Artrave
Changing the world
Echigo-Tsumari is a remote mountainous region in Japan which hosts a Triennial of contemporary art unlike any other. It happens in a large rural area which has gradually lost population to the point now where the majority of people are over the age of 65 and to see a child is a novelty. The most recent edition of the 'Echigo-Tsumari Triennial', the fourth, ran from July - September 2009 and amongst the 300-odd artists were several from Australia. Art was sited on the sides of hills, in rice paddies, forests, gardens and restaurants, but by far the most numerous sites for the works of art were abandoned houses and empty schools.