ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM STUDIES LEEDS: Creating Art in Nature

Hi everyone!

The ongoing discussion (sometimes controversies) over the relationship between urban regeneration and museum/gallery development reminds me of an interesting project in Japan that might shed light on other possibilites relating to the issue. Instead of turning the cityscape into a museological space, this time it is the rural area which is transformed into heterotopia.

I am here to introduce/advertise a volunteer program for the fantastic Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2009 (http://www.echigo-tsumari.jp/english/). Echigo Tsumari (I will simply call it ' ET ' from now on) is situated in the Niigata province of Japan and is a rural area scattered with rice fields, dotted with hills with a population of less than 75,000 residents.

Once an important area of local rice cultivation, the region is seriously affected by rural-urban migration since the 1970s. With the rapid loss of young people to the megacities and the declining birth rate, schools and local business continue to close down, rice field and rural cottages abandoned and the average age of the population keeps increasing over the past few years. (In fact it is a trend that the entire nation will have to face as Japan is probably one of the few Asian countries facing a serious aging population crisis).

As a result, starting from the year 2000, a group of art experts in Japan initiated the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial project which aimed at revitalizing the region through inviting artists from all over the world to collaborate with local people in creating site-specific artworks. Or in director Kitagawa's word, to 'dig out the value that can be found in the region, raise that value, show it to the world, and by doing so contribute to regional revitalization through the medium of art'.

In the previous three triennials (2000, 2003 and 2006), the organisation committee sucessfully invited famous artists like James Turrell, Christian Boltanski, Christian Lapie, Leandro Erlich, Cai Guo-qiang, Yayoi Kusama, Richard Wilson etc. to install site-specific artworks in the landscape of ET which celebrate local culture, as well as question the relationship between human and nature in our post-industrial world. This year, another 300 artists with different nationalities will gather in Echigo Tsumari in June to celebrate its fourth triennial and the committee of ET is desperately seeking English-speaking people to help with the event.

Volunteer works include assisting artists to install or gather material for their artworks, holding guided tour for tourists as well as helping general logistic management (if you have a driving licence). Knowing Japanese language is not a must as the local helpers will accompany you with your work. You will be provided free accomodation and food subsidy, with a lot of coupons for taking outdoor hotwater bath (onsen) overlooking magnificent natural scenery. The only thing that is not included is the air ticket cost (which I know is not cheap), but I am sure that the benefit of joining this triennial is immense and it will definitely change your way in looking at art and nature (the artwork that you help to create will stand there for many many years!)

If you are interested, please contact me through gchanart@gmail.com. The official website of the event is http://www.echigo-tsumari.jp/english/. A detailed online catalogue of previous artworks can be found at http://www.echigo-tsumari.jp/artworks/photo_en.php , may be you will find some artists that you are familiar with before!

Here are some other marvelous artworks that you can see in ET:

Takamasa Kuniyasu - Matsudai Dragon Pagoda