Yokohama Triennale

Yokohama Triennale is an international contemporary art exhibition held every three years in Yokohama, Japan, since 2001. It is considered one of "the most representative bi-/triennial exhibition of contemporary art in Japan." The first three editions (2001, 2005, 2008) were organize by the Japan Foundation. Since 2011, the triennial event has been organized by the City of Yokohama. The Triennale hosts on average 60 to 90 artists per edition with the exception of the 2017 triennial, which only hosted about 40 artists. The Triennale hosts both national and international artists.

The Triennale's main venues are the Yokohama Museum of Art and the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse.

Chronology

1st Yokohama Triennale

The exhibition, titled Mega Wave—Towards a New Synthesis, ran from 02 September 2001 to 11 November 2001. It took place in Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall (C,D), Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No.1, and was curated by Shinji Kohmoto, Akira Tatehata, Nobuo Nakamura, and Fumio Nanjo.

2nd Yokohama Triennale

The second edition, titled Art Circus [Jumping from the Ordinary], was held from 28 September 2005 to 18 December 2005 at the No.3 and No.4 warehouses of the Yamashita Pier. Its artistic director was Tadashi Kawamata, and its curators were Taro Amano, Takashi Serizawa, Shingo Yamano.

3rd Yokohama Triennnale

The third edition, titled TIME CREVASSE, was held from 13 September 2008 to 30 November 2008 across several venues in Yokohama. The venues were Shinko Pier Exhibition Hall, NYK Waterfront Warehouse (BankART Studio NYK), Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No.1, Sankeien Garden. The exhibition was directed by Tsutomu Mizusawa, and curated by Daniel Birnbaum, Fang Hu, Akiko Miyake, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Beatrix Ruf.

4th Yokohama Triennale

The fourth edition, titled OUR MAGIC HOURーHow Much of the World Can We Know?ー, was held from 06 August 2011 to 06 November 2011 at the Yokohama Museum of Art, and the NYK Waterfront Warehouse (BankART Studio NYK). The triennial was directed by Eriko Osaka, and curated by Akiko Miki.

The e-flux writer points out that the 'magic' mentioned in the title is not of mystical kind, "but rather of the temporary suspension of disbelief: artists see things differently than you and me and can show us what that seeing feels like. Such a broad theme can encompass a wide variety of art, and, indeed, the show ranged from conceptually inflected video installations to ukiyo-e woodblock prints to ghost-themed movie posters."

5th Yokohama Triennale

The fifth edition, titled Art Fahrenheit 451: Sailing into the sea of oblivion, was held from 01 August 2014 to 03 November 2014 at Yokohama Museum of Art, and the Shinko Pier Exhibition Hall. The Triennale's artistic director was Yasumasa Morimura.

The critic from ArtReview writes, "despite its apocalyptic title, this year’s Yokohama Triennale is anything but an exploration of a depressing endgame for art... Rather, it embraces forgetting, destruction and failure as essential components of the creative process, and a productive inspiration for the creation of artworks."

6th Yokohama Triennale

The sixth edition, titled Islands, Constellations & Galapagos, was held from 04 August 2017 to 05 November 2017 at the Yokohama Museum of Art, the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No.1, and the basement of Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall. The exhibition was directed by Eriko Osaka, Akiko Miki, Tomoh Kashiwagi, and curated together with Rirkrit Tiravanija, Shuji Takashina, and Suhanya Raffel.

The critic from ArtReview points out how the sixth edition thinks about the world through 'connectivity' and 'isolation', while making references "to a wide range of issues, from data overload, online communities, ‘island mentality’ and the rise of populism, to Brexit, the refugee crisis and public disillusionment with centralised political systems."

7th Yokohama Triennale

The seventh edition, titled Afterglow, was held from 17 July 2020 to 11 October 2020 at the Yokohama Museum of Art, and PLOT 48 (with NYK MARITIME MUSEUM). The exhibition was directed and curated by Raqs Media Collective.

The critic from ArtReview identifies the exhibition’s key idea as ‘luminosity’, "which stands in the curatorial framework alongside terms like ‘autodidact’, ‘care’, ‘friendship’ and ‘toxicity’". This edition of the Triennale specifically hosted artists "whose work engages with diverse belief systems, histories, and forms of sensory experience."

Due to Covid-19 regulations and restrictions on travel, Yokohama Triennale offered a virtual tour of the whole exhibition.

8th Yokohama Triennale

The eighth edition, titled Wild Grass: Our Lives, was held from 15 March 2024 to 09 June 2024 across several venues in Yokohama. The venues were Yokohama Museum of Art, Former Daiichi Bank Yokohama Branch, BankART KAIKO, Queen’s Square YOKOHAMA, and Motomachi-Chūkagai Station Accessway. The exhibition was directed and curated by Liu Ding, and Carol Yinghua Lu.

This edition's title was inspired by Lu Xun's prose-poem collection Wild Grass (1927), "a book that uses allegory and metaphor to critique early 20th-century Chinese politics, society and traditional values, highlighting individuals' struggles with societal pressures and historical changes. The exhibit draws from this base, offering both literal and figurative spaces to confront and contemplate today's global issues of climate change, economic disparity and authoritative legacies."

9th Yokohama Triennale

The ninth edition is planned to take place from 23 April 2027 to 12 September 2027, at the Yokohama Museum of Art as its main venue. The exhibition will be directed and curated by Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero.

References

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