Faig Ahmed (Azerbaijan), Smitha M Babu (India), Julian Charrière (Switzerland), Juliana dos Santos* (Brazil), Leandro Erlich (Argentina), Mike Hewson (New Zealand), Junya Ishigami (Japan), Kazuo Kawakami (Japan), Keiken (UK), Mirai Moriyama (Japan), Richard Mwizerwa (Rwanda), Uriel Orlow (Switzerland), Mika Ninagawa with EiM (Japan), Isabel Sicat* (TOQA) (the Philippines), Sputniko! (Japan), Risaku Suzuki (Japan), Rirkrit Tiravanija (Thailand), Adrián Villar Rojas (Argentina), Warli artists (Sadashiv Jivya Mashe and others) (India), Luiz Zerbini* (Brazil).
Media contact:
Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama: Clear-skies Country Executive Committee, press@forestartfest-okayama.jp
