The Japanese Society for Aesthetics

Aesthetics No.25 (2021): 90-105

Exploring the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival:
Transformation of Open-Air Art Exhibitions
and the Institution of Art in the 1980s Japan*
YAMASHITA Kohei
Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto

Introduction
This paper examines the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival organized in Okayama
Prefecture, Ushimado, in 1984 for the first time. Hattori Tsuneo, the president of the Japan Olive
Corporation at that time, showed great enthusiasm for setting up the Japan Ushimado
International Art Festival; Okazaki Tamako, an owner of a gallery in Tokyo, assumed the post of
a producer; Matsuzawa Yutaka, an artist, assumed the post of an adviser; and Chiba Shigeo, an
art critic (then curator at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo), became the commissioner.
This festival was named the Ushimado International Biennale in 1985 and held every two years
thereafter. Although there were only five invited artists at the biennale, this exhibition wasconsidered an international exhibition as it frequently invited domestic and foreign artists. The
art festival was organized in 1992 for the last time.
In Japan in the 1960s, open-air sculpture exhibitions were held on aregular basis. In the 1980s, open-air art exhibitions prospered in various
places. Their organization was more diverse than usual. In addition to theJapan Ushimado International Art Festival, there were the Hamamatsu
Open-Air Art Exhibition (1980–1987), the Hakushū Summer Festival(1988–1998), the Biwako Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition (1981,1984), and the Bao Art Festival in Okishima (1990).
Most studies of open-air sculpture exhibitions such as these adopted
their approach from public art and cultural policy. However, it is more
important to compare these exhibitions with the art situation in postwar
Japan, that is, to examine them by studying the history of art exhibitions
through the analysis of the Japanese art world itself: changes in the Fig. 1 (reference)organization, selection of artwork, display, forms of artwork, and criteria The cover of thecatalog “Theof value placed upon criticism. While scholars are familiar with the Japan illustrated
Fifth and Sixth Japan
Ushimado International Art Festival, there are only a few reviews on this Ushimado International
topic and an overall lack of comprehensive examination. 1 Thus, this Art Festival,” 1990.

* This paper is based on the Japanese version printed in Bigaku250, vol.68, no.1, (2017): 73-84, published by
the Japanese Society for Aesthetics.

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study considers the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival as a whole and examines its rolein art history through the collection and analysis of materials about it. Moreover, it focuses on thetransformation and context of Japanese open-air art exhibitions in the 1980s.
Many art critics have debated the forms in exhibition-making in postwar Japan. During thistime, conceptual artwork appeared through the stream from “Anti-Art” (Han-geijutsu) in the
1960s to the 10th International Art Exhibition, Japan (commonly referred to as the Tokyo
Biennale), whose theme was “Human and Matter,” in the 1970s.2 When we investigated theinstitutional issue of an art exhibition held in the city center, Tokyo specifically, as mentioned
above, there remained the question of the fusion of modern categories (e.g., art museum, genre,
display, and appreciation). Further, there was the issue regarding the global and local context
related to the emerging large-scale art exhibitions in the 2000s; thus, the author considers theexistence of the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival as an important clue to shedding somelight on the past problems, indicating changing situations for exhibition-making as a pioneer.

1. The trends in earlier literature
The following books were selected and analyzed: The Work of Japanese Sculpture
Establishment: Monument and Public Art (Nihon no chōkoku settchi jigyo: Monument to publicart) by Takeda Naoki, and The Expansion and Achievement of Public Art: The Public Nature ofArt, the Rebirth of Local Cultures and the Future of Art and Culture (Public art no tenkai totōtatsuten: Art no kōkyōsei, chiikibunnka no saisei, geijutsu bunnka no mirai) by Matsuo Yutaka.
These books included a systematic and chronological study of the state of “public art” in thehistory of Japanese open-air sculpture. However, as far as the Japan Ushimado International Art
Festival is concerned, Takeda only briefly mentions it as a supplementary event.3 In contrast,
considering the concept of “art project,” for example, an earlier work that discusses this topic is
Art Project: The Creative Society with Art (Geijutsu to kyōsōsuru shakai) by Kumakura Sumiko.
In this book, she ranks the period from the 1950s to the 1980s as the former history of art andexplains that the concept of “space” in art has expanded into the concept of “site.” Thus, sherecognizes the Japan Ushimado International Art Exhibition as an important instance, but the1

In the catalog of the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival, the contents of two times, such as 1st /2nd,
were included in one volume, and issue 4 of the 7th/8th illustrated catalogs was the last. The catalog was not
distributed throughout the country because of limited budget. See Fig.1.
2
The International Art Exhibition, Japan, the first international art exhibition in postwar Japan, was establishedby the auspices of the Mainichi News Company in 1952. Especially from the 1950s to the 1970s, the form of theexhibition had changed from a comprehensive display to a themed one, closely related to art movements. As a result,
this exhibition, where major artists and art critics were assembled, had great importance in art criticism. The “Humanand Matter” exhibition by Nakahara Yūsuke was part of the 10th International Art Exhibition, Japan.
3
Takeda Naoki, Nihon no chōkoku settchi jigyo: Monument to Public Art [The Work of Japanese Sculpture
Establishment: Monument and Public Art] (Tokyo: Kōjinnotomosha, 1997). Matsuo Yutaka, Public Art no tenkai toTokyo: Art no kōkyōsei, chiikibunnka no saisei, geijutsu bunnka no mirai [The Expansion and Achievement of Public
Art: The Public Nature of Art, the Rebirth of Local Cultures, and the Future of Art and Culture] (Tokyo: Suiyōsha,2015). Takeda sees this art festival as “private art” against “public art.”

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92

concrete structure of this exhibition is unclear.4
In addition, when we study the situation of the forms of art works and “site,” the text
Sculpture in the Expanded Field (1979) by Rosalind Krauss is also worth mentioning.5 In thispaper, she discusses how the concept of sculpture expands to four additional concepts—sculpture,marked sites, axiomatic structures, and site construction—as the post-modern condition of
sculpture. Examining the art work, the concept of the Japan Ushimado International Art
Exhibition, and the structure of the exhibition itself, I could grasp a different aspect from thesimple expansion of art. I propose that this slight difference indicates an aspect of post-modern
conditions in Japan. This is explained in detail within this paper.

2. The structure and character of the Japan Ushimado International Art Exhibition
First, what kind of exhibition is the Japan Ushimado International Art Exhibition? This study
grasps the exhibition’s individuality in the 1980s Japan, making the organization, selection,
artwork, and forms of display clear. Further, Table 1 shows “the Summary of Changes of theJapan Ushimado International Art Festival,” which can be found at the end of this paper.
This exhibition's venue, Ushimado in Okayama Prefecture, was originally a key traffic
junction in the Seto Inland Sea and a port of call for the Korean Communications Minister.
Ushimado's climate resembles the Mediterranean climate, so it has wide olive orchards in the
hilly areas and cooperates with Mitilini City in Greece as an international sister city (Fig. 2).
Hattori described the birth of the Japan Ushimado International Art Exhibition as follows: “I was
originally a Nitten artist, but I tried to conduct the arts of environment and landscape in nature
for contemporary art, which was not different
from the prize system of Nitten.” Hattori focusedon radical changes in artwork during the 1980s
and was conscious of making a “contemporary”
art exhibition.6 Hattori further prepared the Japan
Ushimado International Art Exhibition by inviting
Okazaki Tamako, Matsuzawa Yutaka, and Chiba
Shigeo as members of the steering committee byusing his connections in Tokyo. In addition, hemanaged to include the Tourist Association, Fig. 2
The scene of the olive garden, where artworks wereeducational committee, fishermen's cooperative, installed for the Japan Ushimado International Art
the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Festival, 2014. (Photo: author)

4

Kumakura Sumiko, Art project: Geijutsu to kyōsōsuru shakai [Art Project: A Society Cooperating with Art
Creatively] (Tokyo: Suiyōsha, 2014).
5
Rosalind E Krauss, "Sculpture in the Expanded Field," October 8 (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1979): 30-44.
Reprinted in Hanbigaku: post modernism no shosō [The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture], trans. Muroi
Hisashi and Yoshioka Hiroshi (Tokyo: Keisōshobō, 1987), 65-80.
6Hattori Tsuneo (Nippon Olive Co., Ltd., president) interview, March 14, 2014, at Eiraku Hall in Ushimado,
Okayama Prefecture. Interviewer: Yamashita Kohei. Here, I received notes on the contents, publicity materials, andcatalogs from Hattori.

Exploring the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival

93

Ushimado, and others in the steering committee, which had Shinchi Isao, who was then the mayorof the town, and the townspeople’s cooperation. Moreover, each group’s company of the Hattorifamily and local companies sponsored the festival. It is said that such an organization was very
uncommon in the early 1980s because the structure of open-air sculpture exhibitions in Japan was
carried over from that of art exhibitions in postwar Japan, and were often held under the auspicesof newspaper companies, which had contributed to the reorganization and development of theJapanese art world in postwar Japan. It is noteworthy that the organization of “volunteering” wasadded to management at that time.
The Japan Ushimado International Art Exhibition usually stayed open for three days,
November 2nd–4th in general. Due to the limited budget, the festival’s opening period was
shorter than that of other art exhibitions in the center of Tokyo. From the 2nd exhibition onward,
the steering committee labeled it as the Ushimado International Biennale and decided to invite
both foreign and domestic artists. It was basically kept as an international art exhibition, with anemphasis of being “cutting edge,” in mind, as shown within text found in the illustrated catalogof the 1st/2nd festival: “We regularly continue to conduct an international contemporary art
exhibition, which is although small in scale, yet increasingly becoming high in quality.”This paper discusses the characteristic contents, artworks, and displays of this art exhibition,
narrowing down the points, because of limited space (for details, see Table 1). If one is to makeconclusions in advance, one characteristic of this art exhibition is that it includes not only artwork
displays by invited artists, but also various content, despite being an international art exhibitionin the 1980s. The contents of this exhibition are even more diverse: symposiums, creating artworkon site, works dotting around Ushimado, the exhibition of “Experiment of an Open-Air Art,”
plays and performances, and the connection of a local Ushimado culture.
A symposium on how the International Art Exhibition in Ushimado should be conducted,
for example, had been held for two days at the hill of the olive garden during the first exhibitionin 1984, because of the opening of the Ushimado International Biennale the following year. Chiba
Shigeo presided over the symposium, and Miyake Riichi presented a paper titled “The Report of
the Field Survey in Ushimado-cho.” In addition, Shin Motohide presented “Ushimado and the
Korea Communications Minister,” whereas Asada Akira presented “Center and Region in the
Current of Ideology and Culture” on Day 1. Furthermore, Inui Yoshiaki presented “An Exhibition
and an International Exhibition,” and Matuszawa Yutaka presented “An International Exhibition
I Experienced.” The entire discussion took place on Day 2 (Fig. 3). Later, symposiums andFig. 3(reference)
In 1985, the scene of
the symposium in thesecond exhibition.
From the illustrated
catalog “The First andSecond Japan
Ushimado Inernational
Art Festival.”

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YAMASHITA Kohei

lectures were held in other exhibitions. The teach-in during the 5th exhibition in 1988 was heldat the big hall in Honrenji Temple in Ushimado, which is an important establishment where
people in Ushimado entertained the Korean Communications Minister in the Edo period; aregional resource, not directly related to the context of art, like an art museum and a gallery, wasapplied as a venue for this art exhibition.
Here, we consider specific instances of creating artwork on-site by invited artists. The
committee thus invited Daniel Buren, Ulay, and Marina Abramović from overseas countries andMatsuzawa Yutaka, Kosugi Takehisa, and Shinoyama Kishin from Japan, labeling the 2nd
exhibition as “The First Ushimado International Biennale.” Kosugi Takehisa, who organized“The Group Music” with Mizuno Shūkō, Shiomi Mieko, and Tone Yasunao in 1961, installed
three boxes containing sugar, white sand, and salt. He inserted 54 devices into them, which would
send out faint and random sounds. The exhibition's illustrated catalog states, “There is little noisein the warehouse, and we could see the Ushimado's sea through the entrance. This experience is
one of the most limited ways of hearing a sound, and the situation in which we could feel deep
silence.” Daniel Buren, a major conceptual artist, installed 200 flags with white and red stripes,
in the range of 400 meters, at the breakwater of Ushimado, named “Ichimoji Hatoba.” Ulay andMarina gave a performance titled “The Way of Life” at the one hundred-mat large hall of theWest Hattori Family.
Thus, domestic and overseas artists gathered at Ushimado to make artwork on-site and gave
performances. What should be noted are not particular institutions but various places in the olive
gardens, which indicate the outside space, and the Japanese-style room and warehouse of the
Hattori family, which was used for the exhibition in the early 1980s.
The 4th exhibition in 1987 (the 2nd Ushimado
International Biennale) adopted the theme of “Sculpture andSpace,” inviting conceptual artists, who dealt with matter andplaced emphasis on place or space. Thus, Giuseppe Penone
from Italy and Joel Shapiro from the United States wereinvited as foreign-selected artists, whereas Muraoka Saburō
and Suga Kishio were invited as domestic artists. Muraoka
made artwork, making use of various areas in Ushimado-cho.
For example, Muraoka installed an oxygen cylinder wound ina sailcloth at the southern hillside of an olive garden and alarge rectangular plate into a large hole. The noise of the
microphone thrown into the Ushimado's sea was sent to thecylinder, and the sounds of another installed on utility polesaround the town were sent to the plate through a telephoneline. Suga Kishio installed three-dimensional structures madeof wood, stone, and iron using the spaces at which a bank andthe top of an olive garden. His artwork Bridge of Distance Fig. 4
indicates that the two wood objects overlapped with two Suga Kishio, Bridge of Distance(detail), 1987. From the illustrated
islands located in the Seto Inland Sea at this distance (Fig. 4). catalog “The Third and Fourth Japan
In the 6th exhibition of 1989, the steering committee Ushimado International Art Festival.”

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established the theme of “Young Asian Development” and selected artists from Asia. As Chiba
Shigeo reminisced, “I was interested in the Korea Communications Minister in the Ushimado's
history as well.” 7 While this selection itself was the main focus, Kenmochi Kazuo andKawashima Kiyoshi were invited from Japan, and two artists were invited from South Korea andTaiwan, respectively. They made large-scale three-dimensional objects with natural materials
such as lumber and brick, using an olive garden and Hattori’s warehouse. Kenmochi Kazuo
installed a 28-m-high structure, which was the highest of his works at that time, at the hillside ofan olive garden. Kawamata Tadashi, who was invited at the 8th exhibition in 1991 (the 4th
Ushimado International Biennale), extended the scope of his activity around the town in
Ushimado. He is known as the artist who has the keyword “the temporary.” Kawamata installedbarracks in some spaces of the town, such as the hillside over the graveyard behind the Mokurenji
Temple, using scrap wood collected at the town hall after housing demolitions. Thus, most largesale “spaces,” more than ever, became targets for artwork during the 8th exhibition.
Next, the study examines the instances of drama and performance. The tent of “Jōkyō Gekijō”(Situation Theather) by Kara Jurō was installed on the top of an olive garden during the 3rd
exhibition, whose subject was “Drama and Space.” Girl Mask, one of his masterpieces and first
performed in 1969, was performed at the Jōkyō Gekijō (Fig. 5). There seemed to be a long line
in front of the red tent. In the fifth exhibition of 1988, Ōno Kazuo and Keito from Japan, Milan
Sladek from Germany, and Delphine Hurel from France were invited.
As Chiba Shigeo, who selected artists, recalls “I intended to show the latest trend in art in aregion, Ushimado, and various genre and expressions.” The selected artists acquire a great
reputation even today, and most of them have been invited to other international art exhibitions.
Here, I would like to understand the perspective of the connection between the center and theregion. This supports the details mentioned above and the facts of organizations, selections, andexchanges in this festival. The term “center” inthis context means not only a “geographical”
center, but also “the stream” of art in the 1980s
Japan. That is, there was always a connection
point with “the center (Tokyo or art
movement)” in the subject, selection, artwork,
criticism, and exchange, as the purpose andprinciple for the organization, as Chiba
indicated. This connection means that the
Ushimado International Art Festival is not onlya regional festival but also an important positionin Japanese art history. In contrast, this Fig. 5
Kara Jurō, Jōkyō Gekijō, 1986. The scene of the red tent at
exhibition has the vector of the local culture in the top of the olive garden. From the illustrated catalog
Ushimado, as well as its connection to the “The Third and Fourth Japan Ushimado International Art
Festival.”
7

Chiba Shigeo interview, January 20, 2016, at the Chiba Shigeo study room of Chubu University. Interviewer:
Yamashita Kohei.

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YAMASHITA Kohei

Fig. 6The scene of “Sword Dance” (Tachi Odori), 1987. From theillustrated catalog “The Third and Fourth Japan Ushimado
International Art Festival.”

Fig. 7The scene of the “Festival of Sound and Light,” 1984.
A big fishing net screen is spread in the background.
From the illustrated catalog “The First and Second
Japan Ushimado International Art Festival.”center, as this art exhibition is named an “art festival”
in spite of being “an international art exhibition.” Themultistory property of this exhibition, grown throughthe 1980s, indicates that the Japan Ushimado
International Art Festival continues the system of art
exhibitions from the postwar period and is also
considered a pioneer of large-sale art exhibitions in
the 1990s.
From the first exhibition onward, dances,
performances, Japanese-style drum groups, and local
chorus groups performed as part of the “Festival of Fig. 8
The scene of “Taking a Walk to Wells (IdoSound and Light.” Okasazaki Tamako managed these Meguri),” 1987. From the illustrated catalog “Theactivities, and the systems set by the mayor and local Third and Fourth Japan Ushimado International Art
committees mentioned above functioned. The Festival.”“Festival of Sound and Light” was held every time. During the 2nd exhibition, it started after the
performance of the selected artist Kosugi Takehisa. A laser beam with a fishing net spread out
widely directed at the Three Goddesses Square in the olive garden. It is characteristic that theJapanese drum, Kurashiki Public Drum (Kurashiki Tenryō Taiko) and Zentu Temple Dragon
Drum (Zentū-ji Ryujin Taiko) were performed during the event. Although this art exhibition isconsidered to be international, the culture of the Japanese-style Drum (Wadaiko) connects to it as
its content. The Bicchū sacred performance (Bicchū Kagura), Wakenokiyomaro Drum
(Wakenokiyomaro Taiko), Chinese-style dance (Karako Odori), and Sword dance (Tachi Odori)were added to the 4th exhibition in 1987 (Fig. 6). The catalog states that “The children in
Ushimado succeed in Sword Dance (Tachi Odori) and Chinese-style dance (Karako Odori). In
particular, Chinese-style dance (Karako Odori), which the Korean Communications Ministerbrought to Ushimado, is a cultural asset. The Bicchū sacred performance (Bicchū Kagura) andthe Wakenokiyomaro Drum (Wakenokiyomaro Taiko), which are representative rituals in the
Okayama prefecture, were performed with the Ushimado fishing net screen in the background ofolive trees as an autumn festival in the early evening” (Fig. 7). During the 4th exhibition, theExploring the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival

97

more noteworthy content is one of “Taking a Walk to Wells (Ido Meguri)” (Fig. 8). This is theevent of taking a walk to the communal wells for fishermen and one for a Japanese feudal lord(daimyō), which remains in Ushimado, which used to be a port of call for the Korean
Communications Minister. This content made visitors move around the field of Ushimado, which
remains as old rows of houses, to see wells dotted in the town.
With the 7th exhibition in 1990, the festivals started becoming increasingly diversified,including lectures by Ikeda Masuo and Nishibe Susumu, the workshop and lecture by Miyawaki
Aiko with a slide projector, the lecture and display of A Blank Space of Book and One Hundred
Books at the Art Shop by Washida Kiyokazu and Kikuchi Nobuyoshi, and the great ChorSchone
chorus, including 40 members. Their content was characteristic.
Thus, the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival changed the contents of each exhibitionand had notable diversity, even in the 1980s. The art exhibition itself crosses beyond the frameof an existing art exhibition form—the relationship between the artwork, display, andappreciation—and connects to local culture. It is important for the history of exhibitions that an
exhibition had been transformed into a form containing diverse content. We could extract the
problem of the system of “art” and the changing of “art exhibition” in Japan of the 1980s,
comparing the forms of organization, selection, artwork, and appreciation in this festival with thatof large-scale art exhibitions before the 1970s — the art movement of the center (Tokyo).

3. The Japan Ushimado International Art Festival and the institution of art
This section analyzes the properties of the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival
considering the Japanese art movement prior to the 1980s, based on the structure and changes in
the festival, as clarified in the previous section.
As stated in Section 2, first, there is a transformation of the organization. Table 2 (see theend of this paper) presents a summary of large-scale art exhibitions. Hattori Tsuneo assumed theleadership of the festival, whereas the curator team was organized by Okazaki Tamako, Chiba
Shigeo, and Matsuzawa Yutaka. Large-scale organizations of the steering committee andvolunteers were formed. This festival’s organization completely differed from the traditionallarge-scale art exhibitions in postwar Japan: the steering committees were formed by the arts andscience section of a newspaper company and major art critics. For instance, let us consider theInternational Art Exhibition, Japan (1952–1990), the Contemporary Exhibition of Japan (1954–
2000), and the Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition in Kobe Suma Detached Palace by the Asahi
Newspaper Company and the City of Kobe (1968–1998). They adopted a system of selection byart critics, the prize system, and the competition. However, the Japan Ushimado International Art
Festival did not adopt a prize or a competition system. The organization of the Japan Ushimado
International Art Festival involved the appearance of organizers composed of a local privatecompany, local government, and local groups, with the connection between a region and thecenter, in the historical changes of organizers: from an exhibition by the auspices of only anewspaper company at the limited venue of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in the postwar
period, to an open-air sculpture exhibition organized by a newspaper company, local government,

YAMASHITA Kohei

98and private organizations, and an open-air art exhibition organized by artists themselves at a parkor a riverbank, and in other specific areas. As Table 2 indicates, this festival’s organization issimilar to new large-scale art exhibitions that have increased in number since the 1990s: “The
Echigo-Tsumari Art Field: The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale,” born in a region like Ushimado's
festival, and “The Yokohama Triennale,” an international art exhibition in a city.8 That is, one
can regard the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival as a pioneer of new large-scale art
exhibitions, rather than having a traditional framework.
Consequently, a system distinguishing it from a traditional exhibition is related to thetransformation of “art exhibition”—the relationship between artwork and the organization of an
exhibition. As investigated in Section 2, so-called artworks were unfamiliar with the form of adisplay in a “white cube”—thus making work on-site, a display in the open air, and a performance.
One can catch a glimpse of this festival’s viewpoint regarding it as an international art exhibition
based on the changes in the form of artwork.
This study examines changes in the organization of art exhibitions based on the relationshipbetween an organization and the form of an artwork, from the viewpoint of the history of
exhibition organizing. Thus, we were able to recall the 10th International Art Exhibition, Japan:
Human and Matter in 1970. The “Human and Matter” exhibition left an important trace in thehistory of organizing exhibitions in postwar Japan; only Nakahara Yūsuke assumed the post of ageneral director and selected 40 artists from foreign countries and Japan, and only contemporary
and conceptual artworks were displayed. Notably, only Minemura Toshiaki, who worked in theArts and Science Department of the Mainichi News Company, took charge of this organization.
This management faced the problem concerning regulations on the space for a display, as
Christo’s plan in the open air of Ueno Park was not permitted. The 11th International Art
Exhibition, Japan, was held again after three years, but the organization adopted the old section
system: the sections for foreign countries and for Japan. That is, the center (Tokyo) had beentroubled with the way of making an “international art exhibition” or a large-scale “art exhibition”
in the transitional period from painting and sculpture to conceptual art of the 1970s.
Nakahara Yūsuke also inferred this turning point in the art exhibition, stating the following
about the “Human and Matter” exhibition9:
I could not completely apply my current concern about contemporary art to the form of“making an exhibition.” In other words, I had a hunch that the form of “making an exhibition”
itself might be at a turning point now.

8

For example, Kitagawa Furamu assumed the post of the general director, and five members, including
Nakahara Yūsuke, acted as art advisers in the first Echigo-Tsumari Art Field (Daichi no geijutsusai). The executive
committee was composed of the governor of Niigata Prefecture, mayor of each town in Tsumari district, eachchamber of commerce and industry, and each agricultural cooperative association.
9
Nakahara Yūsuke, “Tokushu Mikan naru mono no katei kara: Gendai bijutsu no shuppatsu to tenkai 9 soshite,tatemono ha kieta” [Special future, from a process of an incomplete thing: the departure and development ofcontemporary art, 9, and a building vanished], in Bijutsu Techō 428 (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, January, 1978):192.

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Debates on “making an art exhibition” such as this frequently occurred in art magazines in
the 1970s. The author found over 41 articles on the way of “making an art exhibition,” including
the International Art Exhibition, Japan, and the Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan in art
magazines of the 1970s. For example, Minemura Toshiaki, Hirai Ryōichi, Yamaguchi Katsuhiro,and Hariu Ichirō held a round table to discuss the meaning of exhibitions in 1975. This study
focuses on the following remarks by Hariu and Minemura10:[Hariu] Historically, the “Human and Matter” exhibition in 1970 had one peak, in which
we thoroughly resolved every problem: a commissioner system, the way of selecting
artists, and an award. However, the organizer only felt that a few audience members
entered the exhibition history.
[Minemura] I agree. Organizers of exhibitions recognize that an exhibition implies that
objects are displayed in a venue in an orderly manner. They always watch out to make aplace where Japanese artists and critics meet artists from foreign countries because they
deviate from making exhibitions.
Yoshida Minoru’s performance was questioned by the selection committee of the 14th
Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan in 1979. Consequently, he was not selected. The weightand size limits of displayed work were called into question from the 1970s onward, and thesteering committee debated the problem.
As mentioned above, the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival emerged as a response
to problems with art exhibitions. In particular, symposiums and meetings played an importantrole in the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival. Traditional art exhibitions faced thechallenges of “comprehensive” display and selecting artists and a genre-section system such as
painting, sculpture, printing, setting themes, and aiming to keep the venue open-air.
The persons concerned had expectations of open-air sculpture exhibitions in thecontemporary period, for new representation with large places in open-air and the relationshipwith sites at the beginning, but they also had the same structural problems as the International Art
Exhibition, Japan: The conservatism to “art” as an institution, involving the system of displaying
independent artworks and appreciation for them, and “a comprehensive display by a selection
system.” For example, in the 802 issue of Mizuwye in February 1971, Inui Yoshiaki, an art
historian and had held selection committees of open-air sculpture exhibitions around the Kansai
district, stated the following11:10“(Zadankai) Soubanashugi wo koete: Gendai bijutsu ni okeru tenrankai no imi, Minemura Toshiaki, Hirai
Ryōichi, Yamaguchi Katsuhiro, Hariu Ichiro” [ (Roundtable discussion) Beyond the across-the-board principle: The
meaning of exhibition making in contemporary art], in Bijutsu Techō 396 (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, July 1975):
41-42.
11
See Inui Yoshiaki, “Futatsu no gendai chōkoku ten” [Two contemporary sculpture exhibitions], Mizuwye 803(Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, December 1971): 84. This issue was debated even in 1981, when the city of Ube helda symposium on an open-air sculpture exhibition on a nationwide scale for the first time (See, “‘Yagai chokoku’saikentō” [Reconsidering “Open-air Sculpure”], Geijutsu shinchō 32 (Tokyo: Shinchōsha, November 1981): 2.

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While I appreciate the artworks at the venues of Hakone and Ube, I cannot restrain myself
from considering an open-air sculpture exhibition like those old-fashioned ones, because
I think that we cannot anticipate any new developments in the way of bringing artwork
produced at other places individually into open-air venues and juxtaposing them withnature.
Art magazines from that period confirm that the same criticism occurred in various open-air
sculpture exhibitions and that they were not much different from exhibitions at the Tokyo
Metropolitan Art Museum in terms of selection, setting a theme, and prize system. Considering
this viewpoint, we can see that artists and artworks selected for the Japan Ushimado International
Art Exhibition correspond with the contemporaneity of transiting from paint and sculpture toconceptual art, attaching importance to site and space. Furthermore, the exhibition form in theJapan Ushimado International Art Exhibition not only responded to installations beyond genres
and multiple representations in galleries and specific exhibitions for contemporary art, but alsoaligned with the transformation of the concept of sculpture in the 1970s, which related to sites12.
Moreover, the transformation of the art exhibition itself occurred in the case of the Japan
Ushimado International Art Exhibition. This festival held the Tang dance (Karako Odori) andthe Sword Odori (Tachi Odori) in the “Festival of Sound and Light” and “Taking a Walk to
Wells,” as regarding “displaying artworks” as the main shaft. Many stalls by local women’s
associations, lectures, round-table talks, and symposiums were held, as well as poetry readings,
and chorus and ensemble performances. Thus, the peculiarity of the Japan Ushimado
International Art Exhibition has two opposite points: the response to the “art” institution in thecenter, relating to the concepts of “artwork” and “display,” in contrast, the connection to thecultural value system peculiar to Japan. It is composed of the vector of “regionality” and “climate,”
different from the “art” institution. Here, the role of large-scale art exhibitions in the 1980s in
postwar Japan and structural paradigm changes are presented.

4. A theoretical point on an open-air art exhibition in the 1980s JapanThus, this study can partly clarify the framework of a Japanese art institution—therelationship between artists, artwork, and audience, and the intention, by examining the historical
position of the Japan Ushimado International Art Exhibition from the perspective of art exhibition
history in postwar Japan, especially the history of large-scale art exhibitions applying an annual
or biennale system.
That is, the structures of large-scale art exhibitions have experienced phase changes from adisplay-dragging art institution to two-layer structures in relation to a specific site in time and
12This does not mean that the center in the 1980s did not respond to comtenporaneity on the problems regarding
the form of artwork and art exhibitions. In the 1980s, Japan peaked at the establishment of art museums. For example,
the Seibu Museum of Art (renamed “the Sezon Museum of Art”) was opened in 1975. Moreover, the Hara Museumof Art was opened in 1979 and had taken contemporary art up early. Although the activities of these museums wererather notable, the appearance of conceptual artwork had led to the relativization of “art museums” as a space fordisplay.

Exploring the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival

101

space, or in other words, the aura of regionality around it. It seems that the concept of artwork in
the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival corresponds with the Krauss’ theory mentioned
above, because this festival assumes a cutting-edge position, which puts emphasis on acontemporary movement. However, the structure of art exhibitions that held the display ofartworks itself had changed. Considering the Chinese-style dance (Karako Odori) and Taking a
Walk to Wells (Ido Meguri), this festival not only is an “art exhibition,” but also connects to adifferent context. This connection is probably due to the fact that Japan adopted the “art”
institution derived from the West. The Japanese art world expands, but the intention of “crossing
the border” with “art” operates “lightly,” and does not converge with it. It is true that the practicein Ushimado may be local and on a small scale, but it applies to the Gutai Bijutsu Association(Gutai Bijutsu Kyōkai) and Hi Red Center and so on. However, the issue of an art institution
derived from the West intervenes in the Japanese art world. Moreover, it includes a deviationfrom the institution. That is, the Japanese art world has the intention of deviation rather than
expansion, which relates to the problem of Japanese cultural context often expressed since themodern era.13 I want to mention that just the intention of the deviation from art as an institution
seems to represent an aspect of post-modern in Japan, which does not belong to the Western
sphere.
Although we can refer to Kenneth’s Frampton theory of critical regionalism as a theoretical
study on post-modernism, his intention seems to be a reconstruction of modernism, and the vector
toward the maintenance or convergence of value concepts of art and architecture, which the West
had led, operated, and did not cross the border. We can see a new form of art exhibition in theJapan Ushimado International Art Festival. It is not only an international exhibition, but also asite for reconsidering a local culture. That is, we can see multistory structures of an art exhibition:
a “display” and “informing a culture.” As a result, the role of art exhibitions has changed.14
When we consider the difference between Japan and contemporary countries overseas fromthe perspective of art, we recall the Münster Sculpture Project and social sculpture by Joseph
Beuys, via site-specific in the 1960s and earth work in the 1970s. However, we should pay
attention to the intention of the party concerned, which is based on open-air art activities. In thevector, the converging power toward artwork, contained in institutionalized art, operates by
expanding the concept of art.

Conclusion: Changes in the adoption of the institutionalized art, and regions
This study clarified the whole of the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival, regarding
which we had only fragmentary materials before, and its leading property. The study also13

Kenneth Frampton, “Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance,” in The
Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture, ed. Hal Foster (New York: The New Press, 1998), 17-34.
14
The problems of tension toward and deviation from an “art” institution in Japan are more obvious bycomparing the structure of the Japan Ushimado International Art Exhibition with other contemporary open-air art
exhibitions. In addition, the viewpoints on regionality and individuality have been debated actively in the field ofJapanese culture. I would state my viewpoint in another manuscript written as a sequel.

102

YAMASHITA Kohei

examined the transformations in open-air art exhibitions and their context in Japan in the 1980s.
Although the transformation of art from formalism to conceptual art had led to inquiries
about art exhibitions in the 1970s Japanese world of art, the Japan Ushimado International Art
Festival, situated in a region, geographically and ideologically showed a response to problems
the center had experienced. That is, the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival clearly showeda sense of contemporaneity as an international art exhibition. The festival did not apply acomprehensive display or genre-section system by conventional autonomous artworks, but was
fused with other genres—permitting on-site work, installations in various spaces and sites, andperformance, drama, and music, which were reserved in the “center” before.
Moreover, in contrast, it had the intention of getting involved in the vernacular contents of
Ushimado or Asia as an art exhibition. Though it is an international art exhibition, the Japan
Uahimado International Art Festival connected to local culture in Ushimado, such as Japanesestyle Drum (Wadaiko), the Chinese-style dance (Karako Odori), Taking a Walk to Wells (Ido
Meguri), lectures and poetry readings in the “Festival of Sound and Light” as well as symposiums
in the field of “art,” and formed a cultural gathering situation, some kind of “Hare” space. It
regards “displaying artworks” as a main shaft, but the diversity and multiple layers, involving theintention of “crossing the border” with “art” institution, are noteworthy characters of the Japan
Uahimado International Art Festival. We can regard this transformation of an art exhibition in
the 1980s as one aspect of post-modern phases of art exhibitions in postwar Japan—from an art
museum to an open-air exhibition, and from an art exhibition to an art festival. It is clear that sucha situation is a sign of the appearance of emerging large-scale art exhibitions from the 2000s
onward.
Thus, we can grasp the situation “from art museum to open-air field” in postwar Japan andclarify its art historical position through the history peculiar to Japan, examining the history ofart exhibition-making, that is, the transformation of art exhibitions, as well as the fields of publicart, culture policy, and design.

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Table 1. The Summary of Changes of the “Japan Ushimado International Art Festival”

Period1984, 1st:
The First Exhibition For
Artistic Experiment,
November 2-4

1985, 2nd:
The First Ushimado
International Biennale,
November 2-4

1986, 3rd:The Second Exhibition For
Artistic Experiment,
November 1-3

1987, 4th:
The Second Ushimado
International Biennale,
November 1-3

Theme

Human, Sea, and Olive

Human, Sea, and Olive

Drama and Space

Sculpture and Space

The whole olive garden

The Ushimado Bay
Breakwater, The large hall,with one hundred-mat of theWest Hattori Family, The
Three Goddesses Square, The
hill of the olive garden, The
warehouse of the East Hattori
FamilyThe whole olive garden,
The warehouse of the East
Hattori Family, Ushimado
Bay (undersea)

The whole olive garden, The
warehouse of the East
Hattori Family, Ushimado
Bay (undersea), Old
Chūgoku Bank, The General
Welfare Center ofUshimado-cho

Venue

Tokyo University of the Arts:
Okuno Hiroaki, Kobayashi
Akira, Kumaya Yūko,
Nomura Kazuhiro,
Watanabe Shinji
Kyoto City University of Arts:
Sugiyama Masayuki, Fuji
Hiroshi, Matsui Shirō,
Takahashi Satoru, Masuda
MakikoOkayama University Facultyof Education:
Kobayashi Shō, Takama
Jun, Nitō Makuharu,
Takahashi Hideaki, Jikō
ShingoDaniel Buren
The 200 striped flags in
Ichimoji Hato Pier
Five Differently Shaped
Windows on the Slopesof the Olive Groves
Ulay/Marina Abramović
Modus Viendi
Nightsea Crossing
Matsuzawa Yutaka(Performance)
A Storehouse of ψThis place was under thesea 200 million years
ago
Kosugi Takehisa(Performance)
Scattering of 54 Sounds
Solo Violin Performance
Shinoyama Kishin
Shinorama Showing

Kara Jurō
Jōkyō Gekijō, “Shōjo
Kamen”The Open-Air
Experimental Exhibitionof Sculpture

Symposium
Chairman: Chiba Shigeo
Akasegawa Genpei, Ikeda
Masuo, Asada Akira, Inui
Yoshiaki, Miake Riichi, Shin
Gisu, Fujii Hiromi, Matuzawa
Yutaka, others

Symposium
Chairman: Kimura Yōichi
Ito Shunji, Shinoyama
Kishin Chiba Shigeo,
Yamaguchi Katsuhiro Carl
Loeffler, Horiuchi Masakazu
Ikeda Masuo

Teach-in
Chairman: Chiba Shigeo
Kara Jurō, Arashiyama
Kazaburō, Matsuzawa
Yutaka, Toyohira Yoshio,
Miyata Mayumi, Shimada
Masahiko, Ikeda Masuo,
Takama Natsuki,
Nagasawa Masumi

Festival of Sound and Light

Festival of Sound andLight
Theme: “Festival of Peoples,
the Sea and Olives” (Nov.
2nd and 3rd from 7pm to 8pm)
Japanese drum, A guitar
quintetFestival of Sound andLightFemale shaman dance(Sho, Mikomai), Harp,
Doragon Drums ofZentsūji Temple (Zentsūji
Ryūjin Daiko), Olive
Chorus and Orienteering ofSound (by a local chorus
group)The Open-Air Experimental
Exhibition of Sculpture

ArtistSymposium,
Event, etc

Performance,
Kurashiki Public Drum,Sound Hiking(Shikokugakuin University)

Ishii Nagako, Takezaki
Chika, Koyama Yasuo,
Yamaguchi Shigeki(Fukuoka University of
Education) Matsuo
Kanako (Artist living inTokyo) Harry Lambert(Artist from Greece) Dia
Anastasiadou(Special Exhibition)
Takama Natsuki, Toyohira
YoshioGiuseppe Penone
Gesto of An Olive
PotatoA Stone Board on an Olive
Tree
Joel Shapiro
Plaster Torso No.1
Plaster Torso No.2
“A Japanese Chessman” iniron
Muraoka Saburō
Ushimado•Oxygen7
Suga Kishio
Sharing of an Area-with Wood,
Iron and Stone
Sharing of an Area-with Wood
Sharing of an Area-with Iron
Surroundings of Consiousness
Bridge of Distance
Vertical Concentration-with
Stone

Teach-in
Theme: Ushimado andCulture - A Prospect (atthe Ushimado General
Welfare Center)
Chairman: Hariu Ichirō
Nakazawa Shincihi, Nishie
Masayuki, Odajima Gorō,
Wakakuwa Midori, Ikeda
Masuo
Festival of Sound andLight
Bitcchū Kagura,
Wakenokiyomaro taiko,
Karako Odori, Tachi
Odori
Taking a Walk to Wells(Ido Meguri)
Making a Ikoma, Art shop,
StallsYAMASHITA Kohei

104

Organization

Honorary Adviser: Shinchi Isamu, Hattori Tōru, Kaitō Hideo
President Producer: Hattori Tsuneo
Director: Okazaki Tamako
Commissioner: Chiba Shigeo

Adviser: Matsuzawa Yutaka, Hatake Akio
Lighting & Sound: Kagaya Yoshinosuke
Chief Staff: Kunii Yasuhiro
Staff, Student volunteer
Local volunteer, Volunteer(Continued on the next page)
Period1988, 5th:
The Third Exhibition for
Artistic Experiment,
November 3-6

1989, 6th:
The Third Ushimado
International Biennale,
November 3-5

1990, 7th:
The Fourth Exhibition
for Artistic Experiment,
November 2-4

1991, 8th:
The Fourth Ushimado
International Biennale,
November 2-4

1992, 9th:
The Fifth Exhibition For
Artistic Experiment,
November 1-3

Theme

Performance andSpace

The Development ofYoung Asia

Light and Space

Seeking Invisible Space

From Various Places

The whole olive
garden, Honrenji
TempleThe whole olive garden,
Lumber room, The
General Welfare Centerof Ushimado-cho, The
Three Goddesses Square

Venue

Butō:
Ohno Kazuo, Ohno
Yoshito, Delphine
Hurel, Milan Sladek,others

ArtistThe Open-Air
Experimental
Exhibition of
Sculpture
Six artists from seven
universities, three local
artists, Special
participating artist:
Takahashi Kōetsu,
Tears From Heaven;Nagasawa Nobuho,
KIVA
1988 Teach-In
Odajima Gorō,
Matsuzawa Yutaka,
Reisen Lee, Takahashi
Kōetsu, Odajima
Yūshi, Ikeda Masuo,
Nukina Seitei

Symposium,
Event, etc

Myun-jae Yoon (South
Korea), Morning
Sung-mu Cho (South
Korea), Aspects of a
subject-89•II (Dreamof Nature)
Cheng-Hsun Cheng(Taiwan), Top
Marli Wu (Taiwan),Asia
Kenmochi Kazuo(Japan), untitled
Kawashima Kiyoshi(Japan), The Fourth
Chapter of Memory

Symposium

The whole olive garden,
The Old Chūgoku Bank,The International
Exchange Villa
The FourthExperimental
Exhibition of Art
Takiguchi Tomoyuki,
Kinoshita Tomoko,Kondō Ayumu, Katō
Rikiya, Nishizawa
Risa, Sakazaki
Ryūichi, Takamura
MakikoSpecial Artist:
Cai Gun Qiang
Fetal Movement I, II,
III, IV
Kim Chang-Young
SAND PLAY 9011-D
SAND PLAY 9011-A
SAND PLAY
Special Event

The whole olive garden,
The warehouse of the East
Hattori Family, The Old
Chūgoku Bank, The
International Exchange
Villa, The whole area ofUshimado-cho
Anish Kapoor
VIRGINThe EarthGottfried Bechtold
MADER
Nomura Hitoshi
COWARA
Kawamata Tadashi
Favela in Ushimado

Theme: Art andTechnology
Takahara Yōichi,
Tanemura Suehiro, Miwa
Makoto, Kaneda Hiroshi

Poetry Reading:
Shiraishi Kazuko,
Kang Tae-Hung(At: the International
Exchange Villa):

Ushimado General Welfare
Center, The second day: at theThree Goddesses Square in theolive garden)

Kikuchi Nobuyoshi,
Washida Kiyokazu

Round-table Talk at theInternational Exchange
VillaFestival of Sound andLightFestival of Sound andLight

Lecture (At: the big
hall of Eiraku Gakuen)

Lecture and Three-person
Talk (At: the International
Exchange Villa)

Hinase Jinkurō Daiko,
Tachi Odori, Sound
Orientaling, Karako
Odori, Olive Chorus,
Himawari Chorus,
Kabuyama Chorus

Korean folk song
“Matan Noli”, Kurashiki
Tenryō Daiko, Karako
Odori, Tachi Odori,Special musicalperformance: IndianMusic

Miyawaki Aiko
“Workshop Lecture”,
Nishibe Susumu“Society and Art”, Ikeda
Masuo “The Japan
Ushimado International
Art Festival up to theSeventh”

Peter Weiermair Namba
Hideo, Chiba Shigeo(interpreter)Kirihara
Yuiko

Pre-Concert andTalking Time
Violin concert

Chor Schon: a greatchorus of a hymn by
forty members

Kawabata Kōichi(Nagaokakyō): sand
Xuan Chāng-guó (South
Korean): ironYonetani Eiichi(Yokohama): resin, color
Matsuda Shōichi (Tokyo):iron
Miyata Yōko
(Hiroshima): plate glass,resin, color
Special Guest: Terada
Takehiro (local
Okayama): stone
Takahara Yōchi: print

Colloquium (At: theInternational Exchange
Villa, November 3)“The Blank Space of a
Book: One Hundred
Books in the Art Shop”

Aurora Festival

The Fifth
Experimental
Exhibition of Art

Symposium “Talking
About Culture in
Ushimado”

Abe Nobuo, Kuroda Raiji,
Ikeda Masuo, Yong-sun
Kim, Cuo-qiang Cai,
Chiba Shigeo, Rita Y.C.
Chang (The first day: at theTaking a Walk to Wells(Ido Meguri)
Making an Ikoma

The whole olive garden,
The International
Exchange Villa, The
Old Chūgoku Bank, The
Three Goddesses Square
Eiraku Hall

Nakamura Shinichirō,
Yamamoto Itarō, Ikeda
Masuo, Saki Erinu,
Masago Noriko

Festival of Sound andLight
Bitcchū Kagura,
Awarigō Tachi Odori,
Olive Chorus, Karako
Odori, Tachi Odori,
Himawari Chorus, Stall
Taking a Walk to Wells(Ido Meguri)

LectureMotofuji Akiko “ThePhysical Expression:
Tracking the Streamof Hijikata Tatsumi”(At: Eiraku Hall,
November 2)
Olive Chorus, thebrass band of the
Ushimado junior highschool (At: the Roman
Hill, November 1)
Awarigō Tachi Odori

Ayaura Tachi Odori

Taking a Walk to
Wells (Ido Meguri)

Exploring the Japan Ushimado International Art Festival

105

Executive Committee: Ushimado-cho, Ushimado Tourism Association, Ushimado-cho Board of Education, Ushimado-cho
Fishermen`s Cooperative Association, Ushimado-cho Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ushimado-cho Agricultural
Cooperative Association, Ushimado-cho Women`s Association Liaison Council, Ushimado-cho Youth Association, Ushimado Post
Office, Ushimado Tourism Development Co., Ltd., Kyowa Carbon Co., Ltd., Kyokuto Note Co., Ltd., Kinkai Salt Industry Co.,
Ltd., Sabukaze Tougeinosato Foundation, Nagahama Agricultural Cooperation Association, Nippon Olive Co., Ltd., Nippon Olive
Garden Co., Ltd., Hattori Product Limited Partnership, Yanmar Shipbuilding Company Co,. Ltd.
Support: Embassy of the Netherlands, Embassy of France, Greece Government Tourism Bureau, Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama
Prefectural Museum of Art Okayama Orient Museum, NHK Okayama Broadcasting Station, Sanyō Broadcasting Station, Setonaikai
Broadcasting Station, Nishinippon Broadcasting Company, Limited, TV Setouchi Broadcasting Co., Ltd., Okayama BroadcastingCo., Ltd., Sanyō Newspaper Company, Others: cooperation

Organization

Table 2. The Summary of Large-Scale Art Exhibitions Concerned with this Paper

The
postwarperiodExhibition

PeriodOrganizer

The Yomiuri
Independent
Exihibition

1949-1964

The International
Art International
Exhibition, Japan

1952-1990

The Contenporary
Art Exhibition ofJapan

1954-2000

The Exhibition ofContemporary
Japanese
Sculpture*2

1965-

The Contemporary
Sculpture
Exhibition in Kobe
Suma Detached
Palace1968-1998

The Contemporary
International
Sculpture (Hakone
Open-Air Museum)

1969, 1970

The Hamamatsu
Open-Air Art
Exhibition

1980-1987(total 6 times)

The Japan
Ushimado
International Art
Festival

1984-1992

The Hakushū
Summer Festival*3

1988-1998

Open-Air Art
Exhibitions by
Shiga-Prefecture
Artists
Organization

The EchigoTsumari Art Field:
The EchigoTsumari Art
Triennale(total 15 times)(total 18 times)*1

1960s-

1980s-

2000s-(total 29 times)(up to thepresent, the27th in 2017)(total 15 times)(total 2 times)

Display,
Location
MuseumManagement

Selection

Main genre

The Yomiuri
Newspaper
Company

artistnonjudgment,
free exhibit

The Mainichi
Newspaper
Company

art critic

invitation,competition

Museumpainting, sculpture, print*plane, threedimensional object

The Mainichi
Newspaper
Company

art critic,
artistinvitation,competition

Museumpainting, sculpture, print*plane, threedimensional object

The Mainichi
Newspaper
Company, UbeCityart critic,
artistinvitation,competition

Tokiwa Park in
Ube City of
Yamaguchi
Prefecture

sculpture

The Mainichi
Newspaper
Company, KobeCity

art critic,
artistinvitation,competition

Kobe Suma
Detached
Palacesculpture

The Hakone
Open-Air
Museum, The
Sankei Newspaper
Company, private
capitalart critic

invitation,competition

The Hakone
Open-Air
Museumsculpture

participating
artistartistmainlyrelationshipwith artists

Seashore,sand dune

three-dimensional
object, performance

painting, sculpture, print,
photograph*molding(Hamamatsu of
ShizuokaPrefecture)artist (Hattori
Tsuneo), private
capital, local
government

curatorteam

invitation

The whole
Ushimado-cho

three-dimensional
object, performance,
drama, symposium, etc.

artists basedaround thedancer, TanakaMin

artistmainlyrelationshipwith artists

The whole
Hakushū-cho of
Yamanashi
Prefecture

dance, three-dimensional
object, performane,farming, workshop, etc.

1981, 1984

local artists in
Shiga Prefecture

artistmainlyinvitation,competition

1900, 1991

local artists in
Shiga Prefecture

artistmainlyrelationshipwith artists

Lakeshore(ShigaPrefecture)
Okishima,
Katata (Shiga
Prefecture)

sculpture*three-dimensional
objectplane, three-dimensional
object, music,
performance, literature,
etc.

2000

six
municipalities in
Echigo-Tsumari
district

curatorteam

invitation,competition

The whole
Echigo-Tsumari
district (Niigata
Prefecture)plane, three-dimensional
object, performance,
video, workshop,
symposium, etc.

(total 9 times)(total 11 times)(after this, held
every thirdyear)

YAMASHITA Kohei

106

The Yokohama
Triennale＊1

2001(after this, held
every thirdyear)

Yokohama City,
private capital, The
Japan Foundation(first to third
time）

curatorteam

invitation

The whole
Minatomirai
district(YokohamaCity)

plane, three-dimensional
object, performance,
video, workshop,
symposium, etc.

Commonly called “Tokyo Biennale.” This first to tenth exhibition had travelled throughout Japan. (The Contemporary Art
Exhibition of Japan, as well)＊2

Renamed “UBE Biennale” from 2009 onward.

＊3

Renamed “Art Camp, Hakushū” from 1993 onward.