If you are touring the Echigo-Tsumari Art Field, the first stop you should make is at KINARE.
It is accessible from Tokamachi station by foot and has every piece of travel information you could possibly need. It is the creation of world renowned architect Hiroshi Hara.
That’s not all.
In 2012, KINARE was reintroduced as a contemporary art museum. One of the permanent exhibits is a miniature model of the locations of the various art, as well as the Echigo-Tsumari region itself.
Let us walk and look at the other permanent artworks on display.The Shinano River, Buna Forest, Jomon pottery, rice terraces, tunnels, heavy snowfalls, earthquakes, kimonos…
These are keywords that will help you have a better understanding of Echigo-Tsumari, and they help summarize the Triennale. This tutorial will enrich the journey you are about to embark on.
So, what is the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale? And what kind of place is Echigo-Tsumari?
Find out as we guide you along your exploration of KINARE.
And here, the art poses a question to you.
Tokamachi is a traditional marketplace as well as a place for interaction. As its name suggests, Tokamachi is a town that hosts a fair every month on days that are multiples of 10 (the 10th, 20th and 30th), and is also the best shopping district in Echigo-Tsumari. The architect Hiroshi Hara was enlisted to help create a modern marketplace that serves as place of interaction in Tokamachi city.
At that time, the architect thought, “aren’t the walls of a house just the final fort against the world that is fraught with confusion?” Yet, in this case the fort isn’t used for the sake of taking up arms or fighting.
A fort is a place for rest, like a desert oasis. Many people passing by would set up a tent to take a quick break to drink water and rest their bodies. Many animals such as elephants and tigers pass at an oasis for rest as well. The architects were probably visualizing that sort of oasis in a city – in other words, an oasis removed from disorderly nature of the city.
When you look at the pond in the center of this building, and the corridors and concrete walls surrounding it, what comes to your mind?
The art that uses this space is also the centerpiece of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale
In 2012 it was Christian Boltanski’s “No Man’s Land”. In 2015 it was Cai Guo Qiang’s (tsai guoh chang) “Penglai/Horai”
Both were of an extraordinary scale.
We wonder what kind of artwork is going to be created next. We encourage you to imagine from the emotional standpoint of an artist.