‘Giant Gardiner’, Ester Albardane

Ester Albardane built the installation ‘Giant Gardiner’ with fragmented body parts of a giant appear among the trees. The word ‘giant’ might remind you of a man, but the reason why the artist built a giant woman is because of the artist’s interest (sympathy or criticism) to lonely women who are inside their houses alone and isolated from society. Each body part like the face, fingers, feet appear as if they lead people walking around there.

‘Route of Meditation’, Jose de Guimaraes

The ex-archaeologist Jose de Guimaraes’s ‘Route of Meditation, Way to the sky’ is a group of red, blue, yellow and green sculptures. They are dedicated to Kamono Chomei, Zeami, Saikaku, Ryokan and Soseki Natsume, respectively.

‘The Main Hall of Seieiji Temple, Kawanishi,The Precincts of Seieiji Temple’, Kazuo Kenmochi

‘The Main Hall of Saieiji Temple, Kwanishi, The Precincts of Saieiji Temple’ by Kazuo Kenmochi presents a fantastic world with the shadow of light that can be seen through a number of layered OHP films, and it contrasts the past and the present.

The 36 artworks introduced here are only part of the festival’s collection and there are more than 100 other interesting artworks. This festival is planned as a 10-year project. This is the first year of the festival. The festival will be held every 3 years. Some artists are developing their artworks during 10 years and other artists create new artworks every 3 years. It’s also interesting to see how this year’s projects would be assimilated into nature over the next 10 years. 3 years later, new works will be exhibited and in another 3 years, there will be a large numbers of artworks. In the near future, the Tsumari region would be called ‘the regions of art’.

The festival held under today’s internationalization and modernization is not only for this local region, but it can also be an honor for the Japanese people. This festival allows you to see, feel, touch and be involved in nature. We hope you have a chance to visit and experience nature.

Echigo-Tsumari Art triennial 2000
Date: July 20th – September 10th, 2000
Places: Echigo-Tsumari Region (Tokamachi City, Nakasato Village, Tsunan Town, Matsunoyama Town, Matsudai Town, Kawanishi Town)
Tel: +81 (0)257 57 2637 (Echigo-Tsumari Art triennial Executive Committee)
https://www.echigo-tsumari.jp