ABOUT | THE FOREST FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS OKAYAMA

Concept

The Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama: Clear-skies Country will be an international art festival held in the northern half of Okayama Prefecture in the autumn of 2024.

From ancient times, the Izumo Road linking the provinces of Yamato to the east and Izumo to the west traversed this area, whose castle towns and post towns flourished in early modern times. The area consequently has a legacy of various traditional structures, crafts, and performing arts. Its land and forests yield an abundance of fruit, lumber, and other products.

Various efforts are being made to ensure the sustainability of its blessings. Of particular note is a project making effective use of forest resources in applications such as woody biomass power generation, which has been given high ratings as a progressive model for attainment of SDGs. In addition, the leisurely time and open space represented by the Hiruzen Highlands as well as the three Mimasaka spas, limestone caves, and other features which have not undergone excessive tourism development hold new possibilities in ecological thinking.

The title “Forest Festival of the Arts” was inspired by the forests in this area, which are full of elements that are of vital importance for our lives, including a moderate climate, ample supply of water and other resources, and foodstuffs. They likewise symbolize its diversity and richness as a place of natural bounty and culture, where people come together.

Taking the activation of this bounty born of forests into the future using the power of art as its objective, the festival will pose a question: “what kind of capital do we truly need?” Under an outlook regarding cultural facilities (such as art museums, memorial halls, and schools), life infrastructure (the supply of water, energy, and food), and the natural environment as components of the social common capital, the point is to create new capital through activities by not only artists but also experts (architects, scientists, and ethnologists), with the cooperation of local residents.

Besides reflecting diverse views, art generates empathy with them among viewers and nurtures powers of imagination toward new perspectives on the world and things. This makes people feel surprised, deeply moved, excited, and inspired, as well as the joy of being alive and the sense of fulfillment that comes from profound sensibility and thought. Infused with the energy of art, the ecological system of northern Okayama will be transformed into a topos that refreshes people’s hearts and minds. This festival of residents in the forested part of “clear-skies country” will celebrate this transformation.

Art Director

長谷川祐子: Yuko Hasegawa

森の芸術祭晴れの国・岡山

Yuko Hasegawa is a curator, educator and writer based out of Tokyo. She currently holds positions as Director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Artistic Director of the Inujima Art House Project and Professor Emeritus of Tokyo University of the Arts. She was Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo until 2021 and during her post she curated solo exhibitions of Dumb Type, Olafur Eliasson and rhizomatiks amoung others.

She has curated Japanese contemporary art and media and technology extensively both domestically and internationally. Her curatorial language is interdisciplinary, encompassing not simply art but also architecture, design, science and anthropology, and combined with global curating experience, allows her to view art as part of a single, holistic ecology.

Hasegawa has also curated, either solo or in a joint capacity, international art biennials including the 7th International Istanbul Biennial (2001), the Shanghai Biennale (2002), the 29th São Paulo Biennial (2010), the Sharjah Biennial 11 (2013), and the 7th Moscow Biennale (2017), Thailand Biennale, Korat (2021) and also served as art advisor to the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale (2010).

In parallel with her curating roles, as a professor of Curatorial Studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Global Arts since 2015, Yuko Hasegawa has taught students of multiple nationalities, while continuing to construct curatorial theories and contribute to the development of contemporary art discourse from non-western-centric points of view. She has also written, co-authored and contributed to numerous books, papers and catalogues. Among her most recent publications is New Ecology and Art: Anthropocene as dithering time.

Hasegawa has been honored with the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France (2015), the Ordem de Rio Branco, Brazil (2017), and Japan Commissioner for Cultural Affairs Award, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan (2020).

Logo

森の芸術祭晴れの国・岡山ロゴマークについて

Concept

The visual identity of the festival is inspired by the duality of light and shadow. The delicate fabrics of the local Hinoki studio influenced a series of visual meshes that are used with fresh, contemporary colours creating a feeling of lightness and transparency. These are combined with photography of Okayama’s nature to represent the festival’s symbiotic relationship with the landscape.

Designer: Barnbrook Studio (UK)

Barnbrook Studio was founded by Jonathan Barnbrook in 1990. The studio works worldwide on a diverse range of cultural and social projects, believing that design can influence society in a positive way for change. The studio are most well known works for David Bowie record covers including his last album ‘Blackstar’ for which the studio won a grammy. It also has a strong relationship with Japan, creating the branding for Mori Art Museum and Roppongi Hills in Tokyo.

Outline

Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama: Clear-skies Country is an international art festival that will unfold in an area comprised of 12 municipalities (cities, towns, and villages). Specifically, these are the cities of Tsuyama, Takahashi, Niimi, Maniwa, and Mimasaka; the towns of Kagamino, Shoo, Nagi, Kumenan, and Misaki; and the villages of Shinjo and Nishiawakura.

This area stretches from the Chugoku Mountains, which separate the Sanyo and Sanin regions, to the Kibi Highlands, and constitutes the upstream district of the three major rivers whose sources are in the Chugoku Mountains (the Yoshii, Asahi, and Takahashi rivers). It has a landscape differing from that of the area along the coast of the Seto Inland Sea in the southern part of the prefecture, and is blessed with many attractive resources. These include abundant greenery and majestic nature, the station towns and castle towns along the old post roads, historic townscapes of communities that flourished as nodes of river transport, and the three Mimasaka spas fed with hot springs water of excellent quality (Yunogo, Okutsu, and Yubara).

Displaying works of art and including related events, the festival will highlight the appeals of the area from new perspectives and deliver a special, out-of-the ordinary experience. The main aims are to promote excursion-oriented tourism, expand the population engaged in interchange, and enhance civic pride, all around the festival as a centerpiece.

Title: Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama: Clear-skies Country
Festival period: September 28th (Sat) - November 24th (Sun), 2024
Area: 12 municipalities in Okayama Prefecture (the cities of Tsuyama, Takahashi, Niimi, Maniwa, and Mimasaka; the towns of Kagamino, Shoo, Nagi, Kumenan, and Misaki; and the villages of Shinjo and Nishiawakura)
where works of art will be installed: the cities of Tsuyama, Niimi, and Maniwa, and the towns of Kagamino and Nagi
Art Director: Yuko Hasegawa
Organizer: Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama: Clear-skies Country Executive Committee
Ryuta Ibaragi (Governor of Okayama Prefecture)
Schedule going forward: Autumn, 2024: Holding of the festival