Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Collaborative Organisation welcomes research team

Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Collaborative Organisation welcomes UK-Japan research team, writes Dr Fran Rowe

After visiting Art Front Gallery, we took to the road to see the location of Echigo-Tsumari for ourselves. For two days we explored its physical and cultural contours, enjoying extraordinary artworks in rural settings, visiting contemporary art museums and meeting local government officials, Triennale volunteers, and being treated to the best local food imaginable. Our visit co-incided with rice planting time. We were reminded as we left the flatlands and climbed towards the hills how the dwindling population of older people who tend the many small farms struggle to manage the land, in the face of the rural depopulation that has accompanied urbanisation, and a population that is ageing faster than anywhere in the developed world. We learned central government now has policies to encourage younger people to return to provincial cities and rural areas it is so concerned over the future of these places. It is here that investment in cultural events and facilities is playing its part, on a scale that is remarkable. Imagine the Venice Biennale transposed to the Japanese countryside, but spread out across a large area. Highlight of our visit was probably James Turrell’s House of Light: a zen like experience that had team UK Japan arranged in a meditative, radiating pattern under the bluest of blue skies, while the light and shadows worked their magic across the interior of the traditionally styled building. Special thanks to Tadahiro Asai and Michiko Higuchi who acted as our guides over the two days and helped us to understand a little of the local politics and complex network of local agents necessary to converting top down cultural investments into benefits for local communities.  

Last modified: Sun, 02 Jun 2019 20:12:57 BST