This year we will hold the international art festival, “Tokyo Biennale 2020”.
In the midst of the continued uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, the shocking news was recently announced that the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games would be postponed. What can we do in a Tokyo without the Olympics, in which we now face the spread of the coronavirus disease?
Although the stability of the “pre-established harmony” has collapsed, Art must face this situation.
With the vision prepared by Tokyo Biennale 2020 toward this summer, we would like to share with you all kinds of “Unseen Everyday Scenes”.
The events will take place in venues across the northeastern area of Tokyo, rich in history and culture. Sites will include public spaces, schools, temples and shrines, historical buildings, and open spaces. Placed in
various locations across the city, artworks will appear in our everyday lives. Viewing art allows people to touch on the city’s history and culture, and the experience brings them closer to imagining the existence of
someone who is yet unseen. Art gets people to try something on their own, giving birth to creative activities. Each action might be small, but we believe that these many actions gathered will bring forth a new creative future.
Across a wide range of disciplines, more than 60 participating groups of artists and creators, going beyond fields of contemporary art, architecture, fashion, and design, will engage deeply with the city of Tokyo and its residents.
The core of this art project is “us”, the citizens themselves. The Tokyo Biennale was launched together with citizens in the forming of a citizens’ committee. As an art project led by citizens themselves with a complete bottom up structure, this is the experimental space for new frameworks of “art festivals” themselves.
The creativity of communities in the city will awaken, and countless “Unseen Everyday Scenes” will be cultivated widely.
Tokyo Biennale 2020 will now come to life.
Press Release
2020.3.27 New Art Festival will be Launched in Tokyo