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Protopia - A Becoming Forest

The first Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama: Clear-skies Country encouraged visitors to listen closely to forests and rediscover the nature and culture in their surroundings by tuning into this sensibility. Taking this idea one step further, the 2027 installment espouses a new perspective under the banner “A Becoming Forest.” It focuses on the image of forests that continue to slowly change while heading into a tomorrow which is better, if only a little. Behind this image is the concept of “protopia” advocated by Kevin Kelly.(*) Protopia is neither an idealized utopia nor a pessimistic dystopia; its thrust is the gradual growth of a better society in reality through the accumulation of small improvements, day after day.

The festival combines this protopian vision with the idea of social common capital. More specifically, the aim is to cultivate venues, originating in the festival, for interchange and collaboration by people from all sorts of fields, including technology, agriculture, welfare, and education. The fruits are to be passed on to the next generation while protecting the precious foundation we share in the form of nature, infrastructures, and institutions.

Making the northern part of Okayama Prefecture its stage, Forest Festival of the Arts Okayama: 2027 will take another careful look at the resources and culture abiding in the area and build up a mass of small projects. These will by no means be confined to the production of artwork; they will also attempt to gently reweave the relationships between humanity and nature, and culture and living. We earnestly hope that this process will lead to the birth of new outlooks and pride among both visitors and locals, and nurture the energy needed to progress into the future from inside the area.

(*) Kevin Kelly is an American editor, thinker, and technology critic. He is known for his writings on the interplay between technology and society, and forecasts for the future. He was the founding executive editor of the magazine Wired. He has worldwide influence as a pioneering author on the subjects of artificial intelligence, the Internet, and the decentralized society.